Author Topic: SpaceX News  (Read 127056 times)

AZRedhawk44

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1125 on: March 11, 2022, 02:46:21 PM »
WLJ:  I've been following the Starship campaign in Boca very closely, and I'm at odds with some other fans regarding one point of development.  Was curious if you have any concrete information one way or another on this.

The Tower that was built at Boca is referred to by SpaceX as "Stage 0."  Its intention is to facilitate rapid and repeatable integration of Booster to Starship, provide fueling fixtures, get out of the way for launch, then prepare to catch the Booster about 5 minutes after launch and redeposit it on the launch mount again.  It can pick up another Starship that is delivered to it by a crane or SPMT and integrate that new Starship into the Booster for a new launch.

The point of disagreement we have is that I argue that the Tower as-is is incapable of catching a Starship, and so Starship will have landing legs until Tower and Starship integration/recovery development is completed to allow for deletion of legs from the second stage vehicle.  In support of this, I have found many quotes from SpaceX talking about how the Tower integrates both separate vehicles but when talking about recovery they very specifically say that the Booster is caught by the Tower, neglecting to say anything about the Starship.  These are from 2022, very recent.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1491964480581898241
Quote from: SpaceX Twitter feed
The launch tower at Starbase will help stack Starship and catch the Super Heavy rocket booster


The opposing argument I face declares that Starship will be caught by the Tower, from the get-go.  They cite quotes from Musk from April of 2021, way before the Tower was built, as their evidence.  But it's an aspirational quote, where he says he'd prefer to just snatch the ship out of the air in free-fall if he could in the same sentence.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1379876450744995843?t=sXcMt1RZX7spWlnyi8P-fA
Quote from: Elon Musk
Ideal scenario imo is catching Starship in horizontal “glide” with no landing burn, although that is quite a challenge for the tower! Next best is catching with tower, with emergency pad landing mode on skirt (no legs).

There's a very talented visual artist who has been following Starship closely, Ryan Hansen, who has a youtube channel where he renders things from Boca Chica as observed by NSF and other freelance reporters.  He has a fantastic video on the interfaces between the Tower, the Booster, and Starship.  And there's absolutely no way that the current Tower/Chopstick design can catch the current Starship design.  It's a ball and socket connection that requires IMMENSE precision to engage.  It's just not going to happen in propulsive descent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqCDgjaDWLs

Do you have any source regarding Starship's immediate operational recovery plans?  Obviously B4/S20 are both going to be expended into the Gulf and the Pacific, but the next flights should test the Tower for recovery of the booster, and the Starship for reentry integrity and landing approach authority.
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1126 on: March 12, 2022, 12:24:02 PM »
Honestly I'm not entirely sure yet myself but I've not really dug into it but I've heard both techniques being tossed around. The booster has the fixed grid fins for the "chop sticks" to hold while Starship itself has the control fins but watching the recent lift and stack the "chop sticks" they used the ball and socket connections under the fins on Starship. Seriously doubt they could manage that with a SS in motion and I don't think the control fins can support the weight and stress of a catch but I could be wrong on that.

I thinking stick with legs on SS despite the weight penalty. I would hate to see the booster damage or take out the tower in a failed catch leaving a SS with no where to land.

 I've taken a wait and see attitude lately when it comes to Elon and SpaceX.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2022, 12:38:13 PM by WLJ »
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1127 on: March 13, 2022, 05:13:32 PM »
Updates

NSF Live: SLS prepares to rollout, SpaceX stacks Booster 7, international relations update, & more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5BAO5ua-8U
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1128 on: March 14, 2022, 09:15:23 AM »
If at first you don't succeed........

Suppose to go live at 11:30am eastern

Quote
NASASpaceflight
534K subscribers
Astra is covering some expenses associated with producing this broadcast.

The livestream will begin at approximately T-45 minutes until liftoff. As usual, schedules are fluid due to the various weather and technical factors associated with launch. The broadcast start time will be adjusted as needed. Follow @astra on Twitter for live updates.

LIVE: Astra Launches Spaceflight Astra-1 Mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQntGP-G2YU
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1129 on: March 14, 2022, 11:55:02 AM »
27 minutes

And they left the gate open. You know, just in case.  :rofl:
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1130 on: March 14, 2022, 12:12:51 PM »
Weather hold
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1131 on: March 14, 2022, 12:37:38 PM »
Weather scrub
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1132 on: March 15, 2022, 11:35:23 AM »
If at first you don't succeed try try try try again

suppose to go live at 11:45 EDT

LIVE: Astra Launches Spaceflight Astra-1 Mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYNXoC1qTLo
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1133 on: March 15, 2022, 12:00:31 PM »
Live!
And the gate is open....very important detail.
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1134 on: March 15, 2022, 12:17:52 PM »
4 minutes
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1135 on: March 15, 2022, 12:25:44 PM »
Good 2nd stage fire
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1136 on: March 15, 2022, 12:27:11 PM »
Don't like the amount of wobbling I'm seeing
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1137 on: March 15, 2022, 12:42:51 PM »
Still no confirmation of payload deployment.
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RocketMan

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1138 on: March 15, 2022, 12:54:18 PM »
Kodiak, we have a problem.  Still no payload separation.
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1139 on: March 15, 2022, 12:57:21 PM »
Reading on their twitter page they're waiting for it to come within range of a ground station for confirmation. Got to remember Astra doesn't have SpaceX's comm resources.
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1140 on: March 15, 2022, 01:06:29 PM »
Twitter page is now a mess of adolescent postings. Can't tell good from bad now.
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1141 on: March 15, 2022, 01:21:40 PM »
Someone just posted it will be another 30 minutes or so. Don't know how official that is.
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1142 on: March 15, 2022, 02:09:09 PM »
Reports it's headed for Moscow.

Just kidding  =(

Good deployment
Way to go Astra!
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RocketMan

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1143 on: March 15, 2022, 04:13:55 PM »
Hey, good to hear they had a nominal deployment.  That's outstanding.  Now they just need to pile on a bunch more successful flights to prove they have what it takes to be a competitive space launch company.
If there really was intelligent life on other planets, we'd be sending them foreign aid.

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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1144 on: March 15, 2022, 08:24:12 PM »
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1145 on: March 15, 2022, 08:31:45 PM »
Stack maybe?
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kgbsquirrel

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1146 on: March 15, 2022, 08:40:10 PM »
Reading on their twitter page they're waiting for it to come within range of a ground station for confirmation. Got to remember Astra doesn't have SpaceX's comm resources.

Maybe they could use starlink for telemetry?   :laugh:

WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1147 on: March 15, 2022, 09:14:43 PM »
We have stack
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WLJ

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1148 on: March 15, 2022, 09:48:07 PM »
SLS rollout set for Thursday
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AJ Dual

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Re: SpaceX News
« Reply #1149 on: March 16, 2022, 10:13:27 AM »
SLS rollout set for Thursday

I find it funny that at the cost per launch for SLS, a Starship (Cargo variant) could almost carry the money into LEO, if it were loaded as pennies.
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