SpaceX flight testing in South Texas
Tabs please !
Perhaps I have a retirement job opportunity but I doubt I would last long after too many "clucking hell, that's loud" comments.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Static fire of a single Raptor engine using the header tanks on Flight 4 Starship.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
From Starbase to Cape Canaveral: The first Super Heavy booster for future Starship launches from Florida arrived at Port Canaveral this morning.
I'm assuming that's an April fool gag?
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Some interesting notes:
Flight 4 in a month or so. Aim to get through the high heating regime. Into the ocean at a controlled spot - a virtual tower (soft water landing technique).
If that works, "Flight 5 will land on the Tower" (catch the booster with the chopsticks).
99 percent of all mass from Earth to orbit when Starship is flying (fully operational).
Goal to get 200 tons to orbit with full reusability.
Two pinpoint soft landings are required for Ship for catches. Maybe next year.
Two Towers by sometime next year. Two at Starbase. Two at the Cape - first operation middle of next year (will be 39A).
Planning to build another roughly six boosters and ships and that production rate will increase a lot next year. That's why we're building the giant factory.
Per Mars, need more ships than boosters. - "aim to ramp production to pretty high numbers, ultimately probably a ship every, like multiple ships per day".
Next year aiming to demonstrate ship-to-ship propellant transfer.
Lunar Starship - "we need landing legs. And you don't need a heat shield and you don't need flaps because there's no atmosphere. So the Moon ship would be specialized".
Performance - "we've made dramatic progress on every level for Starship has evolved from, you know, optimistically 185 tons to 280".
"We'll aim to get the booster engines over 330 tons of thrust, which would mean 10,000 tons of total thrust at liftoff. Raptor 3 also will not need a heat shield".
Cost: "The Starship 3 (much taller version) will be 400 times more payload for less than the cost of a Falcon 1. Ultimately, I think we might be able to get the cost per flight to Earth orbit down to around $2 million or $3 million".
Lots about Mars Base Alpha.
Long-term - "we'll probably have some offshore launch sites".
Flight 4 in a month or so. Aim to get through the high heating regime. Into the ocean at a controlled spot - a virtual tower (soft water landing technique).
If that works, "Flight 5 will land on the Tower" (catch the booster with the chopsticks).
99 percent of all mass from Earth to orbit when Starship is flying (fully operational).
Goal to get 200 tons to orbit with full reusability.
Two pinpoint soft landings are required for Ship for catches. Maybe next year.
Two Towers by sometime next year. Two at Starbase. Two at the Cape - first operation middle of next year (will be 39A).
Planning to build another roughly six boosters and ships and that production rate will increase a lot next year. That's why we're building the giant factory.
Per Mars, need more ships than boosters. - "aim to ramp production to pretty high numbers, ultimately probably a ship every, like multiple ships per day".
Next year aiming to demonstrate ship-to-ship propellant transfer.
Lunar Starship - "we need landing legs. And you don't need a heat shield and you don't need flaps because there's no atmosphere. So the Moon ship would be specialized".
Performance - "we've made dramatic progress on every level for Starship has evolved from, you know, optimistically 185 tons to 280".
"We'll aim to get the booster engines over 330 tons of thrust, which would mean 10,000 tons of total thrust at liftoff. Raptor 3 also will not need a heat shield".
Cost: "The Starship 3 (much taller version) will be 400 times more payload for less than the cost of a Falcon 1. Ultimately, I think we might be able to get the cost per flight to Earth orbit down to around $2 million or $3 million".
Lots about Mars Base Alpha.
Long-term - "we'll probably have some offshore launch sites".
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
I’m reminded of the concept that generations of machinery start off being very complicated and end up looking very simple - but it’s just the sophistication of the engineering being at a much more basic level…
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Animation of booster landing and capture…The update included near-term priorities for Starship that will unlock its ability to be fully and rapidly reusable, the core enabler for transforming humanity’s ability to send large amounts of payload to orbit and beyond
That's impressive. 3 weeks from launch to static fire!
