SpaceX (Vol. 2)
Discussion
The costs of all of it is likely to be fairly well up in the air at this stage, but I'd think the exact cost of them should end up being less critical anyway once the system is working reliably - having them cost 250 or 500k (or more) will increase the build cost a fair bit, but will make much less difference if you're getting dozens of launches out of it.
Another thought on them aiming to get the launch frequency increased already: troubleshooting the actual pad and launch operations is probably just as critical at this stage as the rest of it.
They were blowing the thing to pieces on the first launch, it looks much sturdier now, but imagine it helps getting as many launches from the pad as possible, seeing what lasts and what doesn't.
Having a quick turnaround on the rocket is irrelevant if the pad is knocked out of commission for a couple months every 6-10 launches.
Another thought on them aiming to get the launch frequency increased already: troubleshooting the actual pad and launch operations is probably just as critical at this stage as the rest of it.
They were blowing the thing to pieces on the first launch, it looks much sturdier now, but imagine it helps getting as many launches from the pad as possible, seeing what lasts and what doesn't.
Having a quick turnaround on the rocket is irrelevant if the pad is knocked out of commission for a couple months every 6-10 launches.
Ship 29 has been wheeled back to the production site after completing a second test firing. This one of a single engine fed from the header tank. It'll have its final pre-flight work now.
Booster 11 should be out soon for its own testing schedule.
"Goal of this mission is for Starship to get through max reentry heating with all systems functioning." - Elon
Booster 11 should be out soon for its own testing schedule.
"Goal of this mission is for Starship to get through max reentry heating with all systems functioning." - Elon
Beati Dogu said:
They’re planning to launch 3 Falcon 9s on Sunday.
First up Eutelsat-36D from pad 39a. Then a Starlink mission from nearby pad 40. Then another Starlink mission from Vandenberg, California.
First up Eutelsat-36D from pad 39a. Then a Starlink mission from nearby pad 40. Then another Starlink mission from Vandenberg, California.
r/spacexlounge said:
From the first reuse to 12th, 15th, 18th in seven years.
So seven years ago today, SpaceX launched its first reused booster. Today, over a 5 hour period SpaceX will be launching three falcon rockets (two from Florida and one from California). For these launches, it will be the 12th, 18th, and 15th reuse of their specific boosters.
So seven years ago today, SpaceX launched its first reused booster. Today, over a 5 hour period SpaceX will be launching three falcon rockets (two from Florida and one from California). For these launches, it will be the 12th, 18th, and 15th reuse of their specific boosters.
The booster for IFT4 was moved to the pad yesterday.
Current NET for IFT4 is 17th April. Elon says "next month".
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1775956032021495886?s=...
Current NET for IFT4 is 17th April. Elon says "next month".
https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1775956032021495886?s=...
Edited by CraigyMc on Friday 5th April 19:39
Nice little IFT3 video from SpaceX here https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1776070700077584385?s=...
Another 'Making Life Interplanetary' update from Musk this week:
NASASpaceFlight summary on X said:
Some interesting notes:
Flight 4 in a month or so. Aim to get through the high heating regime. Into the ocean at a controlled spot - a virtual tower (soft water landing technique).
If that works, "Flight 5 will land on the Tower" (catch the booster with the chopsticks).
99 percent of all mass from Earth to orbit when Starship is flying (fully operational).
Goal to get 200 tons to orbit with full reusability.
Two pinpoint soft landings are required for Ship for catches. Maybe next year.
Two Towers by sometime next year. Two at Starbase. Two at the Cape - first operation middle of next year (will be 39A).
Planning to build another roughly six boosters and ships and that production rate will increase a lot next year. That's why we're building the giant factory.
Per Mars, need more ships than boosters. - "aim to ramp production to pretty high numbers, ultimately probably a ship every, like multiple ships per day".
Next year aiming to demonstrate ship-to-ship propellant transfer.
Lunar Starship - "we need landing legs. And you don't need a heat shield and you don't need flaps because there's no atmosphere. So the Moon ship would be specialized".
Performance - "we've made dramatic progress on every level for Starship has evolved from, you know, optimistically 185 tons to 280".
"We'll aim to get the booster engines over 330 tons of thrust, which would mean 10,000 tons of total thrust at liftoff. Raptor 3 also will not need a heat shield".
Cost: "The Starship 3 (much taller version) will be 400 times more payload for less than the cost of a Falcon 1. Ultimately, I think we might be able to get the cost per flight to Earth orbit down to around $2 million or $3 million".
Lots about Mars Base Alpha.
Long-term - "we'll probably have some offshore launch sites".
Flight 4 in a month or so. Aim to get through the high heating regime. Into the ocean at a controlled spot - a virtual tower (soft water landing technique).
If that works, "Flight 5 will land on the Tower" (catch the booster with the chopsticks).
99 percent of all mass from Earth to orbit when Starship is flying (fully operational).
Goal to get 200 tons to orbit with full reusability.
Two pinpoint soft landings are required for Ship for catches. Maybe next year.
Two Towers by sometime next year. Two at Starbase. Two at the Cape - first operation middle of next year (will be 39A).
Planning to build another roughly six boosters and ships and that production rate will increase a lot next year. That's why we're building the giant factory.
Per Mars, need more ships than boosters. - "aim to ramp production to pretty high numbers, ultimately probably a ship every, like multiple ships per day".
Next year aiming to demonstrate ship-to-ship propellant transfer.
Lunar Starship - "we need landing legs. And you don't need a heat shield and you don't need flaps because there's no atmosphere. So the Moon ship would be specialized".
Performance - "we've made dramatic progress on every level for Starship has evolved from, you know, optimistically 185 tons to 280".
"We'll aim to get the booster engines over 330 tons of thrust, which would mean 10,000 tons of total thrust at liftoff. Raptor 3 also will not need a heat shield".
Cost: "The Starship 3 (much taller version) will be 400 times more payload for less than the cost of a Falcon 1. Ultimately, I think we might be able to get the cost per flight to Earth orbit down to around $2 million or $3 million".
Lots about Mars Base Alpha.
Long-term - "we'll probably have some offshore launch sites".
Thanks. It’s nice to have an insight on the progress.
A professional rocket tracking company have now got a website and YouTube channel where they’ll make some of their footage available. They’ve worked with NASA for the last 30 years and now also work with the likes of Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, providing engineering footage to help them study launches.
This is from the second Starship launch up to booster separation and explosion:
Their website is www.skyshow.tv
Thanks to Curious Droid for the links.
A professional rocket tracking company have now got a website and YouTube channel where they’ll make some of their footage available. They’ve worked with NASA for the last 30 years and now also work with the likes of Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, providing engineering footage to help them study launches.
This is from the second Starship launch up to booster separation and explosion:
Their website is www.skyshow.tv
Thanks to Curious Droid for the links.
A Falcon 9 booster with a man walking past in the foreground for scale.
They're bigger than you think.
A still taken from this short video:
https://x.com/JerryPikePhoto/status/17791840029575...
They're bigger than you think.
A still taken from this short video:
https://x.com/JerryPikePhoto/status/17791840029575...
But utterly dwarfed by the Supeheavy booster.
Highlighted at the base is a group of workers for scale.
Also taken from a video:
https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/177994103959315...
Highlighted at the base is a group of workers for scale.
Also taken from a video:
https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/177994103959315...
Not for the fanboys, but interesting take if you have an open mind...
https://youtu.be/nxG0WAwwrGk?si=5XSKp3KZNQdGZdCR
https://youtu.be/nxG0WAwwrGk?si=5XSKp3KZNQdGZdCR
Timothy Bucktu said:
Not for the fanboys, but interesting take if you have an open mind...
https://youtu.be/nxG0WAwwrGk?si=5XSKp3KZNQdGZdCR
Destin's cool. It's hard not to like a guy who wanted to know what a supersonic baseball would do, so built one and tested it with super slow-mo video for Youtube.https://youtu.be/nxG0WAwwrGk?si=5XSKp3KZNQdGZdCR
He's got access to a lot of places you can only go with US security clearances (he was in R&D for the military) - for example on an active US nuclear submarine. His dad's been in several of the videos, he's a NASA staffer who does metronomy (weights and measurements) for a living, on things like the Webb telescope, which he's also got a video of.
The video you linked to is a 3rd party review of an older Destin video from last year or thereabouts where he was asked to give a talk at a NASA convention and more or less said "you're not being honest with each other", which is from my point of view completely accurate. It went down like a lead balloon.
His heart is in the right place, but his audience don't care about that -- it's their salaries on the line.
RumbleOfThunder said:
I have to say I'm completely underwhelmed with Starship so far. Billions of valuable Nasa money spent, years behind schedule and I have no confidence we will see it on the Moon, let alone Mars.
Starship and SuperHeavy have been developed using SpaceX money, not NASA's, though they do have a contract to provide a modified Starship for NASA's lunar landing programme.$3 billion spent by SpaceX so far.
The initial NASA contract was fixed $2.9 billion with milestones to achieve before any funding is released. Haven't been able to find anywhere what the funding milestones are yet.
This is over a long period of time relatively, NASA's budget for just one mission - Mars sample return (MSR) is now estimated at reaching as much as $11 billion.
Seems the SpaceX spending isn't to bad if they get to a point where it's a viable craft for the planned missions.
The initial NASA contract was fixed $2.9 billion with milestones to achieve before any funding is released. Haven't been able to find anywhere what the funding milestones are yet.
This is over a long period of time relatively, NASA's budget for just one mission - Mars sample return (MSR) is now estimated at reaching as much as $11 billion.
Seems the SpaceX spending isn't to bad if they get to a point where it's a viable craft for the planned missions.
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