SpaceX and other space news updates

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rednecked
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In reply to Faustus • 3:08p, 10/14/24
AG
Access to space is the sine qua non of a credible space program.

ya think?!


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aTmAg
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In reply to Faustus • 3:10p, 10/14/24
AG
Nearly the same could be said about NASA. Imagine if there was no SpaceX. Where would NASA be right now?
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Kenneth_2003
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In reply to OnlyForNow • 3:18p, 10/14/24
AG
OnlyForNow said:
It looked like there was a planned RUD of starship right as it touched down in the water (based on the bouy cam)
That was my take as well. Confirm a soft water landing then activate the FTS. Activating the FTS also ensures that you aren't leaving live explosives to potentially be floating around the ocean or washing up onshore somewhere since this ship soft landed in one piece.

The traditionally non-recovered first stages that slam into the ocean do so supersonically. We all watched the SH Booster needling back to the launch tower. Now think about that as every first stage booster in the history of spaceflight. It's just that no one has ever been there to see them. The Saturn S1C's that have been found are smashed.
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Kceovaisnt-
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3:37p, 10/14/24
AG
Elon would be very pleased to hear that this thread is now on page 420.
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Decay
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3:39p, 10/14/24
AG
I can't wait for something ridiculous like his 420th starship launch finds alien life
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The Kraken
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In reply to OnlyForNow • 4:06p, 10/14/24
AG
OnlyForNow said:
We should all go back and watch and study...


I fully agree that hot metal doesn't react too well when hitting water - BUT - the return capsules have never exploded when landing in the ocean.

I think it's either 100% planned, or a by product of the ship tipping over and then boom - which would undoubtably be a known thing, since it flips from bellyflop anyways.

Capsules spending several minutes in -40 degree air then several more minutes slowed by parachutes have time to cool down...plus I believe most of the heat energy is shed away with the ablation of the heat shield.
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V8Aggie
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4:16p, 10/14/24
AG
I can't wait for him to send the Tesla bots to mars with them driving a Tesla for ****s and giggles.
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RED AG 98
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4:25p, 10/14/24
AG
New view of The Catch posted by SpaceX

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PJYoung
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4:26p, 10/14/24
AG
Here's the full SpaceX feed from Sunday's launch/landing.

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fullback44
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4:26p, 10/14/24
AG
The EU space program is a giant money grab from its citizens and seems all hubris and wasted taxpayers money. Elon is showing up all these space agencies. They are all huge giant money pits that dont produce for their countries. Crazy how one guy can show all these countries how space flight should work and at a fraction of the cost. The EU has tons of stupid and wasteful regulations, not just their space agency.
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txags92
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In reply to OnlyForNow • 4:33p, 10/14/24
AG
OnlyForNow said:
We should all go back and watch and study...


I fully agree that hot metal doesn't react too well when hitting water - BUT - the return capsules have never exploded when landing in the ocean.

I think it's either 100% planned, or a by product of the ship tipping over and then boom - which would undoubtably be a known thing, since it flips from bellyflop anyways.

Do the return capsules still have propellant in them from the landing burn? Release of that residual propellant from cracked hot metal feed lines due to water immersion would be a great way to cause it to blow up.
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txags92
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In reply to The Kraken • 4:36p, 10/14/24
AG
The Kraken said:
OnlyForNow said:
We should all go back and watch and study...


I fully agree that hot metal doesn't react too well when hitting water - BUT - the return capsules have never exploded when landing in the ocean.

I think it's either 100% planned, or a by product of the ship tipping over and then boom - which would undoubtably be a known thing, since it flips from bellyflop anyways.

Capsules spending several minutes in -40 degree air then several more minutes slowed by parachutes have time to cool down...plus I believe most of the heat energy is shed away with the ablation of the heat shield.
Capsules also don't do a landing burn to heat up the area of the rocket about to be first into the water.
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nortex97
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In reply to aTmAg • 6:09p, 10/14/24
AG
aTmAg said:
Nearly the same could be said about NASA. Imagine if there was no SpaceX. Where would NASA be right now?
Yes, absent SpaceX, let's face it, RFA's statement would be equally true here.

Quote:
Europe has ambitious private space players. With innovative ideas, courage and a vision. Unfortunately, they are being held by the long arm and are in danger of withering away while old structures, processes and mindsets are maintained.

What we need immediately and systematically are state anchor customers, substantial investment, and a framework that allows and promotes unbureaucratic, fast and risk-taking development.

Otherwise, Europe will quickly sink into insignificance when it comes to the exploration of space, its resources and its potential. And we leave it to the rest of the world to make history. Just like #SpaceX did yesterday.

It is up to Europe, up to us.
In fact, there are elements in the US trying to do the same to our own private players. But I don't think those elements will succeed, here. A real rivalry or competitors from Europe would be very healthy, and personally I think it's just sad that they are not facilitating that (and likewise, frankly, the Russians who have squandered their legacy of innovation and engineering capacity in this area).
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Mr President Elect
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6:59p, 10/14/24
AG
New video just dropped:
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flintdragon
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In reply to Mr President Elect • 7:02p, 10/14/24
AG
Mr President Elect said:
New video just dropped:
can't get enough of these videos...
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will25u
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7:11p, 10/14/24
New longer tower video! Probably the best one yet!

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Ag87H2O
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In reply to Mr President Elect • 7:23p, 10/14/24
AG
Mr President Elect said:
New video just dropped:
It's hard to overstate how incredible this is.

A 20 story, well over a thousand ton tube of steel and fuel falling out of the sky at 4500 kph glides smoothly for a soft landing into the arms of a mechanical tower. I still can't believe it worked perfectly the first time.
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JobSecurity
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In reply to Mr President Elect • 7:35p, 10/14/24
AG
Mr President Elect said:
New video just dropped:
This is nucking futs

I had no idea how small the catch pins were. They're shooting a skyscraper into space and landing with a two liter soda bottle onto a balance beam
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bthotugigem05
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7:38p, 10/14/24
AG
Those catch pins are likely much bigger than they appear. The grid fins are the size of a car, for comparison.

The shimmy back and forth as the arms hugged it was really interesting to me.
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RED AG 98
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In reply to JobSecurity • 7:39p, 10/14/24
AG
JobSecurity said:
Mr President Elect said:
New video just dropped:
This is nucking futs

I had no idea how small the catch pins were. They're shooting a skyscraper into space and landing with a two liter soda bottle onto a balance beam
Small is relative. Would love a picture to show the scale but those things are I think like the size of a Cat D10
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Sea Speed
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7:48p, 10/14/24
AG
They are about the size of a person. I saw an image on a Twitter thread but cnt find it now.
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tk for tu juan
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7:48p, 10/14/24
12:38 for human scale of gridfins and pin

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ABATTBQ11
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In reply to RED AG 98 • 7:52p, 10/14/24
AG
The grid fins are. The catch pins are impressively small.
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RED AG 98
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In reply to ABATTBQ11 • 8:00p, 10/14/24
AG
Ah that's right. I have 3M x 7M in my head but yeah that's the grid fin.
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Ag87H2O
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8:12p, 10/14/24
AG
I want to say I read somewhere the landing pads/pegs are only 8-10" in diameter. Amazing that only two of them can support all that wieght.
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will25u
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8:42p, 10/14/24
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will25u
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9:00p, 10/14/24
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fullback44
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In reply to will25u • 9:09p, 10/14/24
AG
will25u said:
The man is a genius… and to thank there are idiots on this site that think they guy isn't very smart … we have a few low IQ dummies on our site !
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fullback44
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In reply to tk for tu juan • 9:25p, 10/14/24
AG
tk for tu juan said:
12:38 for human scale of gridfins and pin

Very cool video
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will25u
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10:01p, 10/14/24
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lb3
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In reply to txags92 • 10:12p, 10/14/24
AG
txags92 said:
OnlyForNow said:
We should all go back and watch and study...


I fully agree that hot metal doesn't react too well when hitting water - BUT - the return capsules have never exploded when landing in the ocean.

I think it's either 100% planned, or a by product of the ship tipping over and then boom - which would undoubtably be a known thing, since it flips from bellyflop anyways.

Do the return capsules still have propellant in them from the landing burn? Release of that residual propellant from cracked hot metal feed lines due to water immersion would be a great way to cause it to blow up.
Simply hovering until the tanks are empty would be catastrophic.
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hph6203
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In reply to will25u • 10:21p, 10/14/24
AG
"The raptor engine will never work."
"Ok, it worked but barely and they'll never get 33 of them to light simultaneously."
"Ok, it worked, but the belly flop will never work."
"Ok, it worked, but the stainless steel ship will never survive re-entry."
"Ok, it worked, but the flap melted and there's absolutely no way they'll catch a booster."
"Ok, it worked but they'll never make it to orbit."

And then payload.
And then refueling.
And then landing on the moon.
And then landing on Mars.
And then sending enough material on mars for humans to make it there and back.
And then send enough material to colonize Mars.
And then some as of yet undetermined celestial body.
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tk for tu juan
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12:54a, 10/15/24
Pretty good hand tracking of booster return

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nortex97
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In reply to will25u • 3:52a, 10/15/24
AG
Nice. Text for the non-twitterers;

Quote:
Since your handle is "Whole Mars", perhaps this lengthy reply is apropos:

Getting the cost per ton to the surface of Mars low enough that humanity has the resources to make life multiplanetary requires a roughly 1000X improvement in rocket & spacecraft technology.

Recent US Mars missions have had a cost per ton of useful load to the surface of Mars of about $1B. Moreover, it has become more, not less, expensive over time!

To build a city on Mars that can grow by itself likely requires at least a million tons of equipment, which would therefore require >$1000 trillion, an obviously impossible number, given that US GDP is only $29T.

However, if rocket technology can be improved by 1000X, then the cost of becoming sustainably multiplanetary would drop to ~$1T, which could be spread out over 40 or more years, so <$25B/year.

At that cost, it becomes possible to make life multiplanetary, ensuring the long-term survival of life as we know it, without materially affecting people's standard of living on Earth.

Starship is designed to achieve a >1000X improvement over existing systems and, especially after yesterday's booster catch and precise ocean landing of the ship, I am now convinced that it can work.
Will see how long they decide to wait for the next one, my swag would be around 30-45 days for tower checks etc:
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Nanomachines son
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In reply to hph6203 • 7:46a, 10/15/24
hph6203 said:
"The raptor engine will never work."
"Ok, it worked but barely and they'll never get 33 of them to light simultaneously."
"Ok, it worked, but the belly flop will never work."
"Ok, it worked, but the stainless steel ship will never survive re-entry."
"Ok, it worked, but the flap melted and there's absolutely no way they'll catch a booster."
"Ok, it worked but they'll never make it to orbit."

And then payload.
And then refueling.
And then landing on the moon.
And then landing on Mars.
And then sending enough material on mars for humans to make it there and back.
And then send enough material to colonize Mars.
And then some as of yet undetermined celestial body.




SpaceX, an American company, is poised to lead the Space Age into the next arena.

I guarantee that Musk is has a number of secret projects related to exotic propulsion systems, there is no way a man like this is going to be satisfied with rocket propulsion despite changing the entire game around them.

They effectively already own space. The future is very bright.
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