Congrats man!

SPI-FlatsCatter 84 said:

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I'm blessed in more ways than can be measured or counted

Tough few years but really really strong now with 10+ year expectation

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Weird-looking Starship but still really happy for you

Fast enough to be considered kick motors ..

Awesome to hear. MD Anderson has literally added years of life to my father in law with their cancer treatments/research.

SpaceX drawing closer and closer to FAA license to launch, March still most likely.

https://spacenews.com/spacex-proceeding-with-starship-orbital-launch-attempt-after-static-fire/

I assume this one says the same.

However the March 11th placeholder date was removed by NASA.

I assumed the nasa date was so that some of their WB-57 crew/ground crew could go scout out the naval air station (or corpus airport, I dunno) and make sure they had the facilities reserved/available for mid march/later. TDY travel crap, basically.

Some NASA peeps checked into the Sapphire yesterday

Don't know if short or long term

Shorter drive from a Brown Town hotel but better view

SpaceX proceeding with Starship orbital launch attempt after static fire

Quote:

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ORLANDO SpaceX's static-fire test of nearly all the engines in its Starship booster earlier this month was "the last box to check" before the vehicle's first orbital launch attempt, likely some time in March, a company official said Feb. 21.

Speaking on a panel at the Space Mobility conference here about "rocket cargo" delivery, Gary Henry, senior advisor for national security space solutions at SpaceX, said both the Super Heavy booster and its launch pad were in good shape after the Feb. 9 test, clearing the way for an orbital launch that is still pending a Federal Aviation Administration launch license.

"We had a successful hot fire, and that was really the last box to check," he said. "The vehicle is in good shape. The pad is in good shape."

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I am surprised they would do an orbital launch before getting the landing down. At least try the catch part of the landing.

will25u said:

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I am surprised they would do an orbital launch before getting the landing down. At least try the catch part of the landing.

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Makes a ton more sense to soft "land" over water first. Get some good data from how that works with zero risks to any structures. Lots of other pieces to worry about before even attempting to land.

Caliber said:

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will25u said:

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I am surprised they would do an orbital launch before getting the landing down. At least try the catch part of the landing.

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Makes a ton more sense to soft "land" over water first. Get some good data from how that works with zero risks to any structures. Lots of other pieces to worry about before even attempting to land.

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Are they going to land over water?

Premium said:

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Caliber said:

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will25u said:

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I am surprised they would do an orbital launch before getting the landing down. At least try the catch part of the landing.

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Makes a ton more sense to soft "land" over water first. Get some good data from how that works with zero risks to any structures. Lots of other pieces to worry about before even attempting to land.

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Are they going to land over water?

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They are throwing away the first booster/starship by 'landing' them in the ocean if they make it that far. In this case that is hopefully a controlled hover and then splat. Long term they want to land and take off from rigs of some sort offshore.

The 2nd stage (starship) is supposed to come down somewhere off Hawaii after doing whatever that is, something like 3/4 of an orbit, if it survives launch, separation, orbit, and re-entry, which would be pretty surprising.

It's the same thing they did for Falcon. They had numerous attempted soft water landings, then soft water (meaning controlled) landings, then attempted to land on ships/land.

Premium said:

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Caliber said:

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will25u said:

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I am surprised they would do an orbital launch before getting the landing down. At least try the catch part of the landing.

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Makes a ton more sense to soft "land" over water first. Get some good data from how that works with zero risks to any structures. Lots of other pieces to worry about before even attempting to land.

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Are they going to land over water?

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Boiled fish, anyone?

What are the chances that Bezos or the Chinese have a salvage recovery ship parked off the coast of Hawaii?

will25u said:

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I am surprised they would do an orbital launch before getting the landing down. At least try the catch part of the landing.

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From what I understand they have a ton of starlink satellites that need to be launched with Starship and the delays with Starship are holding back Starlink from recouping money spent there.

lb3 said:

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What are the chances that Bezos or the Chinese have a salvage recovery ship parked off the coast of Hawaii?

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They won't get much out of it. The raptors are the real prize, but it's the programming/intricacies of how they are operated more than the actual metallurgy/weld locations that won't be recoverable. The booster/starship itself is shockingly low tech, just at massive scale.

SPI-FlatsCatter 84 said:

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Some NASA peeps checked into the Sapphire yesterday

Don't know if short or long term

Shorter drive from a Brown Town hotel but better view

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This is the kind of intel we need around here.

nortex97 said:

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lb3 said:

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What are the chances that Bezos or the Chinese have a salvage recovery ship parked off the coast of Hawaii?

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They won't get much out of it. The raptors are the real prize, but it's the programming/intricacies of how they are operated more than the actual metallurgy/weld locations that won't be recoverable. The booster/starship itself is shockingly low tech, just at massive scale.

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There is some IP inside the engines that Elon refuses to talk about. So there is something valuable there.

aTmAg said:

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nortex97 said:

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lb3 said:

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What are the chances that Bezos or the Chinese have a salvage recovery ship parked off the coast of Hawaii?

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They won't get much out of it. The raptors are the real prize, but it's the programming/intricacies of how they are operated more than the actual metallurgy/weld locations that won't be recoverable. The booster/starship itself is shockingly low tech, just at massive scale.

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There is some IP inside the engines that Elon refuses to talk about. So there is something valuable there.

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They set it to self destruct mode right when it's about to enter the water

Premium said:

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aTmAg said:

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nortex97 said:

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lb3 said:

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What are the chances that Bezos or the Chinese have a salvage recovery ship parked off the coast of Hawaii?

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They won't get much out of it. The raptors are the real prize, but it's the programming/intricacies of how they are operated more than the actual metallurgy/weld locations that won't be recoverable. The booster/starship itself is shockingly low tech, just at massive scale.

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There is some IP inside the engines that Elon refuses to talk about. So there is something valuable there.

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They set it to self destruct mode right when it's about to enter the water

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Having it exploded when it "soft lands" in the Pacific and sinking 15,000ft will do the same.

There's a decent chance it will float if it lands softly. Either way I'm certain they will attempt to recover both vessels.

nortex97 said:

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lb3 said:

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What are the chances that Bezos or the Chinese have a salvage recovery ship parked off the coast of Hawaii?

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They won't get much out of it. The raptors are the real prize, but it's the programming/intricacies of how they are operated more than the actual metallurgy/weld locations that won't be recoverable. The booster/starship itself is shockingly low tech, just at massive scale.

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The manufacturing process is a big deal, not just the design. They can build them insanely fast for CHEAP considering what they are. It's a modern marvel.

Relativity Space announced March 8th as their first launch attempt.

Abbott wants $350 million for a Space Commission in TX to try and beef up space flight in TX.

As long as it doesn't turn in to a regulatory nightmare that gets in the way. Let's face it. The Texas govt doesn't have a good track record at times, especially when something get financially pulled under the control of the bike takers .. I mean uh, legislature.

I don't see why the public needs to spend $350 million to beef up an industry that is already pretty beefy on its own. Sounds like a lot of corporate welfare.

Yeah, I agree. But it also incentivizes SpaceX to continue development in Texas and provide jobs and infrastructure. That would make the $350mm a bargain.

Sounds like you don't agree.

NSF update is pretty good, looking at the status/steps for the orbital launch attempt pending for next month.

Reminder that SpaceX has saved the gov't a literal fortune vs. the 'other' options.

Delta IV Heavy went for about $400M, so that confirms that the US military is paying less than $150M for most Falcon Heavy launches! https://t.co/uZBmOluHhk

— Eric Ralph (@13ericralph31) February 24, 2023

Also, lunar gateway and Dragon XL talk this month.

Quote:

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"If you look at the overall Artemis architecture, logistics is the shortest pole in the tent from a development standpoint," he explained. The contract has a four-year lead time for the first mission, but he suggested SpaceX might be ready faster than that.

"We purposely delayed that, turning it on, to make sure we're not spending money and throwing resources where it doesn't need to be thrown," he said, while working on other aspects of Artemis.

The first Artemis mission to use the Gateway will be Artemis 4, currently scheduled for 2027. That means that NASA is preparing to give the go-ahead for that first logistics mission needed to support Artemis 4 this year. "We're looking forward to ATP'ing that mission this year to enable that 2027 first crewed mission."
Wiese said later that the NASA has been working with SpaceX on a series of studies to refine the Dragon XL design and examine cargo configurations and other capabilities that could be enabled by the spacecraft.

He confirmed that SpaceX will use Dragon XL for those initial missions, but left the door open for using the company's Starship vehicle for cargo delivery in the future. "We are all for enabling evolution," he said.

"We talked to them about Starship evolution and how it all worked together, but we're not there yet because it's still in a development phase."

NASA also envisions expanding the overall Gateway Logistics Services contract to add more providers. He noted NASA issued a request for information last year to understand emerging industry capabilities, such as new launch vehicles.

"We want that. It's just a matter of funding," he said of adding providers. "We've got to get out first mission turned on and get a funding stream going so we can justify an on-ramp."

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My commentary for that; it's probably good nasa doesn't fully commit to the plan for 2027 right now, as in a year or two Starship will be in a much more advanced state developmentally for nasa and SpaceX to bid derivative/options for this stuff.

Finally, Marcus' weekly update:

OKCAg2002 said:

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Yeah, I agree. But it also incentivizes SpaceX to continue development in Texas and provide jobs and infrastructure. That would make the $350mm a bargain.

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What incentive do they lack other than $350 million of our cash? They're already deeply established here. Our geography, regulatory environment, workforce skill, and cost of living give them all the incentive necessary to keep growing.

Anyone try KSP 2 yet? It came out yesterday and seems to still need a lot of work. Hopefully they'll get there.

OKCAg2002 said:

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Yeah, I agree. But it also incentivizes SpaceX to continue development in Texas and provide jobs and infrastructure. That would make the $350mm a bargain.

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Sounds like someone is gearing up to use eminent domain.