News Changes to the SpaceX BFR rocket.
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Thunder Chicken
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As I said yesterday, I never saw wreckage fly so beautifully.
diogom
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Booster landing video is out:
Looks like there was a buoy waiting, good sign for accuracy.
Looks like there was a buoy waiting, good sign for accuracy.
Thunder Chicken
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I wonder if that fireball was related to the engine out.
Superheavy engines blow up, catches fire, lands anyway.
Starship vaporizes parts of its TPS and flaps on reentry, lands anyway.
Should name the stack the Honey Badger. Nice to see some launch capability that is fault tolerant. Hopefully that tolerance gets better and better with every iteration.
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On the one hand, seems they've finally worked out isolating exploding engines from the rest. On the other hand, they want to get rid of the shielding, soooo gotta work on the non-exploding part.
It seems there was also a private jet circling the ship's landing zone, wonder if they caught anything (at least anything shareable).
It seems there was also a private jet circling the ship's landing zone, wonder if they caught anything (at least anything shareable).
Thunder Chicken
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Some engineer is probably trying to figure out how to use exploding engines for thrust. If they want to send fuel to orbit then they need to use the engines as reaction mass.
diogom
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Very rare useful tweet:
Supposedly currently in testing at McGregor. Moved a lot of stuff to internal channels, idea being not needing the current engine shielding and CO2 purge, all together quite a few tonnes off the dry mass. Probably NET 2025 until it sees action. In one of these, first article started stacking in the last couple of weeks:
Payload section is a bit shorter, to supposedly carry 300t more propellant. Smaller, more leeward forward flaps, changed the heatshield too: allegedly stronger tiles, and an ablative backup layer under the hotter zones (windward and flaps). In the meantime, they stripped the heatshield off of Flight 5's ship and retrofitted this new iteration. Speaking of, all still points to a booster catch attempt on F5:
Also in the meantime, the old vertical tank farm is completely gone, and the new tower is 2/3 of the way stacked (in # of segments, not height):
Same height, base is a couple meters taller, shorter chopsticks as at 39A. Pad design unclear, they're doing something new, speculated to be more like a flame trench but incorporating some of the steel plate idea, probably. Recent FAA doc suggests the top of whatever the mount looks like will also get deluge, as the current one is getting cooked every flight by the pitch over. Now seems clear why they demolished the legs at 39A, but no new launch mount to speak of so far.
Supposedly currently in testing at McGregor. Moved a lot of stuff to internal channels, idea being not needing the current engine shielding and CO2 purge, all together quite a few tonnes off the dry mass. Probably NET 2025 until it sees action. In one of these, first article started stacking in the last couple of weeks:
Payload section is a bit shorter, to supposedly carry 300t more propellant. Smaller, more leeward forward flaps, changed the heatshield too: allegedly stronger tiles, and an ablative backup layer under the hotter zones (windward and flaps). In the meantime, they stripped the heatshield off of Flight 5's ship and retrofitted this new iteration. Speaking of, all still points to a booster catch attempt on F5:
Also in the meantime, the old vertical tank farm is completely gone, and the new tower is 2/3 of the way stacked (in # of segments, not height):
Same height, base is a couple meters taller, shorter chopsticks as at 39A. Pad design unclear, they're doing something new, speculated to be more like a flame trench but incorporating some of the steel plate idea, probably. Recent FAA doc suggests the top of whatever the mount looks like will also get deluge, as the current one is getting cooked every flight by the pitch over. Now seems clear why they demolished the legs at 39A, but no new launch mount to speak of so far.
GLS
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diogom
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I suppose we might be entering the "see? we're ready" posturing phase. Perhaps a bit more true than the last "we're ready" followed by a month or two of structural work. There's a whole bunch of drama with the FAA and EPA/TCEQ going on that's putting the NET in late November, so I guess there's nothing better to do.
Some of the actual chopstick testing the other day:
Urwumpe
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That looks like I would prefer some improvements before testing with a landing booster. otherwise, it could become interesting. Like "Who controls this ship? Chopstick or GNC?"
GLS
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Maybe Sunday
Thunder Chicken
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And they're going to attempt to catch the booster with the chopsticks. That's going to be a good show, one way or another.
I guess the want to try soft landing Starship too, without the flaps melting and falling apart during reentry this time. Yeah, it works as is, but watching the flaps vaporize might make the passengers nervous
Thunder Chicken
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Thunder Chicken
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STARSHIP - The Game
Launch Starship to Orbit. Catch the Super Heavy Booster. Don't run out of fuel. Avoid the aliens.
Urwumpe
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STARSHIP - The Game
Launch Starship to Orbit. Catch the Super Heavy Booster. Don't run out of fuel. Avoid the aliens.starshipthegame.spacex.com
Their engineering might be a bit too much inspired by KSP, but their public outreach is commendable.
GLS
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GLS
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Looks like just 5 minutes left in the window for today
Official live stream
Live stream from Everyday Astronaut
Official live stream
Live stream from Everyday Astronaut
GLS
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Quick and dirty check in Orbiter: at the current time, it will launch just before sunrise, and will go into sunlight soon after.
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