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Originally Posted by ORAC
(Post 11732204)
They could have launched - might have lost tiles, might have damaged the arms, maybe not - but there is no point in sitting around doing nothing, so they carried out the updates that otherwise would just have been done for the next launch.
The Starship is a throw away anyway and they have a second launch tower they would have been ready for the next launch if tower one had been damaged. The tower is up, but the catch arms, launch mount, deluge system etc are nowhere near being installed. There's talk of a flame trench too... There's also tower 3 going up at the Cape... |
FAA response - reading between the lines, don’t hold your breath until 2025….
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....63d511a8a6.png |
It's enough for a cynic to think that the US Federal Government is being harder on Space X ever since Elon came out supporting Trump :rolleyes:
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Sounds like pretty much the whole industry is unhappy with the FAA...
Congress, industry criticize FAA launch licensing regulations - SpaceNews |
In a very odd turn of events, the vessel Hos Ridgewind does indeed appear to be attempting to recover portions of Booster 11.
Hos Ridgewind is at the splashdown point of B11 and has been for the past four days. 🧵 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...778110678.html |
Originally Posted by tdracer
(Post 11733568)
Sounds like pretty much the whole industry is unhappy with the FAA...
Congress, industry criticize FAA launch licensing regulations - SpaceNews FAA AST is following the law and established policy. There is much merit in the recognition that currently applicable launch licensing processes need an overhaul. But deviating from established rules and policy isn't the answer. As for the new Moon race, with all the hardware development hurdles yet to be surmounted, it's almost laughable to blame FAA AST's adherence to established law and policy for anticipatory worries that the PRC will get there first. Or first the second time around. |
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SpaceX: Starship stacked for Flight 5 and ready for launch, pending regulatory approval.
”A reminder that the "regulatory approval" is "pending" *NOT* because SpaceX wants to try to catch a freaking skyscraper with the tower,but because the FAA decided that splashing the hot-staging ring now required a 60 day consultation - despite deeming it ok for the previous flights.” |
My understanding of the FAA position is that they issued a licence for several flights 'of the same type and profile' as IFT4. SpaceX intends to fly a very different profile with IFT5, therefore a new licence is required.
No one has ever done this before, they are literally writing the regs as they go along. The flim flam about waste water from the deluge system and the hot stage ring is a, to parden the pun, a drop in the ocean. All this silly talk about Biden holding up SpaceX because of Musk's political alignment with Trump is just conspiracy nonsense. |
B11 is finally coming home….
We know this has been quite awaited, despite many complications and possible conflicted interests. So here's the FULL story…… Elon Musk: Starship Super Heavy Booster Flight 4… https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8da6c3f09.jpeg |
Propellant load test and preflight checkouts complete ahead of Flight 5.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....73cdf694dd.png |
A Raptor test to destruction…. that didn’t fail…..
VideoWOW! A Raptor just fired for the longest duration ever and by some margin at McGregor just now. A full 897 seconds! Nearly 15 minutes!! Just seeing how long it could keep going for @elonmusk? |
A lot of confusion - especially inside the FAA it seems…. NOTAM for IFT5 from 13th Oct…
New NOTAM for Starship Flight 5. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....519fe4a101.png |
Hope that NOTAM proves true!
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Water Deluge System test at Starbase Pad A, before the potential October 13 launch attempt.
The next milestone should be destack for pre-flight FTS work. |
Starship’s fifth flight test is preparing to launch as soon as October 13, pending regulatory approval →
http://spacex.com/launches/mission/?...rship-flight-5 |
Starship Flight 5: SQD (Ship Quick Disconnect) has been retracted ahead of destacking later today.
This is a nominal process in the path to launch to allow for the FTS (Flight Termination System) work to be completed. |
SpaceX says it will attempt to catch the Starship Super Heavy booster with the pad chopsticks, but it would “require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s Flight Director.
If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.” |
Road closures for flight 5 launch have been posted.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....97abdd7fb2.png |
Well it looks like SpaceX got the deluge system draft permit approved.
Combined with an earlier hot stage adapter release to land it in the flight 4 zone, and that's probably why they are confidant it's going to be approved soon. |
https://spacenews.com/nasa-really-lo...p-test-flight/
NASA “really looking forward” to next Starship test flight WASHINGTON — As SpaceX prepares for the test flight of its Starship vehicle, NASA is closely watching as it waits for the company to achieve the next milestones on development of the lunar lander version of the vehicle. SpaceX announced late Oct. 7 that it was preparing to launch Starship on its fifth integrated test flight as soon as Oct. 13, pending regulatory approval. The mission will be similar to the fourth mission in June, with the Starship upper stage flying a suborbital trajectory targeting a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. A key difference, though, is that the Super Heavy booster will attempt to return the Starbase launch site at Boca Chica, Texas. That would allow the launch tower to “catch” the booster with a pair of mechanical arms and set it down on the launch mount. That is a key element of SpaceX’s long-term plans to enable rapid reuse of the vehicle. “Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch attempt of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s Flight Director,” the company stated. If those conditions are not met, the booster will instead splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. Speaking at an Oct. 9 meeting of the National Academies’ Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president for build and flight reliability, expressed optimism that the booster could make it back for a catch by the launch tower. “We landed with half a centimeter accuracy in the ocean” on the previous flight, he said, “so we think we have a reasonable chance to go back to the tower.”…….. |
A trifecta…FYI: If everything stays the same, SpaceX Starship IFT-5 and Falcon Heavy Europa Clipper will both launch on Sunday!
IFT-5 = 0700 CT FH Europa = 1212 ET Plus the re-entry & splashdown of Dragon with crew-8 from the ISS. Undock at 0305 ET. |
Booster and Starship explosives have been installed.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....08b6eca815.png https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d84b271e0.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e4f9c75b4.jpeg |
Starship flight 5 vehicles Ship 30 and Booster 12 have been fully stacked for what should be the final time prior to launch. Now at T-minus 44 hrs!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....46d6331449.png |
SpaceX: Starship stacked ahead of its fifth flight test. We expect regulatory approval in time to fly on October 13
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Oh, Boy! This should be a sight to see, especially the "Booster Catch"!
- Ed |
Looks like the Europa Falcon Heavy and Crew 8 re-entry have slipped till Monday. Tomorrow a go for IFT5….
The FAA has updated their website, and now it shows 13 October as the primary launch date for Starship Flight 5. License can come any moment now! Excitement guaranteed! https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....34da16c6d3.png https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8138adab9a.png |
Launch licence covers up to 5 launches per year using the same launch and booster recovery/catch profile.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...671892660.html https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....682a9042ba.png https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1103a751ed.png |
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Curious which streams people follow this on - lots of channels with their own footage/commentary to augment the vanilla SpaceX feed; personally I lean towards NASASpacefilght for launches with Scott Manley on YouTube for later analysis and comment. Am I missing anything good?
Edit: YouTube link got borked by the forum |
NASASPACEFLIGHT and Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut for me. One on a TV the other on a laptop. Both dip in to the official SpaceX feed when necessary.
NSF are very much like a fan club whereas the EA has more insight and technical information as he does seem to have the ear of Elon Musk. His tours of the SpaceX and Blue Origin factories are a must watch if your into this sort of thing. I agree about Scott Manley, very well informed and great analysis. "Fly Safe'👍🏴 |
Not watched Tim for a launch; might give him a go today :) Agree 100% his factory tours are essential viewing.
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Bloody hell! 😁
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Quite a dynamic approach profile - guess designed to mitigate damage to the tower if things go a bit south.
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Successful re-entry of the Starship - accurate enough that the water landing (and explosion as the engine section hit the water) captured by the camera buoys SpaceX had placed at the planned landing spot.
Another flap burn through, but less than the last flight and - again - not terminal. Best thing about EA is their 4K 120fpm cameras. Awesome footage of stage separation, flip and booster recovery. |
That level of accuracy is astonishing. To land next to pre positioned Bouys in the middle of the Pacific!
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History in the making. Just for once 'awesome' is the appropriate word.
How/where are they planning to land Ship? Will it grow legs or is there some other plan? |
Same deal as booster - chopsticks
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How/where are they planning to land Ship? Will it grow legs or is there some other plan? At some stage the ships will be fitted with landing blocks below the upper flaps and will be caught in a tower in the same way as the booster. Presumably whichever the current two towers hasn't caught the booster- pending a dedicated tower near the ship turnaround facility? (Boosters are supposed, eventually, to be able to be turned and launched 2-3 times a day. Ships will need tile repair/replacement as well as loading of their next payloads, whether Starlink satellites or other commercial orbital payloads - and eventually tankers and lunar landers etc.) * |
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