Get out of my head.

normaleagle05 said:

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Let's go!!!

Starship moved to the pad at Starbase in advance of our sixth flight test pic.twitter.com/u6Mbc35ARr

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 12, 2024

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Is this still set for 4pm Monday ?

That was a 'Not Earlier Than' date when posted. I hope so, but see PJYoung's take...

PJYoung said:

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Right now looking at the weather forecast - Friday the 22nd looks like an incredible day for the launch.

Monday the 18th not so much.

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fullback44 said:

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normaleagle05 said:

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Let's go!!!

Starship moved to the pad at Starbase in advance of our sixth flight test pic.twitter.com/u6Mbc35ARr

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 12, 2024

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Is this still set for 4pm Monday ?

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I fully expect them to launch Monday a little after 4pm.

Say what?

To be clear we are *far* from anything being settled, but based on what I'm hearing it seems at least 50-50 that NASA's Space Launch System rocket will be canceled. Not Block 1B. Not Block 2. All of it. There are other ways to get Orion to the Moon.

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) November 13, 2024

TexAgs91 said:

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Say what?

To be clear we are *far* from anything being settled, but based on what I'm hearing it seems at least 50-50 that NASA's Space Launch System rocket will be canceled. Not Block 1B. Not Block 2. All of it. There are other ways to get Orion to the Moon.

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) November 13, 2024

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DOGE
Elon Musk
SpaceX
Conflict of interest?

bmks270 said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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Say what?

To be clear we are *far* from anything being settled, but based on what I'm hearing it seems at least 50-50 that NASA's Space Launch System rocket will be canceled. Not Block 1B. Not Block 2. All of it. There are other ways to get Orion to the Moon.

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) November 13, 2024

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DOGE
Elon Musk
SpaceX
Conflict of interest?

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I thought this is one reason why there's Elon AND Vivek. Because there's going to be some things Elon can't work on because of conflict of interest, and Vivek can handle those. This is Exhibit A of one of those things.

And also because Elon has like 6 other companies to run and doesn't have time to hang out in DC for weeks on end. Right??? Right???

bmks270 said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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Say what?

To be clear we are *far* from anything being settled, but based on what I'm hearing it seems at least 50-50 that NASA's Space Launch System rocket will be canceled. Not Block 1B. Not Block 2. All of it. There are other ways to get Orion to the Moon.

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) November 13, 2024

---

DOGE
Elon Musk
SpaceX
Conflict of interest?

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If the discussion is happening now it has nothing to do with Musk since you know, he's not able to do anything until January.

Also it's not like it's a secret that the entire program is a money pit. That's all before you crunch any numbers about the ROI on different launch providers. Rocket lab is probably closer to an affordable lunar rocket than SLS was if you do the math... And they're barely even testing Neutron.

Heh, there is a joke in there somewhere about the irony of the DOGE having two (2) heads (Vivek and Elon) and how that's inefficient. Who fires the other first in order to increase efficiency?

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Heh, there is a joke in there somewhere about the irony of the DOGE having two (2) heads (Vivek and Elon) and how that's inefficient. Who fires the other first in order to increase efficiency?

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I doubt either of them is taking a salary.

There are plenty of thoughts about as to how to get Orion to the moon without SLS, and this one makes sense as well:

My sense is that the solution would be launching Orion on one rocket (probably FH, from 39A) and then docking with a (separately launched) Centaur V and boosting it to the Moon.

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) November 13, 2024

If they come up with a scheme that doesn't involve SpaceX directly doing it all, all the better as it will keep too many fingers from being pointed at Musk etc. It could still save huge money, keep a diversified industrial base, and accomplish the mission. New Glenn could become another option to try/prioritize.

On this episode of This Week in Space, @SciGuySpace Eric Berger joins us to discuss Elon Musk, SpaceX, the global launch market, Starship, and his new book "Reentry." A fascinating hour! @pascalleetweets @TWiT @nationalspacesociety @nss https://t.co/efcVpNc0x3

— rodpyle (@Chryseplanatia) November 13, 2024

Elon mentioned this to Senator Warren when she had the same quip. Neither are taking a salary.

Flight 6 full stack achieved.

Flight 6 full stack ✅

The world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle stands poised and ready once again following the Starship program's fifth flight just over one month ago.

📸 - @NASASpaceflight

📺 - https://t.co/0hOPh5yhcr pic.twitter.com/Wfh3EIT0LM

— Max Evans (@_mgde_) November 15, 2024

Sort of a 'year to date' in review:

From RUDs to success. Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) overviews the tests that got to SpaceX catching a booster.https://t.co/Vbx992pbv9 pic.twitter.com/ygdvbfkbKc

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) November 15, 2024

ABL Space Systems announced that they are abandoning the orbital launch market, and pivoting to missile defense technology. They acknowledge the reduced need for another launch vehicle compared to a few years ago.

ABL got two chances at orbital launch and failed, so I'm sure the money and launch contracts dried up.

Hard to catch up to Rocket Lab and Firefly at this point.

SpaceX is preparing to launch a tender offer in December to sell existing shares at a price of $135 per share, per Reuters

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) November 15, 2024

At $135 per share, the estimate I've seen is a valuation of $235B, which is about 10x the 2022 valuation.. And Elon still owns about 50%, sooooo...

Just IPO already Elon! I get why he hasn't, given what went down in the other public companies he's been involved with. Actually would be awesome if SpaceX were the first company listed on the Texas stock exchange in a year or three.

For now, the best way to invest in SpaceX is to buy $DXYZ; 37% of their portfolio is invested in SpaceX. They also hold Axiom Space and OpenAI.

Flight 6 pushed to Tuesday for now.

SpaceX is now targeting Tuesday, November 19th for the 6th flight of Starship Superheavy. pic.twitter.com/JTh84oN55y

— LabPadre Space (@LabPadre) November 16, 2024

ETA: confirmed by SpaceX. A 30 minute window Tuesday beginning at 4pm.

Targeting Tuesday, November 19 for Starship’s sixth flight test. A 30-minute launch window opens at 4:00 p.m. CT → https://t.co/oIFc3u9laE pic.twitter.com/s3Rk8TWfen

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 16, 2024

Tuesday gonna be way better viewing weather wise. I'm pumped!

400? Umm, ok, happy to see you do it, but pretty skeptical.

Hopefully, way more!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2024

Separately, Dreamchaser delayed to NET May 2025. No clue why this is taking so long to check out/complete at this point. Apparently, some concerns from Nasa about the huge/expensive runway at the cape being damaged from its nose skid.

Good as always, but LOL @ Chicoms coming up with two copies of Starship (toward the end of the video, fwiw).

Zhuhai Airshow, Long March 9 model! 2022 version VS 2024 version Source:https://t.co/uEQb79os01 pic.twitter.com/QmA4qxulMS

— CNSA Watcher (@CNSAWatcher) November 5, 2024

Cosmoleap is the other one:

Chinese space startup Cosmoleap copied SpaceX Mechazilla tower to catch orbital boosters.

pic.twitter.com/RTE5t1Jbm6

— wiggle (@w1991e) November 10, 2024

CosmoLeap / DaHangYueQian has completed a billion-dollar financing, for the "chopstick clamp" tower recovery test proposed. Full HD:https://t.co/iE2VMtfqm5 pic.twitter.com/ikJHLfunEi

— CNSA Watcher (@CNSAWatcher) November 1, 2024

Big ambitions, of course, for a Chinese outfit that has not demonstrated anything even approaching the Raptor 1 yet:

Quote:

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While Yueqian's design echoes SpaceX's innovations, the scale and mission differ. At 246 feet (75 meters) tall, the Yueqian rocket is notably smaller than SpaceX's 397-foot (121-meter) Starship. The Yueqian is designed to carry up to 23,060 pounds (10,460 kg) to low Earth orbit (LEO) in expendable mode, while the payload capacity drops to 13,845 pounds (6,280 kg) when the first stage is recovered.

Yet, Cosmoleap's long-term plans are even more ambitious. The company has set its sights on a much larger rocket that would stand at 413 feet (126 meters) tallsurpassing Starship in height.

Expected to launch in 2030, this larger rocket is projected to carry a massive 100 tons to LEO in expendable mode and 36 tons in reusable mode. If Cosmoleap achieves this, it would be responsible for developing the world's tallest rocket.

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Maybe there's a translation issue, but what's the point of having a taller rocket than Starship if it can only put 1/3 of the payload into low earth orbit? The goal of Starship is to get at least 100 tons (150 hopefully) into LEO in fully reusable mode.

Bragging rights?

nortex97 said:

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400? Umm, ok, happy to see you do it, but pretty skeptical.

Hopefully, way more!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2024

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Better keep working on that ground zero. They need to produce their own fuel.

I'm enjoying Eric Berger's new book 'Reentry' covering SpaceX 2006-2023. Really good stuff.

"SpaceX has notified Texas Parks and Wildlife Department it is no longer interested in pursuing the specific arrangement that would have exchanged 477 acres at Bahia Grande for approximately 43 noncontiguous acres from Boca Chica State Park," TPWD said. "Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will continue to identify and develop new state parks across Texas for wildlife conservation and public recreation."

That seems like an interesting development

Meh, could be nothing. They might have decided not to try to expand further there. The future is on the 'space coast' in Florida, imho. Regulatory world a big part of her discussion here;

Here is the full talk from @Gwynne_Shotwell at the Baron Capitol conference from yesterday!

03:50 - Mechazilla
08:54 - Regulatory struggles
11:51 - Starshield
18:00 - Why we need to make life multiplanetary
22:23 - SpaceX management
26:39 - Starlink
38:43 - Starlink on Mars… pic.twitter.com/EzaacTMc4S

— Robin (@xdNiBoR) November 16, 2024

Pick fights you can win, easily. There's only so much they can ever do, cadence-wise, from BC/south Texas.

Is this Texas being stupid? Seems like we should be building our own space coast.

Premium said:

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Is this Texas being stupid? Seems like we should be building our own space coast.

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I think the reality is that for various reasons (including risk of RUD, licenses, noise issues, EPA, ease of just floating a tanker nearby to a terminal, etc), off-shore launches/catches will be more the direction they go quickly. Flying a hundred+ a year over Monterrey etc. seems like a bigger risk.

I'm in the Harlingen area and want to go look at the starship, does anyone know what's the best way to go see it ? Can you see it good enough from South Padre Island or Port Isabel ?

fullback44 said:

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I'm in the Harlingen area and want to go look at the starship, does anyone know what's the best way to go see it ? Can you see it good enough from South Padre Island or Port Isabel ?

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I would see it from South Padre Island

Just drive over to SpaceX. A little under an hour to get there.

Full stack is quite a sight up close.

On one of the All-In podcasts this week, they (Sacks and Chamath I think) hinted at SpaceX spinning out Starlink and a possible IPO late '25 or '26. They've spent some time with the Trump caravan. Anyway, yes please.