SpaceX (Vol. 2)

[ninja-lewis]

Beati Dogu said:

The number of Raptor engines are building up now:



- Elon

That's a production rate of 2-3 a day vs current rate of one every 48 hours.

[Flooble]

Presumably the new factory will be bigger

I guess if you focus on only making one thing you also get better at it.

Did anyone post about the CRS-22 return? Another mission complete.

[Beati Dogu]

It came back in the morning our time.

Splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico and was picked up soon after. On its way to Port Canaveral now, so should arrive in a few days.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Saturday 10th July 23:23

[Flooble]

I think it's already back?

https://twitter.com/NASAKennedy/status/14137032183...

[Beati Dogu]

Interesting ‘tilt shift’ photo of the SpaceX landing ship out in California:



Tilt shift makes things look slightly odd, like they’re a miniature or something.

More photos here:

https://twitter.com/w00ki33/status/141285355507397...

[anonymous-user]

Beati Dogu said:

Interesting ‘tilt shift’ photo of the SpaceX landing ship out in California:



Tilt shift makes things look slightly odd, like they’re a miniature or something.

More photos here:

https://twitter.com/w00ki33/status/141285355507397...

Nice!

Tilt shift picture of double booster landing would really look like Thunderbirds.

[Eric Mc]

Beati Dogu said:

Interesting ‘tilt shift’ photo of the SpaceX landing ship out in California:



Tilt shift makes things look slightly odd, like they’re a miniature or something.

More photos here:

https://twitter.com/w00ki33/status/141285355507397...

I find it rather annoying. When photographing models (or any small objects) in days gone by, the limitations of the lenses at the time (combined with film and shutter speed limits) meant that getting a decent depth of field, especially in "Macro" mode, was difficult. This meant that the nearest part and the furthest part of the object being photographed would often be out of focus. It was very annoying.
Modern lenses and digital sensors (rather than film) have much greater latitude so therefore these depth of field problems have been largely banished.

The ironic thing is that people now DELIBERATELY falsify these depth of field effects in order to PRETEND that the image is a miniature - or to make it look "arty".

[Beati Dogu]

Meh, I kinda like it for a bit of variety. It's just another photography technique to me.


Meanwhile the CRS-22 Dragon capsule is back in Port Canaveral now. They already offloaded the time sensitive stuff a few days ago and flew it back to land by helicopter.

The new landing ship is being towed round the tip of Florida currently. It should be in port on Thursday I think, so we can get a better look at it.

[Eric Mc]

Beati Dogu said:

Meh, I kinda like it for a bit of variety. It's just another photography technique to me.

It is based on the notion of, "we can do it properly now so lets mess up the picture deliberately to pretend we can't".

[anonymous-user]

Eric Mc said:

Beati Dogu said:

Meh, I kinda like it for a bit of variety. It's just another photography technique to me.

It is based on the notion of, "we can do it properly now so lets mess up the picture deliberately to pretend we can't".

Luddite

[Beati Dogu]

It was probably a regular photo with the tilt shift filter in Photoshop.

[Eric Mc]

garyhun said:

Luddite

More like "Luddite in Reverse".

[anonymous-user]

Eric Mc said:

garyhun said:

Luddite

More like "Luddite in Reverse".

Etiddul?

[Einion Yrth]

Beati Dogu said:

The new landing ship is being towed round the tip of Florida currently. It should be in port on Thursday I think, so we can get a better look at it.

I thought it was self propelled.

[eharding]

Einion Yrth said:

Beati Dogu said:

The new landing ship is being towed round the tip of Florida currently. It should be in port on Thursday I think, so we can get a better look at it.

I thought it was self propelled.

Was certainly razzing about in that video clip. I wonder how much fuel they keep aboard the landing ships though - having topped up fuel tanks in something that is designed to have a rocket booster spearing right at it might be tempting fate, so maybe just have enough fuel for station keeping, and tow it for the transits?

[Einion Yrth]

eharding said:

Einion Yrth said:

Beati Dogu said:

The new landing ship is being towed round the tip of Florida currently. It should be in port on Thursday I think, so we can get a better look at it.

I thought it was self propelled.

Was certainly razzing about in that video clip. I wonder how much fuel they keep aboard the landing ships though - having topped up fuel tanks in something that is designed to have a rocket booster spearing right at it might be tempting fate, so maybe just have enough fuel for station keeping, and tow it for the transits?

Indeed it'll need support vessels, and an oiler would make sense as one of them. i.e. Self propelled for transits, run the tank down, refuel to go home.

[Beati Dogu]

I think the idea is that it’s a completely unmanned, autonomous vessel and won’t require a support vessel of any kind. That said, I expect the port authority will require a tug and local pilot to bring it in and out of Port Canaveral. It’ll certainly have manual controls as well for that sort of thing.

Starlink missions are pretty typical and they have the landing ships out at about 400 miles down range, so with travel to and from the area, loitering on station and possible delays, it’ll need a good thousand miles of range at the very least. It’s a big bugger, I expect that’s doable.

Kinda cool to think they can automate a rocket mission from launch to landing and return to port.

[Caruso]

Eric Mc said:

Beati Dogu said:

Meh, I kinda like it for a bit of variety. It's just another photography technique to me.

It is based on the notion of, "we can do it properly now so lets mess up the picture deliberately to pretend we can't".

To me it's in the same category of black & white photography. I think it has it's place to make a difference to an image that would otherwise be less interesting.

[Talksteer]

Beati Dogu said:

I think the idea is that it’s a completely unmanned, autonomous vessel and won’t require a support vessel of any kind. That said, I expect the port authority will require a tug and local pilot to bring it in and out of Port Canaveral. It’ll certainly have manual controls as well for that sort of thing.

Starlink missions are pretty typical and they have the landing ships out at about 400 miles down range, so with travel to and from the area, loitering on station and possible delays, it’ll need a good thousand miles of range at the very least. It’s a big bugger, I expect that’s doable.

Kinda cool to think they can automate a rocket mission from launch to landing and return to port.

I doubt it would need a tug, the dynamic control means it should be able to go in whatever direction it wants.

[Beati Dogu]

I'm sure it doesn't need one, but the port authority will probably require one. Either that or it's brought in & out manually by one of their pilots. Remains to be seen.



Over at Boca Chica, booster testing is continuing:



It's just less than 2 years since Starhopper flew and they've already moved on so far.