Shotwell did not provide any detail about how the Boca Chica spaceport would handle BFR launches and landings, whether they would be from land or, as some illustrations suggest, from an offshore platform.Texas has plenty of firms with expertise in building offshore platforms. Launching from offshore would likely avoid the issue of beach closures that land launches have entailed.Just as an added note, the folks developing the Texas Hyperloop might want to consider a new branch of the line between Houston and Boca Chica. If the SpaceX facility is going to be the commercial gateway to Mars and the moon, it should generate plenty of traffic.Another idea would be to make Boca Chica one of the places where the suborbital BFR takes off and lands as it takes people and cargo to points halfway around the world. All in all, the growth such a facility would give to nearby Brownsville could be staggering. As predicted in a previous piece, the first person to land on Mars or even the first person back to the moon may wind up leaving Earth from Texas.
There is also little substance to the oft-repeated claim that BFR will be "way over the permissible sound limits". One analysis early in this thread showed "twice as loud"... that's 3db.
If it's going offshore they might as well go 20 miles out and reduce the noise issues. BFR is going to be breaking windows 5-10 miles away on a regular basis if they launch frequently.
Here's an article that suggests how BFR may launch from Boca Chica:http://us.blastingnews.com/news/2017/10/spacexs-gwynne-shotwell-reveals-more-details-about-the-bfr-002085099.htmlQuoteShotwell did not provide any detail about how the Boca Chica spaceport would handle BFR launches and landings, whether they would be from land or, as some illustrations suggest, from an offshore platform.Texas has plenty of firms with expertise in building offshore platforms. Launching from offshore drillingwould likely avoid the issue of beach closures that land launches have entailed.Just as an added note, the folks developing the Texas Hyperloop might want to consider a new branch of the line between Houston and Boca Chica. If the SpaceX facility is going to be the commercial gateway to Mars and the moon, it should generate plenty of traffic.Another idea would be to make Boca Chica one of the places where the suborbital BFR takes off and lands as it takes people and cargo to points halfway around the world. All in all, the growth such a facility would give to nearby Brownsville could be staggering. As predicted in a previous piece, the first person to land on Mars or even the first person back to the moon may wind up leaving Earth from Texas.When the author of this article discusses an offshore platform, he does not imply a fully offshore launch site, and he does not imply a floating platform like ASDS or Sea Launch.Rather, he implies a space launch complex that's partly on land, and partly in the Gulf.In other words, this implies a fixed platform with underwater legs that physically connect it to the ocean floor. The Gulf of Mexico is only 72 feet deep 5 miles offshore from Boca Chica Beach. This also implies a lot of buildings and other infrastructure (e.g. antenna dishes) at Boca Chica Village, and more infrastructure (e.g. water tower and propellant tanks) at Boca Chica Beach, with electrical cables, fiber-optics, and flexible pipes running underwater to the offshore pad.And as the author suggests, such an arrangement could have huge implications for the Brownsville area, especially if they launch BFR sub-orbital passenger flights from Boca Chica to other destinations across the world and back. That scenario would also imply a lot of construction in and around Boca Chica Village, to the point where SpaceX may want to keep a large construction crane there long-term, with a permanent structure to house it.
Shotwell did not provide any detail about how the Boca Chica spaceport would handle BFR launches and landings, whether they would be from land or, as some illustrations suggest, from an offshore platform.Texas has plenty of firms with expertise in building offshore platforms. Launching from offshore drillingwould likely avoid the issue of beach closures that land launches have entailed.Just as an added note, the folks developing the Texas Hyperloop might want to consider a new branch of the line between Houston and Boca Chica. If the SpaceX facility is going to be the commercial gateway to Mars and the moon, it should generate plenty of traffic.Another idea would be to make Boca Chica one of the places where the suborbital BFR takes off and lands as it takes people and cargo to points halfway around the world. All in all, the growth such a facility would give to nearby Brownsville could be staggering. As predicted in a previous piece, the first person to land on Mars or even the first person back to the moon may wind up leaving Earth from Texas.
Quote from: cscott on 10/25/2017 04:25 pmThere is also little substance to the oft-repeated claim that BFR will be "way over the permissible sound limits". One analysis early in this thread showed "twice as loud"... that's 3db. Quote from: envy887 on 10/23/2017 08:53 pmIf it's going offshore they might as well go 20 miles out and reduce the noise issues. BFR is going to be breaking windows 5-10 miles away on a regular basis if they launch frequently.Two opposite opinions. I'm somewhere in the middle.
Cscott is referring to audible noise, while I was referring to the full spectrum which causes more structural damage. I don't think audible noise will be a major issue.
http://www.krgv.com/story/36728029/spacex-installs-2nd-antenna-at-boca-chica-beachVery short article finally KRGV gives a update “SpaceX spokesman says launches will begin in 2018” honestly I can take late 2018 and 2019 for its first launches. Anytime.
About the low frequency noise, how does BFR having 31 small engines rather than 7 or so larger engines effect the frequency and volume of noise produced? Is total thrust the only factor?
Quote from: SPITexas on 11/01/2017 11:56 amhttp://www.krgv.com/story/36728029/spacex-installs-2nd-antenna-at-boca-chica-beachVery short article finally KRGV gives a update “SpaceX spokesman says launches will begin in 2018” honestly I can take late 2018 and 2019 for its first launches. Anytime.From the article you link:"The antennas will be used to track Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Center (sic).A Space X spokeswoman said launches should begin in 2018."So as StuffOfInterest suggests, the article implies that Crew Dragon launches from the cape will begin in 2018.
The offshore BFR discussion got me wondering. The BRF first stage lands back on the same pad it launches from so does that mean each BFR rocket will need a dedicate launch pad on a 1:1 basis?
* Big F? Crane+ Big F? Hangar
If an offshore platform is used at Boca Chica, it will probably make more sense for the hangar to be over at the ship channel instead of near the control center...
Big Falcon RocketBig Falcon CraneBig Falcon HangerGwynne has been quite clear (although Elon mischievously likes to preserve the ambiguity).
The rocket that they are working on is referred to internally by the code name BFR. And it doesn't stand for some arcane, smarty-pants science term. It stands for Big frakking Rocket.I ask Musk whether he really calls it that; his answer is both delightfully nerdy, and not."Well, there's two parts of it—there's a booster rocket and there's a spaceship... So, technically, it would be the BFR and the BFS." As in "Big frakking Spaceship."Musk coined these names himself. "This is a very obtuse video-game reference," he tells me. "In the original Doom, the gun that was like the crazy gun was the BFG 9000 or something like that. So it was sort of named after the gun in Doom. But that's not its official name, of course."
Quote from: Rocket Science on 10/12/2017 02:35 pmQuote from: woods170 on 10/12/2017 08:17 amI've never understood why folks designated some other F-word to the letter 'F'.Probably because it's more of a "Pterodactyl in size" relative to the Falcon... I think the joke is that the 'official' name is Big Falcon Rocket, but it can also be taken (by Elon in particular) as standing for Big F*****g Rocket. The ambiguity is purposeful. No big deal.
Quote from: woods170 on 10/12/2017 08:17 amI've never understood why folks designated some other F-word to the letter 'F'.Probably because it's more of a "Pterodactyl in size" relative to the Falcon...
I've never understood why folks designated some other F-word to the letter 'F'.