Dozens of steel rings for SpaceX Starship’s first super-heavy booster are busy, with CEO Elon Musk saying it could be “just a few weeks.”
Notably, more than twice the height of the starship’s main propellant tank and engine section, the super-heavy boosters will have an incredible 70+ m (230+ ft) stand once completed – the same height or ler than the entire two-stage Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket. Unlike Starship, Super Heavy has no conical nose section and will be built – like a Starship tank – entirely with a steel ring.
With a diameter of 9m (~ 30 ft) and a height of 1.8m (~ 6 ft) tall, SpaceX will have to fit 38 steel rings to complete the super heavy propellant tank, interstage and engine section. Effectively, SpaceX is making so much progress in the construction of super heavy subsections that the first booster assembly will have to wait until some feature (“high reveal”) is ready to stack them.
Thanks to the handy labels attached to each ring group and the watchful eyes of local resident and photographer Mary (also called Bokachikagal), six less confirmed parts of the first super heavy booster (SH1) have already appeared in Boka Chika. Two to four rings are colored from tall heights, the first ring section was found on September 22, followed by the second on the 28th.
In the first few days of October, those four, five and six confirmed stacks, as well as many more potential candidates with labels hidden from public view. Additionally, Musk’s recent note that the super-heavy boosters’ liquid oxygen tank will have “lengthy stiffeners” – also known as stringers – means that the trio of five-ring stacks with stringers were also Super Heavy # 1 candidates.
Assuming it is reserved for the first functional Starship nose section of one of the three five-ring stacks, SpaceX may already have 30+ super heavy rings – a total of ~ 38 – awaiting completion of the high-rise construction.
With a space height of about 0 meters (~ 260 feet), SpaceX’s Boca Chika High Bay is essentially a closed gantry crane that will be used in the stacks and outfits of super heavy boosters – the final steps of production. SpaceX and its contractors began building Bay Bay in early July, and Musk says the big building is only “a few weeks” away from completion. By October, the structure, like the wall cladding, is essentially complete. Half of the roof of the building has also been completed, with some work left before running power, HVAC and plumbing.
Surprisingly, the CEO of SpaceX also says that High Bay will eventually be equipped with a “giant gantry crane”, although super heavy booster stacking will probably start after that. In the meantime, there’s a good chance that SpaceX will start stacking super heavy subsections in the existing Starship Mid Bay, hoping there are only a few big stacks left in Big Bay to complete the first booster.
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