The Starship Orbital test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The Booster stage will separate approximately 170 seconds into flight. The Booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 20 miles from the shore. The Orbital Starship will continue on flying between the Florida Straits. It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted landing approximately 100km (~62 miles) off the northwest coast of Kauai in a soft ocean landing.
https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1392915876643438592Finally we know something!!!Why they aren't going to attempt a landing on the pad?Expecially for the raptors.Is possible that some agency denied a ground landing attempt for SH? IMO it is possible, because the flight profile will prove a complete RTLS?Could, if they splash down softly, the SH and the SS be recovered and inspected? (obviusly salt water will prevent any reuse).BTW, this is my 307th post. Thanks to everyone of this beautiful community!
As I’ve been telling anyone who will listen. They are going to willfully expend shiny new hardware until they’re confident they won’t expend their shiny new GSE.
Is there any chanche to see SS flip, if it makes through reentry, via a non SpaceX camera?
Quote from: Herb Schaltegger on 05/13/2021 07:14 pmAs I’ve been telling anyone who will listen. They are going to willfully expend shiny new hardware until they’re confident they won’t expend their shiny new GSE.Can you expand this a little?I'm assuming they are willing to expend the first SS/SH because they don't have an easy way to land them yet.How are you thinking GSE fits into this? Concern about landing back at the pad at doing a RUD?
Flight ProfileThe Starship Orbital test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The Booster stage will separate approximately 170 seconds into flight. The Booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 20 miles from the shore. The Orbital Starship will continue on flying between the Florida Straits. It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted landing approximately 100km (~62 miles) off the northwest coast of Kauai in a soft ocean landing.
Event TimelinesEventT+ time (seconds)Liftoff0MECO169Stage Separation171SES176Booster Touchdown495SECO521Ship Splashdown5420
ObjectivesSpaceX intends to collect as much data as possible during flight to quantify entry dynamics and better understand what the vehicle experiences in a flight regime that is extremely difficult to accurately predict or replicate computationally. This data will anchor any changes in vehicle design or CONOPs after the first flight and build better models for us to use in our internal simulations
Very cool. What I find interesting is that the staging is later than anticipated, MECO seems to be about 20-30 seconds later than F9. Although it is possible that once the booster does a full boost-backs to the launch pad they will end up staging earlier.
So... SpaceX has filed for an FCC STA for the first "Starship Orbital test flight", NET June 20th, 2021.QuoteThe Starship Orbital test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The Booster stage will separate approximately 170 seconds into flight. The Booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 20 miles from the shore. The Orbital Starship will continue on flying between the Florida Straits. It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted landing approximately 100km (~62 miles) off the northwest coast of Kauai in a soft ocean landing.https://fcc.report/ELS/Space-Exploration-Technologies-Corp-SpaceX/0748-EX-ST-2021
It is a pity to loose all those Raptors, but let´s remember that they still need to validate booster reentry without the reentry burn. They have good data on the rest of the booster flight profile, but this.
Quote from: equiserre on 05/13/2021 07:53 pmIt is a pity to loose all those Raptors, but let´s remember that they still need to validate booster reentry without the reentry burn. They have good data on the rest of the booster flight profile, but this. I mean, it's not like the whole stack successfully getting to staging is a slam dunk IMHO.Expecting the first launch to sail through all the way to booster reentry is a tall order. This isn't a campaign like the F9 development one was. There are no extended static tests of an integrated booster propulsion unit (with however many Raptors they're planning to fit on it) planned or even possible. There's a real chance the whole flight goes the way of an N1 so already worrying about dunking perfectly good Raptors into the drink is maybe a tad premature?
Who has make this plan? What is the FCC?