Thread: SpaceX - On to Mars

^ That's cool, thanks TO!

Delayed 1 day due to problem with a grid fin.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Delayed 1 day due to problem with a grid fin.

I hope that's the only delay, I can't wait to see the after launch debris field under the launch stand.

Originally Posted by Topper

launch debris field under the launch stand.

Don't get your hopes up. They have very thoroughly upgraded the pad with the reverse showerhead. Lots of steel and many deep going piles below that.

Prop load has started. 1:20 until launch, if things go well.

And??

Successful launch, lost the booster after separation, starship on its way to Hawaii. Fooking cool to watch.

Seems like they lost the second stage..

Launch very well. All 33 engines started and did work to the end, none flamed out.

Stage separation worked well.

Second stage all engines worked nominal till the end of the planned acceleration time. Then it probably exploded.

First stage seems it has not reignited for the return flight and exploded.


Not a 100% success, but all went well beyond what they had defined as minimum they hoped for as success.

Launch pad is in good shape. The new deluge system worked nominal.

SpaceX engineers will pour over the telemetry data and determine, what now needs improvements. Lot's of cheering at mission control at SpaceX Hawthorne, California.

We can say, that all problems seen on the first flight were remedied and worked as planned. Unsurprising a few new probems popped up, hopefully to be solved for the next flight. I no longer think, they can do the next flight this year, as I hoped.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Launch pad is in good shape. The new deluge system worked nominal.

I saw a large chunk of something flying during the launch..

NASA administrator Bill Nelson sent congratulations to SpaceX.

If Musk put a bit more effort into it rather than wasting his time liking racists on "X" and pissing off his advertisers - then threatening to sue them - it might be a bit more successful.

Then it probably exploded.

We're not allowed to say "exploded".

It's "Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly".

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Not a 100% success, but all went well beyond what they had defined as minimum they hoped for as success.

Lowering expectations is always a good step towards publishing success...

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

If Musk put a bit more effort into it rather than wasting his time liking racists on "X" and pissing off his advertisers - then threatening to sue them - it might be a bit more successful.

To be fair, his scientist and engineers probably get more done when he is busy off messing around on twitter and keeping outta their hair!

Originally Posted by DrWilly

To be fair, his scientist and engineers probably get more done when he is busy off messing around on twitter and keeping outta their hair!

Or they're skiving off and being sloppy.

What does the evidence suggest?

So this was the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket that mankind has ever launched?

One of my twins works for Space X in Hawthorne and was at mission control when it went up at 5am LA time Saturday morning. She and the whole of her team were excited and she told me all they wanted to succeed had. Space X is extremely pleased and will be back hard at work taking care of making it go further next time. They are in no hurry, think back to how slow Falcon 9 was to really get up and running. 2022 they sent up 60 with 100% success, and are on track to smash that record this year. As a matter of fact they launched a Falcon 9 from Florida yesterday as well with yet more Starlink satellites.

Get off yer arse Lego and make a Starship in the same scale as the Sato V so they can be put next to each other.


Some fanboys already have done their own.

Starship design is very different to other rockets. It is good at high payload to LEO. But with its big and heavy upper stage performance drops off rapidly to higher energy trajectories. It is designed to need refueling, which requires low cost launches, so needs reuse. But even with this design restrictions it beats SLS to the Moon when fully expended. Fan calculation shows, with a Orion capsule on top it can reach the Moon just like SLS without refueling.

Price comparison, SLS stack costs $3 billion, Starship stack costs ~$100 million. For comparison, NASA pays more than $100 million for 1 of the 4 RS-25 main engines. OK that's cost, SpaceX would charge NASA a price that gives them a healthy profit.

FAA is going to do a mishap investigation, as Starship did fail to reach all objectives. But this mishap investigation will probably go much faster and smoother than the one after first flight. the failures were not safety relevant. SpaceX will need some time to analyze the problems encountered and find solutions. The good news is, that all issues encountered on the first flight were remedied and did not reoccur.

SpaceX has requested a launch license for February 2024. Hopefully they will get that. The way they do research and development is to fail and improve design with frequent iterations. They can afford it due to the low build cost.

Elon Musk is still much involved in engineering and design of Starship. The biggest, fairly recent contribution was the switch from carbon composite to steel. He was not satisfied with the speed and cost of development. So he investigated steel for low cost rapid prototyping, with the intent to switch back to carbon composite in production. To his own surprise he found, that steel is better over all due to the fact that it is better at very low cryo temperatures of the propellant and also better at high temperatures on reentry. A rare occurence where he took full credit, saying it took some convincing to get the design engineers to agree.

Another important point. SpaceX is not going to run out of funds for Starship development. Starlink is now at a point where it can finance operation and expansion from its own revenue. With rapid expansion into maritime and airplane operations they will be able to finance Starship development with Starlink revenue next year. They are becoming independent of external investors, even as investors are still lining up to purchase SpaceX shares every chance they get.

Airlines are switching to Starlink for on board internet for their passengers even during flying polar routes and trans atlantic and trans pacific flights.

Cruise lines use Starlink for their passengers.

The largest cargo shipping companies contract Starlink too.

A few photos of this launch.

The launch mount after launch

A mach diamond from all 33 booster engines.

All 33 engines firing, each visible separately

Weather radar data. Just right of center the debris cloud of the booster.

Weather radar. The long line is debris of Starship