SpaceX (general discussion)

www.teslarati.com

SpaceX Starship boosters could forgo landings entirely, says Elon Musk

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that Starship’s Super Heavy boosters could forgo landings entirely, relying instead on a wild crane-based solution to recover the world’s largest rocket stage. As previously discussed on Teslarati, the Super Heavy booster tasked with carrying a ~1400-ton (~300,000 lb)...
www.teslarati.com www.teslarati.com

I think it's an error. Any attempt to cut the weight of a landing gear on a commercial vehicle has been so far a failure.
 
TomcatViP said:
www.teslarati.com

SpaceX Starship boosters could forgo landings entirely, says Elon Musk

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that Starship’s Super Heavy boosters could forgo landings entirely, relying instead on a wild crane-based solution to recover the world’s largest rocket stage. As previously discussed on Teslarati, the Super Heavy booster tasked with carrying a ~1400-ton (~300,000 lb)...
www.teslarati.com www.teslarati.com

I think it's an error. Any attempt to cut the weight of a landing gear on a commercial vehicle has been so far a failure.
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Already at first version BFR, Musk talk to land the booster back on launch pad
After his tweet about using the launch tower to catching ‚Super heavy‘
Twitter is overrun with proposals how to do that
And I think that Musk will take the best proposal to do it...
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1344343839302148099
View: https://twitter.com/erdayastronaut/status/1344343839302148099?


How're you feeling about SN9? What exactly had to be addressed to keep the CH4 tank from losing pressure? Any hardware changes or just software? Header tanks are also back pressurized with GCH4 and GOX, right?
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1344344855237992448
View: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344344855237992448


SN9 will press CH4 header tank with helium. Long-term solution is under debate. Not clear what is lightest/simplest.
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Michel Van said:
TomcatViP said:
www.teslarati.com

SpaceX Starship boosters could forgo landings entirely, says Elon Musk

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that Starship’s Super Heavy boosters could forgo landings entirely, relying instead on a wild crane-based solution to recover the world’s largest rocket stage. As previously discussed on Teslarati, the Super Heavy booster tasked with carrying a ~1400-ton (~300,000 lb)...
www.teslarati.com www.teslarati.com

I think it's an error. Any attempt to cut the weight of a landing gear on a commercial vehicle has been so far a failure.
Click to expand...

Already at first version BFR, Musk talk to land the booster back on launch pad
After his tweet about using the launch tower to catching ‚Super heavy‘
Twitter is overrun with proposals how to do that
And I think that Musk will take the best proposal to do it...
Click to expand...
Amazing... But just to be sure, prior to going to Mars, does he plan to fly there first a Catching tower?
 
Flyaway said:
I don’t think you need to don a tinfoil hat. To think everyone who says something against Space X is part of some paid conspiracy is utterly ludicrous.
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Not so much a conspiracy, more an attempt from environmentalists to get some money by annoying rich corporation just enough for paying them to shut up.
 
Dilandu said:
TomcatViP said:
Amazing... But just to be sure, prior to going to Mars, does he plan to fly there first a Catching tower?
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Mars have less gravity and thinner atmosphere.
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Honestly, something no one ever talks about is that it seems fleetingly unlikely that humans can successfully reproduce in microgravity. I think Elon's dream is utter bullshit in that regard. I think he has revolutionized rocket travel and made it like a 50's scify movie, but I think colonization is a pointless and hopeless exercise. Mars has about 1/3 gravity; I have a hard time believing there won't severe morphological problems with children in that environment even assuming they can come to term.
 
Josh_TN said:
Honestly, something no one ever talks about is that it seems fleetingly unlikely that humans can successfully reproduce in microgravity. I think Elon's dream is utter bullshit in that regard. I think he has revolutionized rocket travel and made it like a 50's scify movie, but I think colonization is a pointless and hopeless exercise. Mars has about 1/3 gravity; I have a hard time believing there won't severe morphological problems with children in that environment even assuming they can come to term.
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1/3 gravity is not microgravity.
 
Josh_TN said:
Honestly, something no one ever talks about is that it seems fleetingly unlikely that humans can successfully reproduce in microgravity.
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Well, my personal view is that rotating space colonies are more advantageous than planetary settlement anyway. Speaking specifically about Mars - frankly, as far as I know, no one performed partial gravity reproduction experiments to observe how 1/3 g would affect the development of, say, mice. Such experiments required rotating laboratory module, and it was cancelled for ISS for reasons unknown.
 
Well if Elon is serious about colonization, it’s something he should look into. That’s a pretty big do not pass go item for living off world.
 
Dilandu said:
Flyaway said:
I don’t think you need to don a tinfoil hat. To think everyone who says something against Space X is part of some paid conspiracy is utterly ludicrous.
Click to expand...

Not so much a conspiracy, more an attempt from environmentalists to get some money by annoying rich corporation just enough for paying them to shut up.
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It was my understanding that this was more to do with the local residents of BC unless we are talking at cross puroposes.
 
Josh_TN said:
Well if Elon is serious about colonization, it’s something he should look into. That’s a pretty big do not pass go item for living off world.
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Currently he is trying to solve the problem of launching big amount of cargo on LEO for the affordable cost - which is the basic for all subsequent works.
 
Flyaway said:
Dilandu said:
Flyaway said:
I don’t think you need to don a tinfoil hat. To think everyone who says something against Space X is part of some paid conspiracy is utterly ludicrous.
Click to expand...

Not so much a conspiracy, more an attempt from environmentalists to get some money by annoying rich corporation just enough for paying them to shut up.
Click to expand...
It was my understanding that this was more to do with the local residents of BC unless we are talking at cross puroposes.
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It's not unheard of for national actors to fund US environmental groups in order to progress their own national interests. Both that immediately come to mind also play in space launch. If they're willing to do it in one industry, why not another. This is at least in part what I think @sferrin was implying.

@Dilandu Rent seeking and regulatory capture is pretty common, the deeper the pockets of the industry in question the more likely it is to happen. Could they think the value of SpaceX will explode and be greater than Tesla? Maybe and they want to get in on the action early.

@Flyaway ISTR that most of the BC residents were bought out of their houses. Not sure if the few remaining are the ones driving the complaints.

I worked Aerospace and Oil & Gas over the last 20+ years and saw all three across both.
 
mkellytx said:
It's not unheard of for national actors to fund US environmental groups in order to progress their own national interests. Both that immediately come to mind also play in space launch. If they're willing to do it in one industry, why not another. This is at least in part what I think @sferrin was implying.
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This. Anybody who wanted to hinder SpaceX would have motive to fund these groups. The only thing that can stop SpaceX would be regulating them out of business.
 
sferrin said:
mkellytx said:
It's not unheard of for national actors to fund US environmental groups in order to progress their own national interests. Both that immediately come to mind also play in space launch. If they're willing to do it in one industry, why not another. This is at least in part what I think @sferrin was implying.
Click to expand...

This. Anybody who wanted to hinder SpaceX would have motive to fund these groups. The only thing that can stop SpaceX would be regulating them out of business.
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Nah, large multi-billion dollar company's never do that... ;)
 
mkellytx said:
sferrin said:
mkellytx said:
It's not unheard of for national actors to fund US environmental groups in order to progress their own national interests. Both that immediately come to mind also play in space launch. If they're willing to do it in one industry, why not another. This is at least in part what I think @sferrin was implying.
Click to expand...

This. Anybody who wanted to hinder SpaceX would have motive to fund these groups. The only thing that can stop SpaceX would be regulating them out of business.
Click to expand...
Nah, large multi-billion dollar company's never do that... ;)
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I hope to hell the government doesn't over regulate SpaceX in an effort to provide a fig leaf to SLS or reward Blue Origin.
 
sferrin said:
I hope to hell the government doesn't over regulate SpaceX in an effort to provide a fig leaf to SLS or reward Blue Origin.
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Same here, but Elon appears to be well positioned with DoD, NASA and commercial contracts/certifications. Not to mention he has the right VC/PE partners for SS/SH/Starlink. It seems unlikely the next admin will cross that group of VC's. Also, Allen(RIP), Bezos, Branson & Musk along with the FAA pretty much wrote the current set of commercial space regulations with the FAA, they've locked in their competitive advantage. Each segmented their target market differently enough from the other to avoid too much overlap, unless Elon got too far out front of the others without enough Wall Street/Silicon Valley backing...

Who knows what happens with SLS in the next four years, things could go either way.

The problem with Blue Origin is lack of a certified orbital launch system, maybe he gains enough influence if New Glenn successfully launches this year. If SS/SH beat New Glenn to orbit he has an uphill climb.
 
Josh_TN said:
sferrin said:
Grey Havoc said:
www.pcgamer.com

Why Elon Musk's plan for global internet access annoyed astronomers

Starlink is promising, but not without its problems.
www.pcgamer.com www.pcgamer.com
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Interesting, though not surprising, that they fail to mention all the other constellations that are going up.
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Startlink is easily the most prolific. Most other LEO constellations haven't even started deployment yet; Elon's is pushing the thousand satellite mark.
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Which doesn't change the fact that there are several others planning to build satellite constellations of thousands.
 
Josh_TN said:
sferrin said:
Grey Havoc said:
www.pcgamer.com

Why Elon Musk's plan for global internet access annoyed astronomers

Starlink is promising, but not without its problems.
www.pcgamer.com www.pcgamer.com
Click to expand...
Interesting, though not surprising, that they fail to mention all the other constellations that are going up.
Click to expand...
Startlink is easily the most prolific. Most other LEO constellations haven't even started deployment yet; Elon's is pushing the thousand satellite mark.
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Well One Web is now back on track and deployment launches are taking place. There was one last month. Also I really wouldn’t dismiss Amazon’s plans.
 
Update
remains of SN08 were scrap
also MK01 remains is cut up
Tankzilla (big white crane) is removed from launch site
SN06 got his mass simulator removed, will SN06 be used for mockup moon lander or will be scrap ?

On Florida Cocoa site is still some activity
Seems that they testing there propellant production technics for future mars mission.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woarJ2QrBoo
 
Last night’s static fire was shorter than planned. Look to see if they redo tonight or not with possible flight tomorrow.
 
Michel Van said:
SN06 got his mass simulator removed, will SN06 be used for mockup moon lander or will be scrap ?
Click to expand...
It seems they've decided to do the latter, and have now cut off the top few rings of SN6:
SN6beheaded.png
In further news, today's road closure was cancelled, meaning no additional static fire testing today. It's speculated that they want to perform one more static fire (probably from the header tanks, as yesterday's static fire was likely from the main tanks [based on frost location and venting]). This may occur during the next scheduled closure of tomorrow (during the first TFR window), or perhaps they feel they don't need to do it.
 
Dragon029 said:
Michel Van said:
SN06 got his mass simulator removed, will SN06 be used for mockup moon lander or will be scrap ?
Click to expand...
It seems they've decided to do the latter, and have now cut off the top few rings of SN6:
View attachment 648025
In further news, today's road closure was cancelled, meaning no additional static fire testing today. It's speculated that they want to perform one more static fire (probably from the header tanks, as yesterday's static fire was likely from the main tanks [based on frost location and venting]). This may occur during the next scheduled closure of tomorrow (during the first TFR window), or perhaps they feel they don't need to do it.
Click to expand...
No it’s happening. Flight next week now by the looks of it.
 
TomS said:
sferrin said:
Glad they figured out how to not have the camera go out.
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Might be thanks to using Starlink for the datalinks? Or have they not done that yet?
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I think we're talking about two different things. There's the part where they lose the signal because the booster has gone below the horizon but then the cameras on the drone ship almost always go out as well as the engine exhaust starts to impinge on the drone ship, and then come back on after landing. The last few landings the signal has remained solid on the drone ships.
 

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