SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
Well the Starlink 1 mission is going well, will all 60 satellites deployed.
This was also the 75th Falcon 9 launch & 45th successful landing.
It was their heaviest payload too, as these satellites have been upgraded since the original batch. They have 4x the data capacity, support more phased array broadband beams & have an extra Ka band antennae. They're supposed to completely disintegrate on re-entry as well now.
Only the dual fairing pick up wasn't attempted due to sea conditions. The recovery ships went to a nearby North Carolina port for shelter. SpaceX will still try to fish out the fairings from the sea however.
This was also the 75th Falcon 9 launch & 45th successful landing.
It was their heaviest payload too, as these satellites have been upgraded since the original batch. They have 4x the data capacity, support more phased array broadband beams & have an extra Ka band antennae. They're supposed to completely disintegrate on re-entry as well now.
Only the dual fairing pick up wasn't attempted due to sea conditions. The recovery ships went to a nearby North Carolina port for shelter. SpaceX will still try to fish out the fairings from the sea however.
about that...Here's another, more graphical view of the two Starlink cluster orbits.
https://www2.flightclub.io/earth?tlesByLaunch=1961...
https://www2.flightclub.io/earth?tlesByLaunch=1961...
Now for the in-flight abort test, probably in December.
They've lined up a booster that has already flow three times for this - B1046. This was the first of the Block 5's to fly and the first to complete 3 flights.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 booster from Monday's Starlink 1 flight arrived safely back at Port Canaveral yesterday.
They've lined up a booster that has already flow three times for this - B1046. This was the first of the Block 5's to fly and the first to complete 3 flights.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 booster from Monday's Starlink 1 flight arrived safely back at Port Canaveral yesterday.
Beati Dogu said:
Now for the in-flight abort test, probably in December.
They've lined up a booster that has already flow three times for this - B1046. This was the first of the Block 5's to fly and the first to complete 3 flights.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 booster from Monday's Starlink 1 flight arrived safely back at Port Canaveral yesterday.
They are doing it at Max Q aren't they? Good decision. They've lined up a booster that has already flow three times for this - B1046. This was the first of the Block 5's to fly and the first to complete 3 flights.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 booster from Monday's Starlink 1 flight arrived safely back at Port Canaveral yesterday.
Looking at two recent abort tests one is perfectly filmed and one is not perfectly filmed
Boeing from White sands , got to be the worst ever abort flight filming ....
https://youtu.be/acOFK3Bsj58?t=126
Compare this to Lockheed Martin / Northrup Grumman Orion from the Cape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJgqhznBntE
And White Sands has s
t loads of good cameras too, due to the military aspect... go figure.To be honest both Space X and Boeing are crap with the replacement for Soyuz at $xm per pop so far. We know Soyuz abort works, it has already saved lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUwnLFKfuBE
It's not sexy and old school, but works.
Let's hope they can both improve from thrusters blowing up and parachutes not deploying.
Edited by Gandahar on Saturday 16th November 11:52
It seems Boeing's per seat price for Starliner is 60% higher than that for SpaceX - and higher than NASA has paid for Soyuz flights. They have also been paid extra above the contract price ( see article in link below ) which was already 40% higher than SpaceX received 
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/nasa-repor...
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/nasa-repor...
Another article on the same subject - though this one goes as far as saying Boeing were 'extorting' money from NASA
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/b...
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/b...
Port Canaveral lifted the Falcon 9 off the landing ship with their new mobile crane for the first time today.
The crane's mast kinda looks like another Falcon 9, weirdly enough.
This operation was delayed over the weekend due to high winds. Fairing capture boats Ms.Tree and Ms.Chief are still in port in North Carolina due to the rough weather. Apparently Ms.Chief had her net torn partially off while actually in port.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Starship 1's bottom half is about to undergo tank pressurisation and propellant loading tests.
This will likely be with inert liquid nitrogen first, before moving on to more explody things.
The crane's mast kinda looks like another Falcon 9, weirdly enough.
This operation was delayed over the weekend due to high winds. Fairing capture boats Ms.Tree and Ms.Chief are still in port in North Carolina due to the rough weather. Apparently Ms.Chief had her net torn partially off while actually in port.
Meanwhile, in Texas, Starship 1's bottom half is about to undergo tank pressurisation and propellant loading tests.
This will likely be with inert liquid nitrogen first, before moving on to more explody things.
Well that's buggered then. There's never a dull moment with SpaceX.
Everyday Astronaut on twitter:
"Starship MK-1 appears to have blown its top off during a pressure test today. My guess... this will be a good time for @spacex to move onto their next, more refined and higher quality versions (MK-2/3) instead of reparing MK-1."
Elon Musk @elonmusk Replying to @Erdayastronaut and @SpaceX
"Absolutely, but to move to Mk3 design. This had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different."
https://twitter.com/Erdayastronaut/status/11972710...
The nose section was not attached at least. Maybe they were planning to test that separately anyway. Perhaps they can add it to the Mk 3, which they're building at Boca Chica.
Looks like the Mk 2 in Florida will be the first to test fire now.
EDIT : SpaceX say the decision had already been made not to fly this test article. In fact the first one they’ll attempt to fly to orbit will be the Mk 3.
Everyday Astronaut on twitter:
"Starship MK-1 appears to have blown its top off during a pressure test today. My guess... this will be a good time for @spacex to move onto their next, more refined and higher quality versions (MK-2/3) instead of reparing MK-1."
Elon Musk @elonmusk Replying to @Erdayastronaut and @SpaceX
"Absolutely, but to move to Mk3 design. This had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different."
https://twitter.com/Erdayastronaut/status/11972710...
The nose section was not attached at least. Maybe they were planning to test that separately anyway. Perhaps they can add it to the Mk 3, which they're building at Boca Chica.
Looks like the Mk 2 in Florida will be the first to test fire now.
EDIT : SpaceX say the decision had already been made not to fly this test article. In fact the first one they’ll attempt to fly to orbit will be the Mk 3.
Edited by Beati Dogu on Thursday 21st November 01:50
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