-
#840
by
WisRich
on 14 Apr, 2023 21:55
-
Reading that license has been granted.
It's happening.
-
#841
by
sferrin
on 14 Apr, 2023 21:55
-
-
#842
by
TomH
on 14 Apr, 2023 22:03
-
So happy! Time to frame this and hang it on my wall!
-
#843
by
jackvancouver
on 14 Apr, 2023 22:23
-
The official mission patch looks very... Electron. But that's not a bad thing.
-
#844
by
Herb Schaltegger
on 14 Apr, 2023 22:55
-
The actual Launch License term is 5 years but it's expressly limited to the first launch only until modified or amended. The FAA is hedging their bets. However, absent things going REALLY pear-shaped in the worst possible ways all around, I expect that this limit will be amended away within weeks after the first launch.
-
#845
by
Revolver Ocelot
on 14 Apr, 2023 22:57
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
-
#846
by
jpo234
on 14 Apr, 2023 22:59
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
Up and then down again.
-
#847
by
Nevyn72
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:02
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
Up and then down again.
The first part of that is yet TBD....
-
#848
by
sferrin
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:05
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
Up and then down again.
The first part of that is yet TBD....
If the fire starts it'll go up for sure. How fast and how high would be the question.
-
#849
by
jpo234
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:06
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
Up and then down again.
The first part of that is yet TBD....
As Niels Bohr said:
Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.
-
#850
by
Vahe231991
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:25
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
Up and then down again.
The first part of that is yet TBD....
If the fire starts it'll go up for sure. How fast and how high would be the question.
Given that Elon Musk hinted at the possibility that the first Falcon Heavy might fail, only to see that prediction dashed after the first Falcon Heavy launch reached orbit, I think the first Starship launch will smoothly lift off from the launch pad, reach max Q over the Gulf of Mexico, and put the Starship stage into a stable orbit three or four seconds after the first stage separates.
-
#851
by
alugobi
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:32
-
"Past performance does not guarantee future returns."
-
#852
by
xvel
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:46
-
Falcon heavy was a finished product, just not yet tested, Starship is an early prototype...
-
#853
by
Jim
on 14 Apr, 2023 23:54
-
nd put the Starship stage into a stable orbit three or four seconds after the first stage separates.
It will be far from orbital at that point. Starship has burn to near depletion to go into orbit.
Also separation has not been demonstrated
-
#854
by
whitelancer64
on 15 Apr, 2023 00:18
-
So what is everyone’s prediction for how the flight will go?
Up and then down again.
The first part of that is yet TBD....
As Niels Bohr said: Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.
I fully expect that there will be a scrub or two (but that won't preclude me having a launch webcast on in the background to keep an eye on).
However, once they open the launch clamps with the engines running, I expect it will most likely clear the pad with minimal problems. They could easily lose an engine or two or three on ascent, and I'm not sure how visible that will be to us. The big milestones in my book are stage separation and the in-flight ignition of Starship's engines. Anything that happens after that is pure gravy as far as I'm concerned.
"Excitement Guaranteed"
-
#855
by
TomH
on 15 Apr, 2023 01:13
-
Take this as pure speculation, I am NOT a lawyer. There was some speculation a while back that an injunction stopping Star Ship launch may happen due to environmental issues. I would think you can't get an injunction without a launch license in place. Therefore, might SpaceX try to delay the license until late Friday after the courts are closed and try to get a launch off on Monday before the courts reopen?
IANAL either, but an emergency injunction can theoretically be obtained by finding an appropriate judge willing to issue one, even after hours. Mind, if you're disturbing a judge on his days off, you'd better have a pretty solid case, and since the FAA already went through the environmental evaluation last year, good luck with that.
Have heard from other sources that license had been ready for a day or two. And, indeed, announcement was made at end of the day on a Friday. Further, the LV should be propped and ready first thing Monday. Though the above theory is speculation, the current timing certainly matches the the theory thus far.
-
#856
by
catdlr
on 15 Apr, 2023 02:32
-
A 122 page document has been published by the FAA in relation to the launch license: https://www.faa.gov/media/27236
I've only skimmed through it, but there's a lot of detailed information relating to the test flight (specifically the "landings" and their environmental impact) that I'm sure will be of interest.
One excerpt on page 3 seems to suggest that Ship 25 is being skipped in favor of S26:
SpaceX also proposes to add an area southwest of Hawaii, uprange of the passive descent ocean
landing area, to account for the potential Starship debris field for the second and third launches of
Starship that are not configured to survive atmospheric reentry.
SpaceX would expend Starship (break up upon atmospheric entry) following the second and third launches.
]
So the second and third are the two SS's that are bare (no thermal tiles and flaps)??
-
#857
by
joek
on 15 Apr, 2023 02:35
-
IANAL either, but an emergency injunction can theoretically be obtained by finding an appropriate judge willing to issue one, even after hours. Mind, if you're disturbing a judge on his days off, you'd better have a pretty solid case, and since the FAA already went through the environmental evaluation last year, good luck with that.
As noted in the
update thread (@SteveObrien), there is also an updated
WRITTEN RE‐EVALUATION OF THE 2022 FINAL PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT, 14-Apr-2023 (
today).
Any challenge is going to have to address that, not just the older PEA, WR's, etc.
edit: p.s. interesting aside... that WR was signed 2023.04.14 16:30.04-4'00'; launch license signed 2023.04.14 17:32:34 -04'00'.
-
#858
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 15 Apr, 2023 02:44
-
https://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1647065221779931136Welp I was going to sleep but instead spent about an hour reading through this 122 page PDF that came out today along with the license. This is a re-evaluation of the PEA specific for the flight profile of the first few flights of Starship, cool stuff.
faa.gov/media/27236
Some of the stuff that I found interesting:
- Second and Third flights of Starship will be with S26 and S27 (expected but now comfirmed)
- Super Heavy will be landing on the surface of the ocean. SpaceX will NOT recover it and will instead try to sink it in any way possible
https://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1647065239802847237- Ship 24 will have onboard flight recorders to be retrieved for data. This we kinda guessed from the hardware installed on its exterior but now it's confirmed.
As part of that study, they needed to study the way the transfer tube on Starship may be damaged due to sudden impacts. Something that they had previous experienced with SN10's hard landing
- A lot went into figuring out the impact to marine life due to Ship 24's impact with the water
https://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1647065254285721600Lastly, the document was signed just this afternoon which makes me think was the "hold up" for the FAA to finally wrap up and grant the license.
https://twitter.com/alexphysics13/status/1647068584747597824An extra thought from this is...
This document covers the FireX system on the pad and it's supposed to be at least the first three flights. It doesn't mention the deluge system SpaceX is building so it makes me think this system may not debut until the fourth flight 🤔
-
#859
by
FutureSpaceTourist
on 15 Apr, 2023 03:39
-
