SpaceX Tuesday...

[RobDickinson]

Beati Dogu said:

There will likely be another Falcon Heavy launch towards the end of the year.

This is designated AFSPC-44 & will be for the US Air Force.

That's late 2020 not this year sadly

[Art0ir]

hidetheelephants said:

Art0ir said:

As someone regularly connected to vessels over VSAT, I await their latency results with much eagerness

Ditto!

Just had a snoop at your profile. If you’re at sea I really do feel for you. If you’re shoreside (technical superintendent, etc) then it’s not as bad.

[RobDickinson]

Wow video from the fairing..

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1146546495241371...

[Eric Mc]

Very "2001". David Bowman would be impressed.

[Beati Dogu]

Reminds me of Dr Who's intro sequence too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fnzcAFy8d8

[MartG]

Drone footage of StarShip construction site in Cocoa, Florida

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-scr6FsddY

[Beati Dogu]

Shiny. Much 1950s sci-fi.

Looks like they're constructing the hull rings in the building, then jack up the "rocket" and add the new ring to the bottom.

I imagine it's easier and more accurate to work with it that way.

I'd love to know if they're going to move this to a launch pad, or they're just exploring construction techniques.

[MartG]

Initial hop planned for Tuesday - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/11495488077653...

[Beati Dogu]

"~20m up & sideways for first flight. Mk1 Starship hopefully 20km up in a few months." - Elon Musk

Should be quite a show.


Testing the Raptor gimballing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pD5CZZfnYk

Edited by Beati Dogu on Sunday 14th July 22:24

[Toaster]

Problem is it’s not a Starship, just a marketing ploy.

[AshVX220]

Toaster said:

Problem is it’s not a Starship, just a marketing ploy.

fk me dude, give it a rest. For most of us, it's exciting.

[RobDickinson]

Wtf do you think they are marketing?

They've strapped the most advanced rocket engine in the world to it.

[anonymous-user]

AshVX220 said:

Toaster said:

Problem is it’s not a Starship, just a marketing ploy.

fk me dude, give it a rest. For most of us, it's exciting.

Just ignore the joyless one.

[Toaster]

RobDickinson said:

Wtf do you think they are marketing?

They've strapped the most advanced rocket engine in the world to it.

Hype mainly, I did not say it’s a pile of poo, it’s just not a Starship. It may be the ‘most advanced rocket engine’ for now but another one will be along soon and that still will not make it a Starship.

[Toaster]

garyhun said:

AshVX220 said:

Toaster said:

Problem is it’s not a Starship, just a marketing ploy.

fk me dude, give it a rest. For most of us, it's exciting.

Just ignore the joyless one.

I did not say it’s not ‘exciting’ although I can think of many other things to get the heart racing, adrenaline pumping and life affirming experiences than calling a rocket that may be capable of getting to Mars a Starship ! Me Joyless I don’t think so, pragmatic and realistic oh yes.

[C350]

I’m sure some of the things that get your heart racing would bore others to death. Just because it doesn’t do anything for you, it doesn’t mean everyone else is the same

[RobDickinson]

[eharding]

RobDickinson said:

https://www.spacex.com/news/2019/07/15/update-flig...

[Beati Dogu]

Holy microscopes Batman, That's small.

So it was a plumbing leak, not the Draco or Super Draco engines themselves at fault. That's something at least.

It's worrying that a titanium valve seems to have spontaneously "ignited" when exposed to high pressure nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) from the leak.

[RobDickinson]

It does seem unusual, looks like its not such a big deal and wont slow down crew dragon program.