Nasa gets a lot of grief, some deservedly so, but this is what they do really well. They have this Mars rover system down cold.

US has landed 3 successful Mars missions since its last failure in 1999(Mars Polar Lander).

will25u said:

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US has landed 3 successful Mars missions since its last failure in 1999(Mars Polar Lander).

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5. Spirit, Opportunity, Phoenix, Curiosity and now Perseverance

That's awesome.

Cygnus about to be captured.

Test firing for SN10 is supposed to happen today (backup windows tomorrow/wed.)

PJYoung said:

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Good luck to them.

Although, I do kind of enjoy watching them crash.

So if I understand correctly, we will see all 3 raptors relight on SN10 - and then shutdown the one with shortest moment when other 2 are running?

Can't wait!!!

He actually made the comment they're going to aim to throttle in a way that doesn't shut any engines down, but can lose one and still land

double aught said:

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PJYoung said:

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Good luck to them.

Although, I do kind of enjoy watching them crash.

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Unfortunately I think they're gonna stick this landing.

PJYoung said:

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double aught said:

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PJYoung said:

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Good luck to them.

Although, I do kind of enjoy watching them crash.

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Unfortunately I think they're gonna stick this landing.

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Realistically, is there much chance for that? This model is still mostly parts built before SN8 right?

Decay said:

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PJYoung said:

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double aught said:

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PJYoung said:

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Good luck to them.

Although, I do kind of enjoy watching them crash.

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Unfortunately I think they're gonna stick this landing.

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Realistically, is there much chance for that? This model is still mostly parts built before SN8 right?

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The odds makers/Elon have posited they have roughly a 60 percent shot at this one. Engine relights (fuel supply or something breaking in the plumbing/engine itself) have been the issues on both so far, but the vehicle/controls work pretty well other than those two itty bitty details (/sarcasm.)

My guess is, since it was a different cause on each flight, they feel pretty good about getting at least two going while plummeting from the sky this time. Leaving all three running would be a shocker to me, though. Throttling all the way down on a (still new) full cycle engine with precise control would be a real challenge, and I'd expect somewhere around 5 seconds from landing, the third would be cut off entirely.

Elon seems to have confirmed it's a bit riskier/unlikely to leave all 3 running the whole way down;

I don't think it's parts that form the solution but the control systems and software.

Time to go down to the Valley! Going to drone fish as we wait through the delays..

This could be the one where they launch on the first open window....I think they are really close to that.

This was just posted in the group.

https://www.facebook.com/JinksRealty/photos/pcb.2883807731937671/4123599871004487/

If you can see the photo...this welded fuel tank says SN19 on it...

NASA will release the Perseverance landing videos at 1:00 CST.

That was awesome!!!

I queued up the video to the landing videos. Pretty damn neat!

We are now in the static fire window:

will25u said:

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I queued up the video to the landing videos. Pretty damn neat!

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First time I saw actual video from Mars... awesome!

What cracks me up about the Percy landing video is that's it's in HD. And the freaking NASA channel itself is stuck in 1998 low def.

They're trying for a static fire test on SN10 (again) this afternoon.

will25u said:

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Ok. This is clever. NASA used the parachute coloring to make a Morse code message.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/23/22297094/hidden-message-parachute-nasa-mars-perseverance-rover

Yep. Dope slogan too.

Launch should happen today or tomorrow; they have an agreement with local folks not to do launches/firings on the weekend, if not.

Quote:

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That could mean that SpaceX quickly determined that Tuesday's static fire wasn't satisfactory, though it could just as easily be SpaceX hedging its bets in the event that it needs to redo SN10's static fire on Wednesday, February 24th. If Tuesday's test went well, SpaceX could turn SN10 around for a launch attempt as early as Thursday, moving to Friday if a hypothetical Wednesday static fire redux goes well. Stay tuned for updates (and hopefully confirmation from CEO Elon Musk).

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But apparently needed another engine swap out so another test fire after. No launch until Monday, if so.

Weekend launch in Florida for starlink17 finally, maybe;