u/TheRealNobodySpecial

Comparing the startup sequences for the 6 engine static fires for Ship 40 vs Ship 39,

Ship 40 lit 2 Rvacs and the adjacent sea level Raptor before then lighting the remaining Raptors, which is very different from Ship 30, which lit the 3 Rvacs simultaneously, then one sea level Raptor (it seems, video cuts out before full ignition).

This lends credence to the theory that the timing of the Starship raptors led to the off-axis rotation of the Super Heavy after stage separation.

It will be interesting to see how the asymmetric thrust will affect the Starship as it lights and separates from the booster.

A couple of interesting tidbits from Scott Manley's Deep Space Update today regarding New Glenn:

• Until the static fire anomaly, Blue Origin was planning up to 4 launches in June (9:22), which means they must have really made progress in booster refurbishment
• Per Scott's sources (12:22), he believes Blue Origin has identified the cause of the BE-4 failure that led to the anomaly. This is the first I've heard anyone talking about the investigation.

I also came across this video from 3Q 2024 from Everyday Astronaut touring LC-36 with Jeff Bezos. The important points other than to view what once was, was that the transporter-erector weighed 4 million pounds, and the size of the hydraulic actuators to upright New Glenn. Replacing those items would likely take years, which explains why Blue Origin is going to skip it completely.

Let's talk about thrusters, yeah?

v1 and v2 ships used ullage gases as warm gas thrusters to help maneuver the Ship in space.

It looks like there are new thrusters, as seen here in the livestream. This wasn't discussed in SpaceX's PR in the run-up to Flight 12.

Is this what they were testing in the MacGregor tent? Is this the famed methox thruster that was shelved after Elon toured Starbase with the Everyday Astronaut?