SpaceX Tuesday...

[anonymous-user]

SN15 is being lifted back on to one of the suborbital launch pads right now.

[MiniMan64]

F20CN16 said:

SN15 is being lifted back on to one of the suborbital launch pads right now.

Absolutely, fill it up and stick it back up again, why not?

[anonymous-user]

MiniMan64 said:

F20CN16 said:

SN15 is being lifted back on to one of the suborbital launch pads right now.

Absolutely, fill it up and stick it back up again, why not?

And keep on doing it to failure. Gotta love SpaceX.

[CraigyMc]

garyhun said:

MiniMan64 said:

F20CN16 said:

SN15 is being lifted back on to one of the suborbital launch pads right now.

Absolutely, fill it up and stick it back up again, why not?

And keep on doing it to failure. Gotta love SpaceX.

It's what the SNs are for.

The pace they learn at is impressive, though.

[Flooble]

CraigyMc said:

It's what the SNs are for.

The pace they learn at is impressive, though.

"They are adapting Captain!"

[GTO-3R]

I thought they would take it back to the high bay first to check the welds etc before going again but that’s not the SpaceX way is it

I’m assuming there wouldn’t need to be another static fire again?

[14]

GTO-3R said:

I thought they would take it back to the high bay first to check the welds etc before going again but that’s not the SpaceX way is it

I’m assuming there wouldn’t need to be another static fire again?

I doubt a visual inspection would tell them much, as they will of gathered a lot of data from all the sensors. Things like welds they would already know, as that will be one of the reasons for the pressure testing that they do.

[MartG]

I'd guess a static fire will take place if they need to swap engines

[annodomini2]

They would probably SF anyway, even if they don't replace engines.

They do it with F9s before reflying them.

They don't have data on previously flown engines with the Raptor.

[Beati Dogu]

Impressive timelapse footage of the recent Crew-2 Dragon & ISS docking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKYUgV6ttUg&t=...

[RizzoTheRat]

I love the wiggle before the final approach, is that it fine tuning to a specific position or do they test all the thrusters before the final docking manouvre?

[Beati Dogu]

Just fine tuning I think. I believe that was an automated approach. Note the other Dragon docked "nose down" as this one approaches the port.


Here's a rather dramatic time lapse of a Soyuz docking with the ISS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-pUVSLeUvc


Or a slower, more hi-res version of the same:

https://youtu.be/fnb3PXBkay0

[Talksteer]

Dog Star said:

MartG said:

ULA are actually at something of a disadvantage - while ESA & Roscosmos are state funded, ULA have to keep the gravy rolling in for their shareholders, and R&D on a recoverable booster would eat into profits

It'd be interesting to see where we would be in let's say 2040 if SpaceX never arrived and kicked this whole industry up the arse? I suspect we would still have the bulk of transport being done on 80 year old tech Soyuz clones, with the odd halo mission - at eye watering cost - being done on SLS (if it was finished). Compare this with a fair estimate of current advances which will see boots on Mars about 2030 (I don't think we will ever see a city there). decent sized moon base and orbiting workshops.

I think it would have all happened just slightly slower, the technology, the methods and market were there just waiting for someone to pick it up.

The COTS contract that SpaceX won was there specifically to try to make something like SpaceX happen, the Kistler K1 who won the other competition but failed on funding was actually more advanced than the Falcon 9 being fully reusable.

If we hadn't got SpaceX then we'd probably have Sierra Nevada beat Boeing to the ISS with Dreamchaser. Somebody else would have commercialized the NASA Fastrack engine just like SpaceX did with the Merlin.

See participants for NASA COTS, if SpaceX hadn't won somebody else would have got funded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Orbital_T...

[MartG]

Robert Zubrin article about Starship

https://nautil.us/issue/100/outsiders/the-profound...

[MartG]

B1051 back in port

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-sootiest-falcon-9...

[Dog Star]

MartG said:

Robert Zubrin article about Starship

https://nautil.us/issue/100/outsiders/the-profound...

Good read and a great explanation of how progress has been hobbled.

[Legmaster]

Space X have released a short recap video of the SN15 Test

[Dog Star]

The noise of these things - the almost living, breathing pre-flight sounds, then that humungous crackle of the Raptors.

Magic!

[S6PNJ]

Fab!
Right up to the last moment of landing, it still looked to be at a 'fair' angle before it sat down fully. Might just have been a trick of the camera position or might just be 'carrying momentum' to straighten up at the last moment perhaps?

[Beati Dogu]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yes, just been reading about that. The rocket would separate after 170 seconds. The booster landing in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles downrange. The Starship heading round the Earth and reentering about 90 minutes later over the Pacific and doing a controlled landing in the sea off the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

They did test landings like this with Falcon 9 a couple of times - before they felt able to put a landing ship underneath them.

Edit: Why Kauai? It’s home to the Pacific Missile Range Facility, so no doubt they have some very sophisticated tracking equipment. They’ve worked on various rocket programs from Atlas to Titan.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Thursday 13th May 22:52