RisingFury
OBSP developer
This iterative design approach doesn't seem to be yielding any significant results.
News Changes to the SpaceX BFR rocket.
- Thread starter RGClark
- Start date
jedidia
shoemaker without legs
I wouldn't quite say that. It worked well enough for the Falcon.
I think the problem is that this beast is just simply too big and too complex. I believe with current tech it might be impossible to put such machine under that much stress and expect it to reliably work a second time...
dennis.krenz
Well-known member
I don't think that this is really the reason for the slow progress or better: Going back three steps for every step sideways, forcing you to repeat steps already gone forwards.
I think the problem is the lack of a working baseline to build on. They never really finished one "increment" and froze it, because they never had reached a goal that you can freeze with hardware involved. The test program design is IMHO to blame, because they don't make the necessary big steps, when they are needed, risking annoying failures already on small steps with costly hardware.
Especially with complex challenges, you can't just try solving them in small steps alone, because you might approach a locally optimal partial solution, from where the global optimal solution is unreachable.
RisingFury
OBSP developer
With every Falcon 1 & 9 launch, they were reasonably sure they'll make it to orbit and orbit was the goal from the start.
With landing boosters, they had quite a few failures, but they made their own work harder by having it land on the drone ship instead of RTLS. The priority was clearly the primary mission.
With Starship they're like "Oh, let's just launch this thing and see when it blows up" "... but we made the engines different and did what others told us should have been done from the start."
GLS
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Frilock
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SpaceX's Starship rockets are grounded pending investigation after test flight
SpaceX Starship launches are on hold pending an investigation into last week's test flight. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that the spaceflight resulted in a mishap.
apnews.com
GLS
Well-known member
GLS
Well-known member
Another mini-documentary, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage 
GLS
Well-known member
... and another almost ready to go
GLS
Well-known member
4 days
The thirteenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Thursday, July 16. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CT.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and stay tuned to our X account for updates.
The upcoming flight will aim to complete similar objectives targeted on the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, while also carrying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time.
Watch “Critical Path”, the latest episode in the ongoing Starship series that followed SpaceX engineers and technicians through the final days before launch of the first Starship V3.
The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight.
At stage separation on Flight 12, slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees. The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance. After stage separation and the flip, the Super Heavy booster attempted its boostback burn. Five of its 33 engines experienced issues when attempting to re-light causing the boostback burn to end early. The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment.
The Starship upper stage’s primary objectives include the deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites, a relight of a single Raptor engine while in space, and another controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. There have also been several modifications to Starship’s propulsion system to address the engine out issue experienced on the previous flight.
Approximately 40 seconds after stage separation, Starship lost one of its three Raptor vacuum optimized engines. The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory. Several hardware and operational modifications have been made to address the interconnected causes with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine.
For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship.
Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.
Several upgrades and experiments related to Starship’s heatshield will also be tested to continue iteration towards a fully and rapidly reusable design. Multiple tiles will be attached to the metallic side of Starship’s aft flaps along with modified tiles and attachment mechanisms in the heatshield covering the aft skirt to gather flight data on different attachment options. Finally, Starship’s heatshield will have load sensing tiles to take measurements as the vehicle experiences higher dynamic pressure on ascent than previous flights, putting added stress on the tile attachments in exchange for increased payload to orbit capability.
The thirteenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Thursday, July 16. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CT.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and stay tuned to our X account for updates.
The upcoming flight will aim to complete similar objectives targeted on the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, while also carrying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time.
Watch “Critical Path”, the latest episode in the ongoing Starship series that followed SpaceX engineers and technicians through the final days before launch of the first Starship V3.
The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight.
At stage separation on Flight 12, slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees. The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance. After stage separation and the flip, the Super Heavy booster attempted its boostback burn. Five of its 33 engines experienced issues when attempting to re-light causing the boostback burn to end early. The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment.
The Starship upper stage’s primary objectives include the deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites, a relight of a single Raptor engine while in space, and another controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. There have also been several modifications to Starship’s propulsion system to address the engine out issue experienced on the previous flight.
Approximately 40 seconds after stage separation, Starship lost one of its three Raptor vacuum optimized engines. The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory. Several hardware and operational modifications have been made to address the interconnected causes with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine.
For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship.
Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.
Several upgrades and experiments related to Starship’s heatshield will also be tested to continue iteration towards a fully and rapidly reusable design. Multiple tiles will be attached to the metallic side of Starship’s aft flaps along with modified tiles and attachment mechanisms in the heatshield covering the aft skirt to gather flight data on different attachment options. Finally, Starship’s heatshield will have load sensing tiles to take measurements as the vehicle experiences higher dynamic pressure on ascent than previous flights, putting added stress on the tile attachments in exchange for increased payload to orbit capability.
steph
Well-known member
So... more of the same. But hey, this time these are real Starlink satellites (that will also burn up due to the suborbital trajectory)
Thunder Chicken
Resident Lua Script Rabble-Rouser
They basically get external imagery of Starship after ascent, get to test the deployment systems, and get to test v3 Starlink systems in space. That's pretty good payback for disposable satellites.
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