The SpaceX Thread

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Frennzy

Frennzy

Ars Legatus Legionis
85,840
  • #13,885
    That was gorgeous as well as fascinating...I kept watching even to see/hear the separation callouts. RTLS, 105 spacecraft in 87(?) separation movements.

    Anyone know if they confirmed the two "missing" seps?

    The RTLS was fantastic...the launch view as well. But it was amazing to watch how quickly that thing went from ZOMG GONNA CRASH, TOO FAST, LEGS NO DEPLOY to a gentle 'boop' onto the landing pad.
     
    Idleness

    Idleness

    Ars Praefectus
    4,107
  • #13,887
    DaviBrons said:
    It has already been mentioned here that SpaceX has every chance of becoming a leading aerospace company in the future...
    Click to expand...
    They're a $100 billion dollar corporation, with something like 140 launches (with only a couple fails), they proved reusability, they are the largest satellite operator on the planet, they launch their own stuff, commercial stuff, and government/military stuff on the regular, have massive development contracts in place with NASA for key national projects, they are developing the largest rocket ever flown, and inventing the processes whereby complex and complicated rocket parts (say, like the Raptor2 engine) are made to a production scale. All at the same time.

    Not sure what else they might need to do for you to consider them a leader in the industry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
     
    U

    UserJoe

    Ars Praefectus
    4,619
  • #13,888
    Idleness said:
    DaviBrons said:
    It has already been mentioned here that SpaceX has every chance of becoming a leading aerospace company in the future...
    Click to expand...
    They're a $100 billion dollar corporation, with something like 140 launches (with only a couple fails), they proved reusability, they are the largest satellite operator on the planet, they launch their own stuff, commercial stuff, and government/military stuff on the regular, have massive development contracts in place with NASA for key national projects, they are developing the largest rocket ever flown, and inventing the processes whereby complex and complicated rocket parts (say, like the Raptor2 engine) are made to a production scale. All at the same time.

    Not sure what else they might need to do for you to consider them a leader in the industry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    Click to expand...
    They're also going to make it to the moon before SLS.
     
    Evil_Merlin

    Evil_Merlin

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    23,723
    Subscriptor
  • #13,903
    In other SpaceX related news, looks like people in the North East (PA thru upper state NY and New England) who signed up for StarLink in early Feburary are now getting their kits shipped.

    Of course, I signed up the first hour the beta went live... and then moved. To Hawaii. My notification came in last night for my original location... bummer as Big Island isn't getting availability until very late this year.
     
    Idleness

    Idleness

    Ars Praefectus
    4,107
  • #13,904
    Evil_Merlin said:
    In other SpaceX related news, looks like people in the North East (PA thru upper state NY and New England) who signed up for StarLink in early Feburary are now getting their kits shipped.

    Of course, I signed up the first hour the beta went live... and then moved. To Hawaii. My notification came in last night for my original location... bummer as Big Island isn't getting availability until very late this year.
    Click to expand...
    I'm in that timeframe, but I'm also in Ontario. Here's hoping!
     
    BigP

    BigP

    Ars Praetorian
    408
    Subscriptor++
  • #13,912
    I guess most everyone is spending most of their posting efforts over in the front page article comments. I'm still reading through those in my down times at work but man, I was hoping there'd be a bit more geeking out about the few new tidbits from the Starship presentation. Instead I'm seeing a whooooooole lot of trollish or downright ignorant posts from people who have paid not one jot of attention over the years. Ugh!

    Anyway!

    I don't have a lot of time to type much but I did think it's worth geeking out briefly about the whole tower and stack they put together for the event. Obviously it can't be operational tomorrow and I'm sure there's a lot of plumbing gremlins to hunt down but ALL THE MAJOR COMPONENTS ARE THERE! :D The chopsticks lifted and set the second stage, not some loaner crane! That whole set up seems so crazy and yet in my mind is tipping toward inevitable. I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall when someone first proposed it ("Landing legs are soooo 2015. Hear me out . . ."). I remember Elon mentioning that there could be some tank stretching in future designs/variants but looking at the full stack next to the tower, I'm not seeing a whole lot of head room. Maybe they could install hoisting hard points at roughly the same elevation on the Ship while tanks and flaps grow upward? I dunno.

    Then there was the side-by-side Raptors 1 and 2. If they can pull off Raptor 2 that's going to be the whole ball game. The reduction in complexity and cost they're claiming coupled with the increase in performance they're shooting for boggles my poor little mind. Any one of those engines could be a national treasure worthy of its own shrine in the Smithsonian and they're going to crank one out every day.

    There were several decent questions from the reporters. I'm afraid Eric whiffed a bit with how he phrased his. I'm assuming he wanted Elon to elaborate a bit on what bits of the ground service equipment might still need tweaking or a bullet-point-esque list of testing hurdles they want to clear ahead of the first orbital test. Unfortunately he basically asked, "Assuming the FAA issues a FONSI, how much longer afterward will the hardware be ready?" To which Elon answered only that with a, "About the same time." Oh, well. Here's hoping Everyday Astronaut gets another tour sometime this year and Elon hits a groove while nerding out about all the stuff they're doing.

    I did notice the poor reporter from the local Brownsville paper was asking about SpaceX's plans for Starbase if they chose to shift their operational center out to the Cape. Elon said that Starbase would remain the hub for advanced R&D but was nowhere near as overtly "This is a great place, we're here for the long haul!" response that I'm sure Brownsville would love to hear.

    I do think that overall, I was less impressed with the event than I wanted to be, at least with the technical content. I'm still very impressed with the reality on display though: His keynote talk in 2016 was all about a paper rocket. The 2019 presentation was during a time where they were playing with flying water tanks in a swamp. Last night they had an entire prototype stack and GSE installed and pretty close to just waiting on paperwork. As Eric said in the article, "Talk is cheap. Hardware is not."
     
    Xavin

    Xavin

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    30,547
    Subscriptor++
  • #13,913
    There were several decent questions from the reporters. I'm afraid Eric whiffed a bit with how he phrased his. I'm assuming he wanted Elon to elaborate a bit on what bits of the ground service equipment might still need tweaking or a bullet-point-esque list of testing hurdles they want to clear ahead of the first orbital test. Unfortunately he basically asked, "Assuming the FAA issues a FONSI, how much longer afterward will the hardware be ready?" To which Elon answered only that with a, "About the same time." Oh, well. Here's hoping Everyday Astronaut gets another tour sometime this year and Elon hits a groove while nerding out about all the stuff they're doing.
    Click to expand...
    Elon always seems more confused than he actually is. His awkwardness lets him get away with dodges, and timelines for the ground equipment, which we know they have been having trouble with, was almost certainly an intentional dodge. After the presentation on their stream NSF mentioned that before they can actually do an orbital launch they are going to have to have dozens and dozens of tankers of methane and so far there has been barely any methane delivered. They seemed to think that SpaceX may even need to replace some of the self-built tanks with third party ones.

    I did notice the poor reporter from the local Brownsville paper was asking about SpaceX's plans for Starbase if they chose to shift their operational center out to the Cape. Elon said that Starbase would remain the hub for advanced R&D but was nowhere near as overtly "This is a great place, we're here for the long haul!" response that I'm sure Brownsville would love to hear.
    Click to expand...
    I mean, they are pretty constrained by the space they have available and the FAA. Even if they want to base everything there, they probably won't be able to long term. At some point the local area is going to have to decide if they want a beach or a spaceport, because they won't reasonably be able to have both. I kind of suspect SpaceX is hoping that once they start flying they will have the clout to get more concessions.
     
    Skoop

    Skoop

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    32,789
    Moderator
  • #13,914
    At some point the local area is going to have to decide if they want a beach or a spaceport, because they won't reasonably be able to have both.
    Click to expand...
    I've been leaning that way, too. I am skeptical that they're going to build the second tower and associated infrastructure like they originally had plans for. Musk's comment about BC being an R&D site confirmed that for me, along with him saying that Florida is already approved for their launch operations.

    I think the best thing that could happen would be for the FAA to say launching is OK for BC, but not landing. That would force the issue and move the focus to the Cape where it probably should have been from the start.
     
    U

    UserJoe

    Ars Praefectus
    4,619
  • #13,917
    Xavin said:
    There were several decent questions from the reporters. I'm afraid Eric whiffed a bit with how he phrased his. I'm assuming he wanted Elon to elaborate a bit on what bits of the ground service equipment might still need tweaking or a bullet-point-esque list of testing hurdles they want to clear ahead of the first orbital test. Unfortunately he basically asked, "Assuming the FAA issues a FONSI, how much longer afterward will the hardware be ready?" To which Elon answered only that with a, "About the same time." Oh, well. Here's hoping Everyday Astronaut gets another tour sometime this year and Elon hits a groove while nerding out about all the stuff they're doing.
    Click to expand...
    Elon always seems more confused than he actually is. His awkwardness lets him get away with dodges, and timelines for the ground equipment, which we know they have been having trouble with, was almost certainly an intentional dodge. After the presentation on their stream NSF mentioned that before they can actually do an orbital launch they are going to have to have dozens and dozens of tankers of methane and so far there has been barely any methane delivered. They seemed to think that SpaceX may even need to replace some of the self-built tanks with third party ones.
    Click to expand...
    The last time Musk talked about it he said the FAA approval was the limiter for when the launch happens. He implied that they were ready to go and were just waiting on those laggards at the FAA.
     
    Xavin

    Xavin

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    30,547
    Subscriptor++
  • #13,918
    The last time Musk talked about it he said the FAA approval was the limiter for when the launch happens. He implied that they were ready to go and were just waiting on those laggards at the FAA.
    Click to expand...
    Back then they didn't plan to have the ground infrastructure complete and were just going to rig everything up as well as they could manage. At this point they clearly have moved on from that and want to use the actual ground infrastructure.
     
    Tom the Melaniephile

    Tom the Melaniephile

    Meow
    50,140
    Subscriptor++
  • #13,919
    .劉煒 said:
    This is a great place, we're here for the long haul!" response that I'm sure Brownsville would love to hear.
    Click to expand...

    The problem with that is the EA is for 5 full stack launches a year AND Boca's pretty azimuth limited.

    At least he's gonna go to the county fair, right? :p
    Click to expand...

    I don't really buy the "azimuth limited"
    Florida (and heck, all the way to East Louisiana) is further from Boca Chica than Cuba is from KSC - and SpaceX can already do overflights over Cuba. The other direction you can do nearly a polar orbit headed South - again using the KSC-Cuba distance as a baseline.
     
    Tom the Melaniephile

    Tom the Melaniephile

    Meow
    50,140
    Subscriptor++
  • #13,920
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Jump to latest Follow Reply
    Jump to latest Follow Reply