Starship to do an orbital flight from Texas to Hawaii. 🤯🤯🤯 @elonmusk
3/4 of the way around the Earth
We saw F9 first stages crash onto the drone ship and cause some damage. Seems that the much higher mass SH booster would be a substantial risk to a drone ship. Not all that surprising that they would want at least one dress rehearsal landing on water before risking a ship.
Quote from: Rocket Surgeon on 05/14/2021 12:32 amSo this is interesting and seems to imply they're just gonna get rid of the SS and SH at the end of the flight. Though I'll admit, I'm a little surprised they don't even seem interested in recovery... not even going to try and land the SH on a drone ship? Maybe even if they did land it, it would be too much effort at this point to properly secure it and return it to port and they can learn enough from a 'disposable' flight. (I am hesitant to say 'expendable' as they are choosing to get rid of these stages)We saw F9 first stages crash onto the drone ship and cause some damage. Seems that the much higher mass SH booster would be a substantial risk to a drone ship. Not all that surprising that they would want at least one dress rehearsal landing on water before risking a ship.
So this is interesting and seems to imply they're just gonna get rid of the SS and SH at the end of the flight. Though I'll admit, I'm a little surprised they don't even seem interested in recovery... not even going to try and land the SH on a drone ship? Maybe even if they did land it, it would be too much effort at this point to properly secure it and return it to port and they can learn enough from a 'disposable' flight. (I am hesitant to say 'expendable' as they are choosing to get rid of these stages)
And of course the landing is targetted and controlled, but there will be no landing barge, I'm, not sure if that means they'll tow it back or sink it. Given that it's [Starship] gone through reentry there's lots of value in looking at it. (assuming it doesn't break up)
We need to make sure ship won’t break up on reentry, hence deorbit over Pacific
Again, nothing in the FCC thing suggest they will be dumping the SH booster into the drink. It suggest the opposite.
The Launch Tower will also sport a crane for mating Starship atop Super Heavy and eventually large mechanical arms that will “catch” the booster when it returns to the launch site.The latter is not expected to occur during the first few flights, likely resulting in SpaceX undertaking the path it used during the first Falcon 9 booster landings, with a soft touchdown on water.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 05/14/2021 05:48 amAgain, nothing in the FCC thing suggest they will be dumping the SH booster into the drink. It suggest the opposite.Exactly.Starship says "splashdown" and the booster says "touchdown." That can't be accidental.
Quote from: Nascent Ascent on 05/14/2021 12:03 amHow about launching a Crew Dragon just a bit later in order to shadow and photograph the partial orbit and re-entrySounds very expensive. Cheaper to launch a Falcon 9 with literally nothing but a camera on the second stage. If they want a picture of Starship on orbit, I don't see why they couldn't have a camera which is ejected from starship and sends the images back as it floats away.
How about launching a Crew Dragon just a bit later in order to shadow and photograph the partial orbit and re-entry
I can't believe they are going to attempt this. All the hardware for BN2 and SN20 is at most a few stacked barrels, how are they going to weld them into a full stack in a few months?
They might reduce suborbital testing and focus on getting the orbital facility up and running. All hands on new facility?
Would they have one of the platforms ready to put out in the Gulf for the SH landing?
Doubt it. Nowhere near finished and also needs propulsion, control and positioning. Think they are at least 8/12 months from having anything near that.Quote from: spacenut on 05/14/2021 12:14 pmWould they have one of the platforms ready to put out in the Gulf for the SH landing?
