From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   JF Mezei formulated the question :   
      
   > Are the tile attach points added during the manufacturiung of rings in   
   > the controlled environment, or would they be added only after the ship   
   > segments have been mated/welded together ? Just curious if SpaceX may be   
   > stuck having to use ships with the tile attach points already on for   
   > tests where tiles are not needed, especially if SN9 ends up a write off,   
   > changing sequence by 2 SNs (SN10 playing role of SN8 and so on).   
   >   
   > (If tule attach points are only added once ship is fully assembled, then   
   > it is a no brainer since none of them would have them now, so easy to   
   > use any for atmpspheric tests without tiles).   
      
   They have a robot that does the attach points; the limited spotting of   
   that robot's activities were of partial stacks (4 rings, which is about   
   the size of the LOx tank).  They've tried a couple different patterns,   
   but the tiles all seem to be hexagonal.  I don't think I've seen the   
   robot since August.   
      
   IIRC, some tiles were removed from either SN5 or SN6, but that still   
   left some attached.   
      
   /dps   
      
      
   --   
   Killing a mouse was hardly a Nobel Prize-worthy exercise, and Lawrence   
   went apopleptic when he learned a lousy rodent had peed away all his   
   precious heavy water.   
   _The Disappearing Spoon_, Sam Kean   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)