After the impact the first flight test of Starship had on the concrete below the OLM, SpaceX installed a water cooled steel plate with a water deluge system to mitigate the destruction of launch infrastructure by the fire of the raptor engines. This design change had to be approved by the FAA and Fish and Wildlife Service which took some time.

May 18, 2023 · One of the YT channels showed the new pilings being poured under the OLM and also showed pics of the old ones. The latter had concrete poured around a single vertical piece of reinforcement rod.

Jul 7, 2023 · This fantastic thread by @mcrs987 is all you need to understand how the Deluge plate under the SpaceX Starship OLM will be installed at Starbase, and how far SpaceX has come so far!

Mar 17, 2024 · The BC deluge plate had to be designed to fit around the existing OLM, and there were design compromises needed to make it fit. These included the constraints on the sizes and shapes of the...

Jul 8, 2023 · The center deluge plate, meant to save the pad from shattering concrete, was installed below the OLM as SpaceX prepares for Starship's second integrated test...

SpaceX rolled out the deluge plate to the launch site. They hope this plate will fix their concrete erosion issues seen on the first Starship test flight. Al...

May 11, 2023 · Didn't Musk say that the plates were going to be attached to the OLM legs, making the whole thing a rigid box? That may be enough to lower the forces exerted on the ground underneath the mount, directing it to the already strong foundations of the OLM legs.

Jul 13, 2023 · SpaceX has now placed the steel plate under the OLM floor needed for the launch pad deluge system plumbing. Screenshot: The massive water deluge system steel plate getting transported by cranes to be installed under the Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) at Starbase, Texas.

Jul 6, 2023 · Deluge plate to the launch site SpaceX rolled out the deluge plate to the launch site. They hope this plate will fix their concrete erosion issues seen on the first Starship test flight. Also, the Ship QD was reinstalled at a higher height to accommodate the new hot …

Aug 3, 2023 · Starship Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) at Starbase goes through a 100% water deluge system test. SpaceX performs a cryo/propellant load test on Super Heavy Booster 9 (videos).