Fourth launch of SpaceX starship tomorrow!

[stevensfo]

The aim this time is to get the ship and rocket safely back down in one piece.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission ... p-flight-4

Steve

PS Having navigated around their website, I hope they don't let their website developer anywhere near the spaceship!

[odysseus2000]

Will be live streamed exclusively on X:

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/179834886 ... DCpgdbFBxg

Regards,

[stevensfo]

Will be live streamed exclusively on X:

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/179834886 ... DCpgdbFBxg

Regards,

To be honest, it says:

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission ... p-flight-4

I have no intention of joining Twitter in order to watch it!

Steve

PS Though I just noticed that clicking on the link to watch the launch seems to take me to a Twitter page anyway. At the moment, just an error message that 'Something went wrong.' Another page shows Elon in what looks like an Iron Man costume.

Just how can a powerful organisation like this produce such a lousy website???

[odysseus2000]

Launch window opens today at 7 am central time which is I believe 1 pm UK time:

https://x.com/spacex/status/17980995824 ... DCpgdbFBxg

Regards,

[stevensfo]

Launch window opens today at 7 am central time which is I believe 1 pm UK time:

https://x.com/spacex/status/17980995824 ... DCpgdbFBxg

Regards,

Just in case, other places to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhJRzQsLZGg

https://gizmodo.com/watch-spacex-starsh ... 1851521195

Steve

[odysseus2000]

Launch window opens today at 7 am central time which is I believe 1 pm UK time:

https://x.com/spacex/status/17980995824 ... DCpgdbFBxg

Regards,

Just in case, other places to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhJRzQsLZGg

https://gizmodo.com/watch-spacex-starsh ... 1851521195

Steve

To avoid confusion, there are many sources to watch the launch & get commentary, but SpaceX will stream their context exclusively to X. Twitter is now a purely of historic internet name for the platform X.

Regards,

[mc2fool]

The aim this time is to get the ship and rocket safely back down in one piece.

Safely back for a "soft splashdown" in the Mexican Gulf and Indian Ocean ... only to be left to sink ...

[odysseus2000]

The aim this time is to get the ship and rocket safely back down in one piece.

Safely back for a "soft splashdown" in the Mexican Gulf and Indian Ocean ... only to be left to sink ...

Yes, wasteful, but a landing attempt that went wrong & landed on a city would be bad for space flight.

Regards,

[Tedx]

Back in the good old days of Apollo, all that you would get back is a teeny charred/burnt up 3 man re-entry capsule, so I guess we can let him have that one.

[odysseus2000]

Wow!

How fabulous! The images from Starlink of the rocket flap & how it was burned away were extraordinary & yet despite damage, the rocket seemed to have its engine burn & ‘land’ Perhaps next time they can try a landing in g on the ground.

Feel very privileged to be alive & see this extraordinary achievement.

Regards,

[mc2fool]

Back in the good old days of Apollo, all that you would get back is a teeny charred/burnt up 3 man re-entry capsule, so I guess we can let him have that one.

Yeah, but that was 50 years ago and landing boosters is old hat now ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyO-h59RO5g

[stevensfo]

Back in the good old days of Apollo, all that you would get back is a teeny charred/burnt up 3 man re-entry capsule, so I guess we can let him have that one.

Yeah, but that was 50 years ago and landing boosters is old hat now ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyO-h59RO5g

In addition, unlike the Americans, the Russians managed to land their capsules back on land.

Maybe they should investigate the possibilities of using simple but strong parachutes on the nose section of Starship to assist in both slowing it down, and, more importantly (from what I saw) keeping it the right way up during the last minute of descent?


Steve

[ReformedCharacter]

In addition, unlike the Americans, the Russians managed to land their capsules back on land.

Some didn't work out too well...


https://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz1-crash.html

Maybe they should investigate the possibilities of using simple but strong parachutes on the nose section of Starship to assist in both slowing it down, and, more importantly (from what I saw) keeping it the right way up during the last minute of descent?

Steve

Parachutes for landing spacecraft are never simple, even for relatively light and symmetrical vehicles. The Apollo command module weighed about 6t at landing (and suffered one parachute failure), the Starship c. 100t at landing.

I'm sure that Musk will have considered and quickly disregarded parachutes as being unnecessary, 'the best part is no part'. We'll have to see how well that works out

RC

[odysseus2000]

There have been many attempts to put parachutes on to light aircraft. I believe Cessna have this as an option. But parachutes are bulky & heavy & may not work when needed.

There have also been some suggestions of putting parachutes on bigger planes & other ideas of fuel tanks that could be jettisoned in an emergency.

As far as I know these ideas have been abandoned due to weight, bulk, complexity & cost considerations.

The primary issue with starship is size & weight. In principle a parachute could be used, but the rocket already has engines which should give far more flexible & controlled descent & allow landing at a desired location. Once one goes for parachutes there is the uncontrollable aspect of winds that would make landing at a specific port difficult.

Several commentators have argued that StarShip is too heavy, leading to the need for refueling in orbit & a few times to reach the moon & that aluminium or carbon fibre would be better, but there are very good reasons for using stainless steel:

For those who haven’t seen it, this is the rational for using stainless for StarShip (8min 54):

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/179893774 ... DCpgdbFBxg

Regards,

[stevensfo]

Wow!

How fabulous! The images from Starlink of the rocket flap & how it was burned away were extraordinary & yet despite damage, the rocket seemed to have its engine burn & ‘land’ Perhaps next time they can try a landing in g on the ground.

Feel very privileged to be alive & see this extraordinary achievement.

Regards,

I just realised that the camera so close to the flap and showing it disintegrating must have been placed there on purpose. So they knew that the flaps were the weak spots?

Excellent planning.

If you have a few billion to spare!


Steve

PS Maybe move the moveable part slightly inside? Fingers crossed for the next flight. It makes me feel 10 years old all over again!

[JohnB]

There is already a new flap design being rolled out. Their pace of progress is such that they are often testing something that is already end of life.