Thread: SpaceX - On to Mars

Fan render on how the booster may be caught when coming down on twitter. Elon Musk responded


https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1422603106035118085

Elon: Very close to real! Arms are able to move during descent to match exact booster position.

Catch point is off to side, in case catch fails – don’t want to hit launch mount.


Booster is transferred back to launch mount for next flight.


Designed to have <1 hour turnaround.

The twitter link in the post above points to that video sequence, in case I was not clear enough. Astounding to see that happen in real life soon.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1422603106035118085

Stand Back, Stand Back, once lit.





That will be one hell of an explosion of power when fired up.

The Everyday Astronaut released a video on a tour Elon Musk gave him at the Boca Chica site. Some of Elons standard phrases but new info on Starship too. Very long, almost on hour, but impressive views besides the comments. Like a closeup of the gridfins. 3 tons each, 4 of them.



This is video 1, 2 more coming.

Lots of work on the orbital Starship S20.

All 6 engines installed, 3 big vacuum engines, 3 sea level engines.

The nose cone in the process of being tiled with heat shield tiles. The ones on top are glued on with an adhesive and temporarily held in place by duct tape. Most are just clipped on with a thermal blanket below.

Elon on a bike.

A Starship spacecraft has been placed on top of a Super Heavy Booster.












The size of the fokin' thing.


Does TO know about this?

When manned flights do commence.





You're gonna need some balls to sit on top of that.

I love these two shots, took them as screen grab from the NSF live stream.

deleted duplicate

Love this one

Still lots happening at Boca Chica. In a tour of the site with Elon Musk they said they work like under the assumption that a big asteroid will hit in a few weeks.

They have problems with the heat shield tiles. Many of the first batch need to be replaced or fitted better in place. All tiles affected are color coded with tape depending on what's wrong.

A picture, sized for this forum and a link to the source which has a huge version showing the details. Taken by the now world famous bocachicagal

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...=2052569;image

The nose cone is still an old design, will be replaced by a new much advanced version that looks much smoother. But good enough for the first planned orbital flight.

A fanmade animation of catching the booster and stacking of the second stage. Elon Musk confirmed it is close to what they intend to do. You could call that bat shit crazy, worth watching if you have twitter.


https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/...92793035186182

Arms and booster will move faster.

The first orbital flight will not attempt landing and catching. For safety reasons they go into the sea.

Placing heat tiles on the Starship nose. 50m up the work platform swings a little in the wind. Still a lot more comfortable than that Emirates stewardess.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1435987518030241804

^
Why do they tile outside, rather than undercover, wherever the nose is constructed?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Why do they tile outside, rather than undercover, wherever the nose is constructed?

The nose is built in one of the tents, not nearly high enough to tile a full Starship. They weld the pins there, but do the tiling later.

What they are presently doing, is inefficient. They were throwing all resources into getting flight ready ASAP. It will be different in the future. I expect rigid structures, even if only scaffolding to do the work. Manlifts are really inefficient.

They are building a bigger, higher Highbay. Maybe they will tile future Starships in the present Highbay.

There is a lot of progress in Boca Chica, not as spectacular as the explosions a while back but things are more solid now. Finally a static fire of a Starship on Oct. 21.



This is the Starship that is supposed to go orbital, as soon as SpaceX receives a launch license. If you want to see the static fire only, skip to 2:30 minutes in the video.

There is an environmental assessment, an EA, in the works with a public comment period ending. With someone arguing this is not a rocket launch site, but just a cover up for plans to drill for oil and gas and building a power plant without permission. An environmental group who fight for the right of locals to do some racing with their SUVs on the beach. Also some commenting on endangering turtles nesting on that beach, ignoring that SpaceX works with a local turtle protection group who are very happy with the arrangements.

The launch site is nearing completion. They have installed the chopsticks on the integration tower. They are planned to catch landing Super Heavy boosters and probably landing Starships in the air, so there would not be legs on them to carry in flight. The arm carriage can move all the way up and down on the tower. They will also grab Booster and Starship to place them on the launch mount you can see on the left of the photo, the structure with a lot of scaffolding.

All the tanks needed for propellant storage are in place now. Still some work until they are operational.

All 33 engines worked OK?

Next year could see the first space launch from the UK. I look forward to the day i might get to see one for myself.

Shetland Space Port

Shetland Space Centre is changing its name to SaxaVord Spaceport as it rebrands to position itself at the heart of the new space economy in Europe.


The rocket launch site and ground station, located in the UK’s most northerly island of Unst, Shetland, is already the designated site of next year’s UK Pathfinder launch by Lockheed Martin and ABL Systems.


And as they seek to make Shetland synonymous with the new space economy as well as build on their existing client base, the company’s owners recognised that the time was right to be clear about its vision, mission, values and behaviours.


Unst was clearly identified as the optimal site for launching small satellites into low earth orbit in the independent Sceptre Report, commissioned by the UK Government to identify the most commercially viable launch locations in the UK.


Saxa Vord is the name of the highest hill in Unst (935ft) which overlooks both the launch site and the former RAF Saxa Vord base where launch control and mission support personnel will be accommodated.


In Norse mythology, Saxa was a giant who lived on the hill, while across the water resided Herma (hence Hermaness). For amusement, they threw huge boulders at one another.

https://shetlandspacecentre.com/news/

Originally Posted by OhOh

All 33 engines worked OK?

Actually, is there a fallback that it can still operate if one fails?

Or is it a case of one fails = everybody dies?


Fok being a mechanic on one of those and living with that stress.

...of course, once plasma engines are developed, such elaborate constructions will no longer be necessary...