Live feed:
Just tuned in. Elon's speaking is painful to watch so far....moreso than normal.
Just tuned in. Elon's speaking is painful to watch so far....moreso than normal.
quote:If you'd watched the presser, terraformation is a key element of their plan.
OK - this video is pretty cool. But was that a hint of terraforming Mars at the end?
quote:
I'm a little concerned about the 48 Raptor engines on one stage. That is a ****load of parts that have to work in perfect symphony EVERY TIME or you're going kaboom. It's more aggressive than the Soviet N-1, and we all know how that one turned out...
quote:I can't remember exactly, but I think the Raptor is using much higher chamber pressures than the Merlin. That's how they're getting more efficiency out of it. Don't really know how much of the data from the Merlin they can use here.
I don't think 99.79% reliability is too crazy. The much more complex Space Shuttle Main Engine demonstrated 99.75% operational reliability and zero catastrophic failures. SpaceX is getting tons of operating data thanks to their 9 engine configuration on the Falcon 9 and they tend to use relatively low chamber pressures in their first stage engines. This gives them a good chance to observe out-of-design conditions and perform an orderly shutdown before an engine fails catastrophically.