News Changes to the SpaceX BFR rocket.

[Urwumpe]

LOS: 25707Km/h 65Km

If there is no AOS soon again, its gone.

 

[GLS]

Lots of confidence that it will survive...

 

[GLS]

If there is no AOS soon again, its gone.

Not being at the correct attitude during initial entry means a higher thermal and aero load later on. Add the +/- tumbling vehicle, and it should result in a meteor shower.

 

[Urwumpe]

Not being at the correct attitude during initial entry means a higher thermal and aero load later on. Add the +/- tumbling vehicle, and it should result in a meteor shower.

Yes, but if the aerodynamics control managed to stabilize it, it could have gone good. Soyuz also recovered some out of control situations.

 

[GLS]

Yes, but if the aerodynamics control managed to stabilize it, it could have gone good. Soyuz also recovered some out of control situations.

But the Soyuz can handle a balistic entry. This (and the Shuttle) are limited to a lifting entry.

 

[diogom]

TDRS and Starlink cut out simultaneously, could indicate loss of Ship

 

[GLS]

TDRS and Starlink data lost at the same time = kaput confirmed?

 

[GLS]

"Might not make it to splashdown"
Oh, the heavy parts will reach the water for sure.

 

[GLS]

Kaput confirmed

 

[diogom]

 

[GLS]

 

[Thunder Chicken]

At least the explosions are happening farther down range.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Does anyone know if a partial boost back burn was done with the booster, or did it do a deceleration burn at any time? I'm wondering if it had sufficient ullage to relight.

 

[GLS]

Does anyone know if a partial boost back burn was done with the booster, or did it do a deceleration burn at any time? I'm wondering if it had sufficient ullage to relight.

 

[Urwumpe]

But the Soyuz can handle a balistic entry. This (and the Shuttle) are limited to a lifting entry.

That says nothing about the peak heating or accumulated heat load. A ballistic reentry for Soyuz will have the same peak heating as a gliding one, the shuttle is limited by dynamic pressure most of the reentry.

I can imagine that dynamic pressure was also killing SpaceShip this time.

EDIT: Just look at the video replay, how fast the velocity was dropping before signal was finally lost. The chaotic attitude indicator after the camera feed was lost also indicate that it broke up at about 75 km.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Thanks for this, I was on my phone and couldn't watch live.

The aerodynamic control of the booster with the grid fins seemed marginal. I wonder if they were fighting a badly asymmetric group of firing and failing engines. Ullage just based on aerodynamic drag should have been fine. Something was not happy with the engine relights, which is surprising since they figured out the kick flip relight on the Starship.

 

[N_Molson]

There's still going to be some time before they put a crew into that thing and land it on the Moon

 

[diogom]

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

www.spacex.com

Confirmation they had issues with the attitude control, leading to skipping the engine burn. And likely what was seen during reentry too.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

www.spacex.com

Confirmation they had issues with the attitude control, leading to skipping the engine burn. And likely what was seen during reentry too.

Super Heavy successfully lit several engines for its first ever landing burn before the vehicle experienced a RUD (that’s SpaceX-speak for “rapid unscheduled disassembly”). The booster’s flight concluded at approximately 462 meters in altitude and just under seven minutes into the mission.

I think +/- 50 cm is an excessively tight tolerance for these sorts of engineering matters.

Anyway, did the booster explode prior to impact, or just slam into the water at nearly sonic speeds? I mean, the entire stage is 73 meters long and it was moving at about 270 m/s. Did it make it all the way through the flight only to explode a second before its crash? That's strangely disappointing if it is true.

 

[Urwumpe]

Anyway, did the booster explode prior to impact, or just slam into the water at nearly sonic speeds? I mean, the entire stage is 73 meters long and it was moving at about 270 m/s. Did it make it all the way through the flight only to explode a second before its crash? That's strangely disappointing if it is true.

Likely the engine compartment was simply trying to leave Planet Earth.