1

SpaceX Starship Program / Re: Starship Artemis Contract & Lunar Starship

« Last post by OTV Booster on Today at 06:59 pm »

Gents,
    refueling pro/con...  androgynous...  location of the QD... honestly it's been discussed at length before.  Please take that discussion to the refueling thread if you don't mind.

Asking again....
Has anyone seen an image with the docking cones for refueling AND the HLS cosine thrusters?  Or do they somehow not exist together on the lander?

Haven't seen it, but not to worry. Neither has made it to prototype yet and in the finest of SpaceX traditions, may look quite a bit different when they show up.

Yeah, that's fair.  I guess it just seems like they are in the same spot?  Construction photos of the latest ships show the docking cones right above the tank, just below the pez-dispenser.  Seems like the HLS cosine landing thrusters are in the same spot, right above the tank, just below the crew elevator.  I guess I'm trying to figure out if the cones would go above the thrusters?  Would they go on the back away from the elevator, and maybe change the thruster locations?

With all the wacky stuff they make work they may use an engine bell as a docking cone.


More seriously, the engineering crew is probably scratching their head over the question and are waiting for some real data to see what structural leeway they have. Something like an actual docking with strain gauges plastered all over the place.


Along those lines we may see a crane tethered and supported hover test with landing engines and/or an orbital build with some landing engines to see what leeway they have on that end of the problem. Inch by inch. Step by step...

2

Russian Launchers - Soyuz, Progress and Uncrewed / Re: Information about Angara rocket

« Last post by owais.usmani on Today at 06:44 pm »

This is from June 2025, but I don't think it was posted here.

https://vz.ru/news/2025/6/17/1339274.html

Bakanov: Development of the hydrogen-powered Angara-A5V will be completed four years ahead of schedule.

The Angara-A5V heavy-lift launch vehicle with an oxygen-hydrogen stage is planned to be completed by 2030, four years ahead of schedule, according to Roscosmos head Dmitry Bakanov.
"The development deadline for the third stage, which will be able to launch up to four tons into geostationary orbit instead of two and a half, has been pushed back from 2034 to 2030," TASS quotes Bakanov as saying .

According to him, the corporation is studying pricing issues for the launches of the heavy Angara-A5 to improve the economic efficiency of launches.

3

SpaceX Starship Program / Re: Starship Artemis Contract & Lunar Starship

« Last post by OTV Booster on Today at 06:41 pm »

I still like the idea of a single mirrored QD on the depot and using a gender bender on the ground side QD. This saves mass and plumbing complexity.

Depot launches will be infrequent so installing a gender bender on the GSE won't have all that much impact on launch tempo. The mirror QD will throw a kink into fabrication but again, depots promise to be a very small part of the overall production.

I like that too, but we're focusing too much on the connectors/ports and not on what lies within.

I am not sure if it's ideal to use the same set of plumbing for onloading and offloading, for 0-g and for 1-g, for fast transfer and for slow transfer, even for full-tank vs partial-tank.

And possibly if it's advantageous/necessary to tap off different places on the tanks, it might dictate more ports.

Not saying it's necessarily so, just that the port solution is tied to the overall plumbing problem.

(Rant) How come in no Sci-Fi ever is there mention of fuel slosh, evaporation and collapse, or even pressurization?   Hell even in the fusion powered super high thrust drives of the expanse, nobody thought about what happens when you execute a sharp maneuver and half your propellant slams against the far wall at many meters per second... (/Rant)

Well duh! They use a transporter to put the fuel where they want it. 

4

SpaceX Starship Program / Re: Starship Artemis Contract & Lunar Starship

« Last post by Paul451 on Today at 06:18 pm »

Pics

Haven't seen the aft end of the system, nor the male version, nor the... [shrug] docking sensor box between the rear legs.

5

SpaceX Starship Program / Re: FAA, FWS & other permits/licenses for Starbase, TX (Boca Chica) DISCUSSION (Thread 6)

« Last post by philw1776 on Today at 06:06 pm »

FL overflight. No problem. That area is not like flying over Miami. Besides it's populated with mostly old goats like myself.
Gotta go sometime and flaming debris from a Starship RUD would be an epic way to go.

BTW saw last Starship launch from Bradenton causeway South of Tampa. Starship flight view from W FL is SPECTACULAR.
Gonna be wicked frakked if next launch is later than 1st week April which I fear is likely as I'll be back up North in New Hampster by then

6

SpaceX Starship Program / Re: My biggest Starship program pet peeves

« Last post by StraumliBlight on Today at 05:58 pm »

Mine would be why SpaceX didn't construct a catching barge, similar to China's Ling Hang Zhe.

https://twitter.com/CNSpaceflight/status/2021972863788757382

By now SpaceX could have recovered a couple of Starships, reflown a few vacuum Raptors and performed in-depth post landing inspections, potentially catching issues before they cause RUDs. While not optimal long term regarding utilisation, it solves the current issues of having to overfly populated areas of Florida, disrupting busy airspace and associated sonic booms before Starship's reliability is dialled in.

7

SpaceX Starship Program / Re: My biggest Starship program pet peeves

« Last post by philw1776 on Today at 05:41 pm »

Couple personal peeves. I'm an old coot so likely Elon's "moving Mars out by no more than 5 years" could well mean I never see it. Been waiting for decades since Sputnik 1. (If Chris would only tell me precisely how long my Lifetime NSF subscription will be good for it would answer lots of my questions)

Other is...if Elon is really into Mars settlement he needs to call another multi-industry get together like the one SpaceX had in Colorado several years ago. Mid 2027 would be a good time with Starship really flying for street cred. SpaceX can't do it all. Need to motivate other companies to provide ancillary hardware with marketing branding incentives. Gotta send something in the 2029 launch window.

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SpaceX Starship Program / Re: CANCELLED: #dearMoon - Starship First Contracted Private Passenger Flight - DISCUSSION

« Last post by Nomadd on Today at 05:32 pm »

 I really like Tim. He paid for his Hopper launch viewing facility with bottles of Glenlivet. How can you be any classier than that?
 Watching him get the moon and then having it pulled out from under him pssed me off something fierce. You'd think I'd be aware of just how dumb rich people can really be by now, but apparently, I'm still a slow learner.

9

ESA Launchers - Ariane/Vega / Re: Arianespace launch schedule

« Last post by Salo on Today at 05:25 pm »

https://twitter.com/GewoonLukas_/status/20220395145592630754

Lukas C. H. @GewoonLukas_
Mission success for Amazon Leo LE-01 and the 1st Ariane 64! This was the 1st of 18 Amazon Leo launches on Ariane 6, and Arianespace has confirmed that the next will be another for Amazon! It looks like Amazon has already shipped the satellites to French Guyana on January 23rd.

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ISS Section / Re: Schedule of ISS flight events (part 2) [Updates Only]

« Last post by Salo on Today at 05:17 pm »

Thread for the launch of Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-24 mission on Falcon 9.

Launch is targeted for 3 April 2026 at --:--:-- UTC (--:-- EDT) from Florida.  The first stage B10xx-x expected to land at LZ-40

This is an additional fourth launch ordered after an initial 3 launches as a result of the Antares 230 retirement and gap before Antares 330 comes online.

[...]
 • "Great progress" on Antares 330 for 2026 launch.
 • NG-24 will launch on Falcon 9.
 • Damaged NG-22 capsule will be manifested on a future NASA mission, TBD. Extent of damage at sea is still under investigation.
[...]