Less than a year after starting to assemble the oil depot in southern Texas, SpaceX began the arduous process of filling Starship's first orbital launch site with thousands of tons of rocket propellant.

Starbase’s first orbital-grade fuel tank is composed of 7 giant custom tanks. The last SpaceX was installed and “installed” in mid-October. Starbase’s first orbital-grade fuel tank is a bit like a cushion’s circulation system, requiring storage and cooling. And distribute all the propellants needed for rocket launches. In order to support Starship and Super Heavy (the largest single rocket stage and the largest integrated rocket ever), its launch site and oil depot must be equally huge. In the classic SpaceX fashion, the company has been working hard to keep the cost of the oil depot at a low level and keep its construction speed at a high level, resulting in a rather unique setup in terms of launch pads.

Perhaps nothing emphasizes the scale of Starship's first orbital-grade oil depot more than the process of filling it with ultra-cold propellant and liquid designed to contain it.

Up to at least 74 LOx delivered! Even if my conservative DOT book estimate of 20 tons per delivery is correct, this should still leave SpaceX only a few days away from one of the three LOx tanks fully filling the orbital farm (approximately 15 deliveries) 😃 https:/ /t.co/wwgvFYx9mZ

In mid-September, SpaceX began delivering cryogenic fluids to Starbase’s orbital oil depot for the first time in its history. Between mid-September and mid-October, dozens of tankers transported liquid nitrogen to one or two tanks on the farm instead of propellant. In total, about 40-60 trucks were delivered-only enough to partially fill a fuel tank. Liquid nitrogen also appears to be delivered to two of the three liquid oxygen tanks on the farm, which means it may only be used for cleaning and verification tests.

Together, the farm’s seven main tanks should be able to store approximately 2,400 tons (5.3 million pounds) of liquid methane (LCH4), 5,400 tons (12 million pounds) of liquid oxygen (LOx), and 2,600 tons (5.7 million pounds) of liquid nitrogen (LN2). ). LCH4 and LOx are Starship's propellants, while LN2 needs to "supercool" the propellant below its boiling point, thereby significantly increasing its density and the mass of propellant that Starship can store.

In recent weeks, LN2 deliveries at rail tank yards have picked up, indicating that more tanks are being cleaned and inspected. SpaceX may also start filling one or two dedicated LN2 tanks on the farm with oil, but it is difficult to determine. More importantly, around October 17, SpaceX began filling Starship's orbital fuel tanks with liquid oxygen (real propellant) for the first time. Since then, deliveries have flowed in almost every day, rather than a slow and cautious process. As of November 4, at least 74 tankers had delivered LOx to the farm within 18 days.

All 4 LOX sub coolers are very frosty in the rail tank yard: 8:39 pm 10/28/21 pic.twitter.com/OKqbgLQ1hT

According to the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, the total weight of cryogenic tank trucks is limited to about 37 tons (about 81,000 pounds), and each truck may have delivered about 20 tons (about 45,000 pounds) of liquid oxygen to Starbase. In all, approximately 1,500 tons (3.3 million pounds) were delivered in less than three weeks—enough to fill about 80% of one of the farm’s three LOx tanks or a quarter of the total LOx storage capacity.

According to data from the artificial intelligence-based tracker Starbase Deliveries, it can only calculate the amount of delivery during the day. Between October 4 and November 4, at least 134 oil tankers delivered LCH4 to Starbase’s orbital and suborbital launch sites. , LOx or LN2-an average of 4.3 per day. At this rate, even if each delivery is delivered to the orbital pad, it will take SpaceX nearly four months to fill the orbital fuel tank. In short, even the facilities and logistics required to support the launch of a single orbiting starship are huge.

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