SpaceX Tuesday...
Discussion
They've tested it a bunch of times on a test rig of course, but this is the first time it's had anything serious to do.
I suppose they wanted to cobble together the engine, plumbing and flight computers to check for overall function and control.
Now they can scale up the flight testing with a larger airframe and 3 engines.
Here's how they plan to move the rocket they built in Florida the 20 miles to the pad:
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/investigators/ho...
A nice bit of investigative journalism there. I'd almost forgotten what it was.
I suppose they wanted to cobble together the engine, plumbing and flight computers to check for overall function and control.
Now they can scale up the flight testing with a larger airframe and 3 engines.
Here's how they plan to move the rocket they built in Florida the 20 miles to the pad:
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/investigators/ho...
A nice bit of investigative journalism there. I'd almost forgotten what it was.
Edited by Beati Dogu on Wednesday 28th August 16:29
Maybe not everything when as smoothly as thought...there appears to have been a fire on the underside as it came down to land, as well as some form of pressure vessel somersaulting across the landscape
Scott Manley video about the test and looking at these events
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T29ybqjv8-U&fe...
Scott Manley video about the test and looking at these events
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T29ybqjv8-U&fe...
Looks like Hurricane Dorian is headed straight for the Cape Canaveral area. It's expected to be a Category 3 when it makes landfall on Monday morning. It's currently just east of Puerto Rico.
https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2896569,-81.147967...
NASA have already sent one of the crawlers to go and collect the SLS' launch tower off Pad 39B. Port Canaveral will likely be evacuated shortly as well.
https://www.google.com/maps/@22.2896569,-81.147967...
NASA have already sent one of the crawlers to go and collect the SLS' launch tower off Pad 39B. Port Canaveral will likely be evacuated shortly as well.
Beati Dogu said:
"Aiming for 20km flight in Oct & orbit attempt shortly thereafter. Starship update will be on Sept 28th, anniversary of SpaceX reaching orbit. Starship Mk 1 will be fully assembled by that time."
- Elon Musk, 29th August.
No hanging about with this lot.
That's "Elon time" though, the events will doubtless move rightwards.- Elon Musk, 29th August.
No hanging about with this lot.
Hurricane Dorian seems to be tracking further south now, but they expect it to intensify to a category 4 by the time it makes landfall in Florida.
NASA's SLS launch lower is probably inside the Vertical Assembly Building by now. They're evacating the base and will just leave a minimal crew to keep an eye on things.
The Starship prototype at Cocoa is still outside, but they have a wind shelter ready for it now. Not sure how good that will be. They lost Starhopper's pointy nose cone to a storm if you remember,
The SpaceX landing ship, Of Course I Still Love You, is going to ride it out in Port Canaveral. Tugs have moved her further into the port for now. New Spiderboat Go Ms Chief, Go Searcher and Go Quest have been evacuated north, to an inland waterway near Jacksonville FL.
The former Pacific landing ship, Just Read the Instructions, is through the Panama Canal and is now in Louisiana at the shipyard who built her. I expect they'll be welding the side extensions back on among other things. Spiderboat Ms. Tree and GO Navigator are also currently in Louisiana for maintenance.
Oh and the Dragon capsule arrived back in Los Angeles aboard recovery ship NRC Quest for the 3rd time yesterday.
NASA's SLS launch lower is probably inside the Vertical Assembly Building by now. They're evacating the base and will just leave a minimal crew to keep an eye on things.
The Starship prototype at Cocoa is still outside, but they have a wind shelter ready for it now. Not sure how good that will be. They lost Starhopper's pointy nose cone to a storm if you remember,
The SpaceX landing ship, Of Course I Still Love You, is going to ride it out in Port Canaveral. Tugs have moved her further into the port for now. New Spiderboat Go Ms Chief, Go Searcher and Go Quest have been evacuated north, to an inland waterway near Jacksonville FL.
The former Pacific landing ship, Just Read the Instructions, is through the Panama Canal and is now in Louisiana at the shipyard who built her. I expect they'll be welding the side extensions back on among other things. Spiderboat Ms. Tree and GO Navigator are also currently in Louisiana for maintenance.
Oh and the Dragon capsule arrived back in Los Angeles aboard recovery ship NRC Quest for the 3rd time yesterday.
Hurricane Dorian is now a Category 5, but it looks like the eye is going to slew northwards, running parallel to the coasts of Florida, Georgia & the Carolinas.
The northern Bahamas are getting hit very hard currently, but hopefully the effects on Florida will be limited to heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges rather than its full wrath. They've still ordered mandatory evacuations from Palm Beach County, which is just north of Miami and is in the expected path. Orlando's 2 main airports will shut down tonight.
The northern Bahamas are getting hit very hard currently, but hopefully the effects on Florida will be limited to heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges rather than its full wrath. They've still ordered mandatory evacuations from Palm Beach County, which is just north of Miami and is in the expected path. Orlando's 2 main airports will shut down tonight.
Beati Dogu said:
Hurricane Dorian is now a Category 5, but it looks like the eye is going to slew northwards, running parallel to the coasts of Florida, Georgia & the Carolinas.
The northern Bahamas are getting hit very hard currently, but hopefully the effects on Florida will be limited to heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges rather than its full wrath. They've still ordered mandatory evacuations from Palm Beach County, which is just north of Miami and is in the expected path. Orlando's 2 main airports will shut down tonight.
Isn't it worse if it stays running along the coast, as it doesn't begin dissipating over land? I don't know if you saw the twitter post from someone who lives in Florida but it looks like SpaceX have done fairly minimal preparations - rolled the bottom half of the prototype into the tent but that's it. There's no door on the tent and the top half of the prototype plus the rings are still just laying around outside. The northern Bahamas are getting hit very hard currently, but hopefully the effects on Florida will be limited to heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges rather than its full wrath. They've still ordered mandatory evacuations from Palm Beach County, which is just north of Miami and is in the expected path. Orlando's 2 main airports will shut down tonight.
I fear we'll be seeing quite a mess come Wednesday morning. Just hope nothing that goes for an early unpowered test-flight takes out critical bits of infrastructure.
No, you really don't want it making landfall and the further it stays out to sea the better. It will also start to lose power as it reaches colder water further north.
I was at Disneyland last October as the eye of Hurricane Michael, which was also a Cat 5, was piling into the Florida panhandle, trashing the place and killing people. They had storm surge warnings along the west coast from Tampa upward, but for where I was in Orlando, it was just a bit unsettled & rainy. The locals seem to view the risk as going with the territory,
Dorian is a particularly violent hurricane though, with sustained wind speeds of up to 185 mph. That's equal in power to the so called Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which smashed through the Florida Keys and killed nearly 500 people, many of them WW1 veterans at a work camp. This is what the winds and an estimated 18ft storm surge did to the train sent to rescue the workers:
It never made it to them and only the heavy locomotive remained upright (at the bottom of the picture).
SpaceX are also building a Starship prototype out at Boca Chica in Texas, so it's not the end of the world if the one in Florida is lost. It's crude as hell anyway and unless it completely falls over, I'm sure they can patch up any damage from flying coconuts (which is a thing - a friend of mine in Florida got one through his bedroom window once).
I was at Disneyland last October as the eye of Hurricane Michael, which was also a Cat 5, was piling into the Florida panhandle, trashing the place and killing people. They had storm surge warnings along the west coast from Tampa upward, but for where I was in Orlando, it was just a bit unsettled & rainy. The locals seem to view the risk as going with the territory,
Dorian is a particularly violent hurricane though, with sustained wind speeds of up to 185 mph. That's equal in power to the so called Labor Day hurricane of 1935, which smashed through the Florida Keys and killed nearly 500 people, many of them WW1 veterans at a work camp. This is what the winds and an estimated 18ft storm surge did to the train sent to rescue the workers:
It never made it to them and only the heavy locomotive remained upright (at the bottom of the picture).
SpaceX are also building a Starship prototype out at Boca Chica in Texas, so it's not the end of the world if the one in Florida is lost. It's crude as hell anyway and unless it completely falls over, I'm sure they can patch up any damage from flying coconuts (which is a thing - a friend of mine in Florida got one through his bedroom window once).
^ It's all very silly really.
Meanwhile, Florida dodged the hurricane. After flattening the Bahamas, damaging the Carolina coast and causing havoc in Nova Scotia, it's now headed our way.
https://google.org/crisismap/google.com/2019-doria...
The SpaceX fleet is re-assembling at Port Canaveral and work continues on their Starship rockets.
SpaceX are planning to launch 4 Starlink missions before the year is out, with first stage recoveries way out to sea.
Meanwhile, Florida dodged the hurricane. After flattening the Bahamas, damaging the Carolina coast and causing havoc in Nova Scotia, it's now headed our way.
https://google.org/crisismap/google.com/2019-doria...
The SpaceX fleet is re-assembling at Port Canaveral and work continues on their Starship rockets.
SpaceX are planning to launch 4 Starlink missions before the year is out, with first stage recoveries way out to sea.
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