SpaceX (general discussion)

Flyaway said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1286291087796113411
View: https://twitter.com/abernnyc/status/1286291087796113411

It always excites me to see what kind of wildlife wanders by the launch pads at Cape Canaveral. I watched a small herd of deer feeding at SLC-40 several hours after the launch of #ANASIS2 on Monday and it's such a surreal visual to see.
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That will piss off the Seven environmentalist groups
And the State of Texas will piss off even more on them, since next Giga factory will be build in Texas for Cybertruck production...

new build in Boca Chica
https://twitter.com/x/status/1285928570980892677
View: https://twitter.com/RGVaerialphotos/status/1285928570980892677


could this be a roof for that building ?
https://twitter.com/x/status/1286054852217442307
View: https://twitter.com/BocachicaMaria1/status/1286054852217442307
 
Although this is very subject to delay (Starship SN5 testing has been full of delays this past month), it seems that SpaceX is going to try and perform a 150m hop with SN5 some time during this Sunday or Monday, between 8am and 8pm central time.

This comes from:
1) New NOTAM TFRs released for those dates that require airspace cleared up to 26,000ft (vs 1500ft for static-fire testing).
2) Testing plans from (old) Boca Chica environmental impact assessments that claimed only 5 static fires (SF) would be necessary in total (ie not per-vehicle; SN5's first SF was SF #6 for the program).
3) The remaining SF road closures at Boca Chica being cancelled right after SN5 performed its SF; there were no noticeable signs of damage on SN5 either (ie no cranes moving to the pad, people swarming over the vehicle once it was safe, etc).
4) Elon's recent tweet about the static fire (last week he also said they were going to attempt to fly before the end of that week, but Hurricane Hanna and some hardware issues caused delayed those plans).
 
sferrin said:
I thought they were moving to their own proprietary alloy?
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They plan to "later this year" according to Elon, but given their pace of test vehicle construction there are likely to be several built using 304L before they transition again. Hybrids using both 304L and their house alloy in their construction would also seem likely.
 
Their 30X sounds like it'll be similar to 304L in composition as well, so it's less of them just jumping between alloys and more about moving towards their final 30X composition.
 
Elon says that the next (v1.1) version of the legs will be ~60% longer, but also that they're designing v2.0 legs that will be "much wider & taller - like Falcon, but capable of landing on unimproved surfaces & auto-leveling".

Elon also says that they're going to do "several short hops to smooth out launch process, then go high altitude with body flaps" - this suggests that SN5 may do more hops, though they also have SN6 sitting idle at the construction yard. SN8 (SN7 was a sub-scale test tank) looks like it might be the first to receive body flaps as we've seen design changes on it like a large pipe that passes through the upper CH4 bulkhead (likely to allow propellant flow from the LOX header that will be in the nosecone), as well as a new "thrust-puck" bulkhead for mounting engines.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1290819191835164672
View: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1290819191835164672

https://twitter.com/x/status/1290826885375696899
View: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1290826885375696899
 
Considering how powerful one Raptor seems to be I dread to think what 31 going at once is going to be like.
 
under current development
we can consider SN6 as Backup for SN5 in case of RUD...
SN8 is so far know made from 304L steel.

For Flaps and cone on SN, i thing that happens after High Bay is completed and Operational
 
I’ll be interested to see what the launch stand looks like after one Raptor has been blasting away at it. Something much more substantial is going to be needed for the three engined 20KM flight.
 
Got up early to watch it, did not realise that it was a reused booster rocket. I wonder, how many reused boosters do SpaceX currently have to use as of now?
 
So it has been a big week for SpaceX. Dragon 2 return, Starship hop and Starlink launch.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1292225281558810624
View: https://twitter.com/erdayastronaut/status/1292225281558810624


@elonmusk what’s gonna happen to our good friend SN-5? Will it fly again? Will it get 3 raptors and fly a little higher? Will it Hopper and just watch the others fly?
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1292226279995879426
View: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1292226279995879426


Not sure yet, but hopefully. Will need leg & other repairs. Probably SN6 flies before SN5. We need to make flights simple & easy — many per day.
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