SpaceX (general discussion)

Archibald said:
So Musk can't help annoying Bezos at every level ? LMAO
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I wonder if SpaceX increased there use of LZ-1&2 in 2022 ?
because Falcon Heavy will fly again in 2022 !

Current state Blue Origin vs SpaceX

19 Suborbital Flight with New Shepard
4 manned flights Suborbital with total 14 persons
Zero flight New Glenn (and zero flight Vulcan rocket do lack of BE-4 engines)

106 Suborbital Landing with Falcon 9
140 flights Falcon 9 and Heavy
5 manned flights to space with total 18 persons
9 Suborbital Test of Starship
zero flight Starship/Superheavy (could happen in march 2022)
 
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Looks like my son and I will be at Boca Chica on the afternoon of March 17th and morning of March 18th as part of our traditional Spring Break Road Trip. We have been taking these trips since he was 8 and now he'll be 18 end of March and off to college this summer - going to make the most of the last one! Anyone been down there and any hints/tips on seeing the SpaceX sites and taking photos? Wonder too if there is someone to hire for overflights. Figured if we go that far, (live in St. Louis, MO) might as well do it up right.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
I had always wondered why their scheduling were asynchronous. It seems that this is built in the system for a reason that I don't understand. Intuitively, you'd want them to deploy in perfect synchronization.
 
FEBRUARY 8, 2022

GEOMAGNETIC STORM AND RECENTLY DEPLOYED STARLINK SATELLITES

On Thursday, February 3 at 1:13 p.m. EST, Falcon 9 launched 49 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Falcon 9’s second stage deployed the satellites into their intended orbit, with a perigee of approximately 210 kilometers above Earth, and each satellite achieved controlled flight.

SpaceX deploys its satellites into these lower orbits so that in the very rare case any satellite does not pass initial system checkouts it will quickly be deorbited by atmospheric drag. While the low deployment altitude requires more capable satellites at a considerable cost to us, it’s the right thing to do to maintain a sustainable space environment.

Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday were significantly impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday. These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase. In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches. The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag—to effectively “take cover from the storm”—and continued to work closely with the Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron and LeoLabs to provide updates on the satellites based on ground radars.

Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe-mode to begin orbit raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. The deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground. This unique situation demonstrates the great lengths the Starlink team has gone to ensure the system is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation.

www.spacex.com

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.
www.spacex.com www.spacex.com
www.space.com

SpaceX says a geomagnetic storm just doomed 40 Starlink internet satellites

The satellites launched on Feb. 3, only to be hit by the storm a day later.
www.space.com www.space.com
 
something going on in Starbase

S20 is under grip
FLKhnFlWUAckzqe
 
His presentation tomorrow would probably benefit from some time lapse footage of the chopsticks lifting/stacking Starship.
 
Roland Emmerich starts taking notes for his next disaster (and disastrous) movie. Where 120 000 satellites start randomly falling from the sky and spread havoc across the world.
 
Archibald said:
Roland Emmerich starts taking notes for his next disaster (and disastrous) movie. Where 120 000 satellites start randomly falling from the sky and spread havoc across the world.
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Emmerich's Moonfall is here. Mediocre idea...
 
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martinbayer said:
I am truly awestruck at what Musk has accomplished already so far.
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2019 that was a field at Texas Coast
2022 A Production and launch Site, while in KSC a second production and Launch site is build
Musk mention 6 months until Pad 39A terminal is ready, i believe that in august first Starship/Super mockups will tested there.

but what really impress me is this
Starship/superheavy R&D cost are on 2% to 5% of Saturn V cost so Musk
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That's are $50 billion in today value so,
SpaceX spend 1 to 2.5 Billion Dollar on Starship/Superheavy program.
 
sferrin said:
publiusr said:
I'd call the combo "Slim/Jim." Hope Raptor 2 can beat the heating.
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What heating? I didn't see most of the presentation. Did he say Raptor 2 is over heating?
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[Edit: I missed a part later in the presentation - starting around 1:11:00]

They are somewhat combating Raptor 2 melting it's 'chamber' [presumably main combustion chamber]. They're using cryo fuel channel cooling, head-end film cooling, throat film cooling, and they're just trying to get the balance on the latter two to avoid melting the chamber. He thinks they're pretty close and they have a couple of engines on test stands that have ~700 or 800 seconds of operation and several start cycles so "it's looking positive".

Keep in mind too that with Raptor v2 they're still pushing for higher and higher chamber pressures (which in-turn means additional combustion and heat), so it sounds like if they wanted to they could run the engines closer to Raptor v1 pressures and have it survive numerous launches.

[Original comment below]

Fortunately not, rather what he said is they're getting close to the point where Raptor won't need shrouds / shields to protect against re-entry heating (at least on Super Heavy; Starship will almost certainly still need it's 'skirt' / engine bay with heatshield tiles); that'll save a bunch of mass on Super Heavy and reduce vehicle assembly complexity.

He specifically calls out how the gimballing engines are a pain because they have to have something like an "eyeball seal" where you have a spherical cap attached to the engine, rotating against a static circular hot gas seal.

One example of this "deletion and integration" process that happened from Raptor v1 to v2 was that the "preburner controllers" were consolidated into a single box rather than all over the engine (and therefore requiring cabling or pneumatic tubes everywhere). With a bit more deletion and integration he hopes to make Raptor "flame-proof, more or less".

He talks about this stuff from about the 1:00:40 mark onwards (mainly during 1:02:00-1:03:00):
View: https://youtu.be/3N7L8Xhkzqo?t=3640
 
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The Polaris private space program headed by Jared Isaacman. First flight this year called Polaris Dawn will be the furtherest humans have gone from the Earth since the moon flights and will feature the first private spacewalk. The first two flights in the program will be on the Crew Dragon, the third will be on Starship. Polaris Dawn will fly through portions of the Van Allen belt and require Space X to develop their own EVA suit. They will also use Starlink communication system in space for the first time. You’ll recognise the crew members of Polaris Dawn from the Inspiration4 Netflix documentary and this will be Isaacman’s second space flight.

 
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The Polaris website:

polarisprogram.com

Polaris Dawn

No earlier than summer 2024, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Polaris Dawn mission from Florida. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit.
polarisprogram.com polarisprogram.com
 
Checked Jared life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Isaacman

My mind is blown. That sucker is younger (by a few months) than me and... well hell of a fucking life, he already has.
No real jealously: kudos to him.

A fleet of combat jets (Draken International ! That was HIM ??!!!) and a flight into space: now that's what I call, childhood dreams turned reality.

No surprise he goes along Elon Musk like toothpaste on the brush. Elon once rode a L-39 jet and did all kind of stupid things with it.

... and yes, the FAA is fast becoming a major pain in the rear end.
 

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