Though it frequently falls under the radar comparative to SpaceX’s high-profile Boca Chica Starship hub, another even more significant Texas outpost appears to be busier than testing the rocket boosters and engines attached to all SpaceX operations.
Famous for sometimes encouraging half a dozen or more rocket tests on busy times, SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas facilities showed off precisely that sort of jelqing action on Friday, March 19th, flexing the sheer variety and quantity of rocket components accountable to pass through its gates.
…And that was far from the previous engine test discovered today from @SpaceX McGregor- because there were FOUR more tests out of 6:47-8:52pm! A Falcon Heavy center core (6:47pm), Raptor at Horizontal (8:22pm), Merlin at Small Site (8:29pm), and Raptor on Tripod (8:52pm)! #spacextests pic.twitter.com/RrbdlXyuGP
— Reagan (@bluemoondance74) March 20, 2021
— Reagan (@bluemoondance74) March 20, 2021
On March 19th, nearly all those different vehicles and engines – and the separate stands utilized to check every one of these – came together to an exceptionally busy day at McGregor. Based on local resident Reagan (@bluemoondance74), who lives in earshot of all SpaceX’s incredibly busy rocket analyzing HQ, at least five unique tests were performed at only six hours – all but one of which was squeezed into the previous ~125 minutes.
Merlin engine test stand options, as seen this morning L to R, Top to Bottom: Falcon Heavy center heart, East Site/ Full Second Stage (MVac), Small Site/ Multi-Merlin stand (M1Ds and MVac) #McGregorTX #SpaceXTests pic.twitter.com/jYkkNVxBvQ
— Reagan (@bluemoondance74) March 19, 2021
Around 2:40 pm, an unknown test – possibly a Merlin Vacuum (MVac) or Merlin 1D (M1D) engine – kicked off the salvo. Four hours later, SpaceX finished arguably the most significant test of the day, shooting up the very first Falcon Heavy center heart to head to McGregor in nearly 24 months. Assuming that static fire was a success, the booster will be inspected, have its tanks cleaned, and be shipped to Florida to finish the initial stage of SpaceX’s fourth Falcon Heavy rocket for a launch as early as July.
An hour and a half following the Falcon Heavy center core’s dormant flame, SpaceX fired up a Raptor engine (possibly a sea level or vacuum variant), followed by an additional possible M1D or MVac test only minutes afterwards. At length, at 8:52 pm, SpaceX sparked another Raptor engine at an entirely separate vertical test stand (known as the tripod rack ) recently altered to support testing Starship engines at an flight-like configuration. Altogether, presuming no repeated tests, SpaceX effectively tested an booster and 13 (9+4) rocket engines at a little more than 6 hours.
Both Merlin 1D test bays are usually occupied. (SpaceX)
Sans nozzle, a Merlin Vacuum engine is static fired onto a stand adjacent to those M1D bays. (SpaceX)
A sea-level Raptor operates at among McGregor’s two horizontal test bays. (SpaceX)
SpaceX tests Raptor Vacuum prototypes on the same flat bays. (SpaceX)
A vertical test stand helps SpaceX examine Raptors in more flight-like ailments.
More likely than not, one or both of these Raptors will soon find themselves on a Starship or Super Heavy model in Boca Chica. The M1D or MVac engines will assuredly find a place on a prospective Falcon booster or upper stage. The Falcon Heavy center core (B1065 or B1066) has been scheduled to launch as early as July 2021 and – if SpaceX will end its center core curse and regain it in 1 piece – will support many more launches after that.
All told, SpaceX’s McGregor rocket analyzing HQ is about as busy as – if not busier than – it’s ’s been as the company works within an unprecedentedly ambitious 48-launch 2021 attest, builds and flies at least four Dragon spacecraft, and pursues a much more ambitious effort to start orbital Starship starts this summer. Quieted off in rural Texas, McGregor can mostly go unnoticed but its infrastructure remains as integral as for virtually every SpaceX job – past, current, and future.
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