SpaceX (Vol. 2)
Discussion
louiechevy said:
Ship 40 is now in a sheltered cove at Christmas island
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-18/space-x-roc...
Why have SpaceX gone to all this effort to recover it, rather than sink or blow it up? It's been in salt water and is clearly damaged now, so surely can't be reused. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-18/space-x-roc...
AJLintern said:
This will be the first time they've been able to properly inspect the heat shield after re-entry, so given that it didn't explode and sink this time, it has some value to recover it.
Agreed - even if they have to dismantle it to get it back to the US, they will be able to properly analyse the heatshield and underlying struture.I am more than willing to have a go at SpaceX and Musk when they deserve it but recovering this stage is a bit of an achievement for them - laced with some luck as well.
scz4 said:
Why have SpaceX gone to all this effort to recover it, rather than sink or blow it up? It's been in salt water and is clearly damaged now, so surely can't be reused.
They've never been able to physically look, touch and inspect it up to now. It will give them a much greater idea of whats going on with it that all the data in the world can't. The heat shield tiles especially.hondajack85 said:
The way tugging some lump of failed metal across the ocean is dressed up as some sort of example of success sums up this plonker and his well paid minions.
Theses a whole other thread for "grrr Musk" stuff. There is an engineering benefit to recovering it regardless of Musks politics.Edited by 98elise on Friday 21st August 10:24
Ship 41 completed its static test fire last night, so just needs booster 21 to do it's test fire and flight 14 won't be far of.
And according to the whats going on with shipping YouTube channel spacex are hiring one of those ships that sink to pick up loads to recover ship 41 from Christmas island.
And according to the whats going on with shipping YouTube channel spacex are hiring one of those ships that sink to pick up loads to recover ship 41 from Christmas island.
Great Scott Manley video this morning ref heat tiles at NASA, and I think an oblique reference to spaceX in there..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxaPVRh3Bgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxaPVRh3Bgs
98elise said:
hondajack85 said:
nobody was watching
Unfortunately Falcon rockets launching/landing successfully are a matter of routine now.I'm still planning a US trip to see if for real though
What amazes me is that it's only 10 years ago that everyone was watching as they nailed the first booster landings.
At the time it seemed like something out of science fiction, and after multiple failures many sceptics had been saying they would never get it to work, and were silly to even attempt it.
Then we watched the Falcon Heavy twin booster landing in 2018.
Now all this stuff is just routine and something that was beyond bleeding edge is now unremarkable, yet when you think of it, what is remarkable is the number of launches since 10 years ago and the fact that in all those launches, there have only been 2 complete flight failures (one technically pre-flight).
Fast forward to today, and many people are very sceptical of the idea of Starship and the super heavy booster successfully being caught with chopsticks, and the possibility that this seemingly "science fiction" idea might work.
I wonder, and wouldn't be surprised if in 10 (or 20) years from now, there will be 100+ Starship launches per year, and much like the Falcon 9 today, "nobody will be watching" as it's "just another routine Starship launch"?
We have had this discussion previously but I think the issues with Starship are orders of magnitude more problematic than with Falcon.
I am sure they will sort Starship out at some point. My concern is that it will take much, much longer than Musk has predicted and my other issue is that NASA has hung too much of its future manned lunar programme on to Starship - so that is being seriously delayed by Starship's problems.
If and when they nail a full Starship mission, I'll be happy then.
I am sure they will sort Starship out at some point. My concern is that it will take much, much longer than Musk has predicted and my other issue is that NASA has hung too much of its future manned lunar programme on to Starship - so that is being seriously delayed by Starship's problems.
If and when they nail a full Starship mission, I'll be happy then.
Eric Mc said:
We have had this discussion previously but I think the issues with Starship are orders of magnitude more problematic than with Falcon.
I am sure they will sort Starship out at some point. My concern is that it will take much, much longer than Musk has predicted and my other issue is that NASA has hung too much of its future manned lunar programme on to Starship - so that is being seriously delayed by Starship's problems.
If and when they nail a full Starship mission, I'll be happy then.
Agree - and with Musk apparently desperate to retire Falcon (at least from the commercial market), there is a real risk of a lack of launch capacity coming up in the coming years. I am sure they will sort Starship out at some point. My concern is that it will take much, much longer than Musk has predicted and my other issue is that NASA has hung too much of its future manned lunar programme on to Starship - so that is being seriously delayed by Starship's problems.
If and when they nail a full Starship mission, I'll be happy then.
loudlashadjuster said:
Surely he s only desperate to replace F9 with Starship?
Until that is reliable enough that the insurance costs aren t killing its commercial viability, I would assume Falcon is going nowhere.
It's going nowhere as its man rated. It's going to take some time for a starship to hit that milestone. Until that is reliable enough that the insurance costs aren t killing its commercial viability, I would assume Falcon is going nowhere.
On the other hand the Space part of SpaceX seems to be becoming relatively minor - it's (aiming to be) a datacentre/AI business, then a telecoms one, with the space launch bit mostly an enabler for their in-house satellites.
Financially, selling launch capacity could just end up a distraction, unless there's some dream they're selling and post-IPO they don't need to sell the old dreams.
Maybe once the AI bit pops they'll concentrate on space again.
Financially, selling launch capacity could just end up a distraction, unless there's some dream they're selling and post-IPO they don't need to sell the old dreams.
Maybe once the AI bit pops they'll concentrate on space again.
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