SpaceX single-handedly keeping us ahead of the Chinese in spaceflight.

I know it doesn't technically matter, since all of China's is internal, but how much of SpaceX's mass launched is from StarLink?

Not SpaceX, but.... WOW.

Tesla revenues grow 81% from last year

will25u said:

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Not SpaceX, but.... WOW.

Tesla revenues grow 81% from last year

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Yeah I think now SpaceX and TSLA operate financially independently... but never hurts for Musk to have solid ground in his two biggest investments. Plus I have no doubt he'll continue to invest in projects that advance his causes, which are just about the closest thing to a benevolent advocate humans have.

Tesla production/revenue has been constrained for over 2 years by battery production capacity. That's a big part of the reason they have postponed launching production of their semi, and the pickup truck, as well.

Bregxit said:

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Perseverance rover on Mars captures Phobos transiting the sun...really cool!

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Mars has the most raggedy-ass moons ever

Our moon kicks ass. So much so that we had to go stick a flag in it.

Bregxit said:

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Perseverance rover on Mars captures Phobos transiting the sun...really cool!

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I don't see any leather goddesses.

Decay said:

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will25u said:

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Not SpaceX, but.... WOW.

Tesla revenues grow 81% from last year

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Yeah I think now SpaceX and TSLA operate financially independently... but never hurts for Musk to have solid ground in his two biggest investments. Plus I have no doubt he'll continue to invest in projects that advance his causes, which are just about the closest thing to a benevolent advocate humans have.

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Why do you think they ever didn't operate financially independent?

Build It said:

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Decay said:

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will25u said:

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Not SpaceX, but.... WOW.

Tesla revenues grow 81% from last year

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Yeah I think now SpaceX and TSLA operate financially independently... but never hurts for Musk to have solid ground in his two biggest investments. Plus I have no doubt he'll continue to invest in projects that advance his causes, which are just about the closest thing to a benevolent advocate humans have.

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Why do you think they ever didn't operate financially independent?

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From a business standpoint they always did. But when both were struggling, Musk was using personal funds to support them. So in that sense if Tesla went under, it might affect his ability to support Space X

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, completing this booster’s 12th launch and landing pic.twitter.com/6PV1bFRgar

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 21, 2022

Did it look like a harder landing than usual to anyone else?

DoD: SpaceX (Starlink) quickly adapting and defeating Russian jamming attempts was 'eye watering.'

Quote:

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After SpaceX sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February in an apparent effort to help Ukraine maintain its internet connection amid war with Russia, SpaceX founder Elon Musk claimed that Russia had jammed Starlink terminals in the country for hours at a time. After a software update, Starlink was operating normally, said Musk, who added on March 25 that the constellation had "resisted all hacking & jamming attempts" in Ukraine.

Assuming Musk famously something of a showboater in his public comments is providing an accurate picture, a private firm beating back Russian EW attempts with software updates is the kind of thing that makes Pentagon EW experts pay attention.

"From an EW technologist perspective, that is fantastic. That paradigm and how they did that is kind of eyewatering to me," said Dave Tremper, director of electronic warfare for the Pentagon's acquisition office. "The way that Starlink was able to upgrade when a threat showed up, we need to be able to have that ability. We have to be able to change our electromagnetic posture, to be able to change very dynamically what we're trying to do without losing capability along the way."

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nortex97 said:

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DoD: SpaceX (Starlink) quickly adapting and defeating Russian jamming attempts was 'eye watering.'

Quote:

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After SpaceX sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February in an apparent effort to help Ukraine maintain its internet connection amid war with Russia, SpaceX founder Elon Musk claimed that Russia had jammed Starlink terminals in the country for hours at a time. After a software update, Starlink was operating normally, said Musk, who added on March 25 that the constellation had "resisted all hacking & jamming attempts" in Ukraine.

Assuming Musk famously something of a showboater in his public comments is providing an accurate picture, a private firm beating back Russian EW attempts with software updates is the kind of thing that makes Pentagon EW experts pay attention.

"From an EW technologist perspective, that is fantastic. That paradigm and how they did that is kind of eyewatering to me," said Dave Tremper, director of electronic warfare for the Pentagon's acquisition office. "The way that Starlink was able to upgrade when a threat showed up, we need to be able to have that ability. We have to be able to change our electromagnetic posture, to be able to change very dynamically what we're trying to do without losing capability along the way."

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That is just another stark reminder of how bad the government is at being nimble. The modern battle field looks so different but we still have so many stuck in their ways people at the top that combine with a bureaucracy that make it impossible to react quickly.

The military has always basically been that way. Patton was training his army with cars dressed up as tanks just before WW2 erupted, and frankly we never did get the armor/tanks we really wanted/needed then.

Having been in the army for a few years, I think some of the weirdest stuff for instance was that our 'high tech' comms equipment (MSE) was in fact using over 30 year old French manufactured circuit cards that were about 15 inches across (and subject to failure rates you'd expect).

Anyway, you go to war with the army you've got, not the one you want, as has been said many times. The military tries to be innovative and is at times ("human resources" was famously one of their creations), but it just isn't as 'nimble' as many think it is from the outside looking in.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/04/rocket-report-falcon-9-says-aloha-to-hawaii-blue-origin-to-abandon-ship/

Quote:

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. . .
Falcon 9 puts on a show over Hawaii. On Sunday morning local time, April 17, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California carrying the classified NROL-85 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Due to the classified nature of the launch, the SpaceX webcast ended shortly after liftoff. But observers in Hawaii got a spectacular view of the second stage a few hours after the launch.

Second stage does a barrel "nrol" ... The Subaru Telescope on top of Mauna Kea recorded what appeared to be a flying whirlpool in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, Live Science reports. Really, the video is quite spectacular. This is clearly the second stage of the Falcon 9 reentering Earth's atmosphere, spinning, and venting the extra propellant in its fuel tanks. Such phenomena have been observed before, but this is one the best views I've seen. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
. . .

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The flying whirlpool:

Does starlink have frequency hopping capability? I'd assume if the soviets were able to get close enough and crank up the power high enough they'd still be able to jam via brute force

They multiplex in a band range so I assume this is basically what they did. The Russians haven't had an ability to put a large platform in an orbit to jam them go so I believe they basically can't stay on station long to jam dishes where they might wish to. Basically, I believe the brief jamming was from ground based assets over the border (and facing Poland). Haven't seen anything concrete tho.

Much like PNT jamming, it would be downlink jamming from terrestrial or maybe airborne jammers, not from orbit.

Correct, definitely not an orbital satellite etc, I meant an orbiting platform a la E-7/E-3 etc. Their airborne jamming/C3I assets are...relatively primitive, I believe.

Aw gotcha

Love that spiraling motion. Maximize aerodynamic drag and loads on the vehicle during re-entry, thus guaranteeing complete structural breakup and ultimate destruction.

You don't like Chinese lawn darts?

Weather is looking good off the coast of Florida for Dragon’s and the Ax-1 astronauts’ return to Earth, departing from the @space_station tonight at ~8:55 p.m. ET→ https://t.co/N3MHSxCS0k pic.twitter.com/mUvyNNwiqL

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 24, 2022

They seem small given the thrust. The velocities must be insane. Are these pushing 300 bar yet?

Am I the only one concerned they aren't being lined up straight, and don't seem to have the same red dust caps on them?

nortex97 said:

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Am I the only one concerned they aren't being lined up straight, and don't seem to have the same red dust caps on them?

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Your OCD is in overdrive. Relax and enjoy the pretty picture. :-)

will25u said:

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TTT

Raptor 2 rocket engines at Starbase, each producing over half a million pounds (230 tons) of force pic.twitter.com/9ixxXXceG3

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 26, 2022

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That's like 7 zillion pounds (or 31 zillion N) of force!!

bmks270 said:

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They seem small given the thrust. The velocities must be insane. Are these pushing 300 bar yet?

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Over 300, think they sustained 330 on a 7 second burn.

And no nortex, you are not the only one who's OCD is twitching.... thanks for pointing that out!!!

I'm sure the new Chairman of Twitter is having fits.

bmks270 said:

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They seem small given the thrust.

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That's what she said!

Ag_of_08 said:

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bmks270 said:

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They seem small given the thrust. The velocities must be insane. Are these pushing 300 bar yet?

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Over 300, think they sustained 330 on a 7 second burn.

And no nortex, you are not the only one who's OCD is twitching.... thanks for pointing that out!!!

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Are they going to be over 300 in service? Not just the test stand? Maybe mission dependent?