Never mind. It's an optical illusion. The far angle shows it's clear under the OLM. I'm seeing something at the base of the tower.

YellowPot_97 said:

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Is that a flame diverter under the OLM?

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It's just happy to see you

SpaceX issued an overpressure warning.

That may be the worlds biggest and shortest understatement ever. I bet they issued it with a **** eating grin.

My rocket is so erect right now!

I'm stuck a GD zoom meeting, and can't hear what the live feed is saying....

Seems like a lot of action right now...

So far no frost on the tanks and no venting anywhere. I think its a while yet.

Looks like they are loading it up. Watching for frost now. Per the NASA spaceflight nerds the lack of venting means they are starting a loading process.

Looks like prop load is beginning.

The audio is saying they are proceeding into propellant loading.

Prop load should be happening now, waiting for 'frosting' as they stopped some sort of venting just now. Apparently that means about 1 hour and 20 minutes (from live stream video just now). So…1:10 or so CST?

I thought they already loaded earlier this morning.... not seeing the frost build up should been a clue.

But this won't be a full fill, right? Since it's only gonna be at most a 1-2 minute burn/fire... so how much are they gonna put in there? OR is it a situation where they need to load the whole thing for physics/mechanical reasons and only fire for a short period of time.

I haven't seen any confirmation that it would be a full-duration fire today (may have missed it), I've only seen that it'll be like 5 seconds or so.

Cold front blew through greatest. Humidity might be low enough that the frost won't be quite as noticeable.

bthotugigem05 said:

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I haven't seen any confirmation that it would be a full-duration fire today (may have missed it), I've only seen that it'll be like 5 seconds or so.

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A full duration test probably isn't possible. Without the weight of full tanks, the hold downs probably aren't strong enough.

TexAgs91 said:

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Anyone in South Padre today?

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I'm watching live from a south island condo that faces the launchpad

I've been here for every launch but this 33 raptor SF is going to be wild. Car alarms are gonna go off all the way to Claytons

Clear abort at this point. All activity has come to a halt. Drone looking at the big valves on top of the launch mount. pic.twitter.com/d7tmYrhkPT

— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) February 9, 2023

Sounds like it's not happening today after all.

Not so sure. OLM is venting heavy

SPI-FlatsCatter 84 said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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Anyone in South Padre today?

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I'm watching live from a south island condo that faces the launchpad

I've been here for every launch but this 33 raptor SF is going to be wild. Car alarms are gonna go off all the way to Claytons

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Nice!

Sorry haven't kept up with the thread in a while.

Is SpaceX still on target for moon orbit this year? What about moon landing and Mars missions?

SPI-FlatsCatter 84 said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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Anyone in South Padre today?

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I'm watching live from a south island condo that faces the launchpad

I've been here for every launch but this 33 raptor SF is going to be wild. Car alarms are gonna go off all the way to Claytons

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More like Clayton NM.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Sorry haven't kept up with the thread in a while.

Is SpaceX still on target for moon orbit this year? What about moon landing and Mars missions?

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Moon orbit is still years away. First test flight of starship MAY happen in the next few months. Flight to the moon is still a LONG ways off.

OnlyForNow said:

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I thought they already loaded earlier this morning.... not seeing the frost build up should been a clue.

But this won't be a full fill, right? Since it's only gonna be at most a 1-2 minute burn/fire... so how much are they gonna put in there? OR is it a situation where they need to load the whole thing for physics/mechanical reasons and only fire for a short period of time.

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We'll be insanely lucky to get a burn of 10 seconds, much less a minute or two.

Most of them were thinking 2 to 10 seconds max. Probably around 5-7 seconds most likely.

The longest raptor test was a single engine test that went for 20 seconds. The next closest was an 11 engine that was supposed to go for 20 but went for 13.

Went from venting on the OLM and tank farm a while ago to just nada.

And just like that the OLM starts up again.

This is a guy to follow for stuff like this. He's the spreadsheet guy that in the past has been correct on the steps to launch or static fire almost to the second.

I do not like the state of the orbital tank farm right now. The vent stopped very early, and the booster shows no signs of fueling.

Either the chill-down process was sped up massively or this is another hold. https://t.co/qtknlaOdsv

— Adrian Beil 💙💛 (@BCCarCounters) February 9, 2023

I wonder if the plan today is to test the autogenous pressurization system during this full scale firing. This would mean the burn duration would be around 10 or so seconds. Otherwise it will be very brief. This may be longer than previous brief burns since the engines may start in sequence instead of a simultaneous ignition of all 33 at the gun.

What leads me to think this will be a test of the autogenous pressurization system and a longer burn is that if they don't test this, they will need to fire again and test this before the test flight. I think they may be trying to check off more boxes than just the successful firing of 33 milestone. But I could very easily be wrong. It should be a fun day to watch this unfold.

Lab Padre says the kettle boilers are going, so they should start fueling soon

Methane pumps are going

Now its back to venting like crazy from the OLM and the tank farm.

Fueling up!

Gettin' frosty!!

So what is it venting? M-Lox?

Frost!

I think it moved a little bit

Just poured up a nice gin and tonic.

Gorgeous day in our little world down here. Can't wait for the building to shake.