***** Official Space Thread *****

7,114 Views | 105 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by wangus12
wangus12
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Figured I'd make a thread for all things space since we usually have one following launches or other events outside the atmosphere.

SpaceX is about to turn loose Starship for a 12.5km hop here in the next half hour or so.
Bregxit
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T minus 4m 20s
wangus12
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Ugh aborted at like 1 second
Guppy91
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That thing is huge! It will be bigger than Saturn V when complete.
MGS
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Jake Kemp not available for comment.
wangus12
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Countdown made it to T-2:06 and is now in hold. Rumored there was a range violation by an aircraft. Actually looks like there is boat crossing the range. Damn coyotes
wangus12
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New T time is 4:40 CT
OnlyForNow
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Any better feeds than space x?
EastSideAg2002
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One of my favorite movies! Its good to be a gangsta!
wangus12
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Welp loss on return, but initial flight looked great. So close to nailing the landing
A is A
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wangus12 said:

Welp loss on return, but initial flight looked great. So close to nailing the landing
pretty cool. Was the free fall intended or was it suppose to be lit the entire way down?

at first I was like: is it falling to its doom?
then I was like: oh...its flying!
then I was like: I can see the ground...its going down straight.
then I was like: oh! theres the boosters
then I was like: ouch.
double aught
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That was awesome. Do it again!
Not a Bot
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nutmegger_aggie said:

wangus12 said:

Welp loss on return, but initial flight looked great. So close to nailing the landing
pretty cool. Was the free fall intended or was it suppose to be lit the entire way down?

at first I was like: is it falling to its doom?
then I was like: oh...its flying!
then I was like: I can see the ground...its going down straight.
then I was like: oh! theres the boosters
then I was like: ouch.


Yes. The freefall bellyflop is how this ship is designed to land. Instead of relying on thermal tiles and gliding to a runway, when it re-enters the atmosphere it will bellyflop with active cooling and a flight system using the fins. It will glide more like an airplane until almost on the ground, then flip vertical and fire a quick burst from the engines. That part of the flight was absolutely perfect. It landed dead center in the middle of the landing pad.

Per Musk Twitter account, they had some low pressure in one of the tanks on landing resulting in less thrust than ideal. Otherwise the flight went really well.
Not a Bot
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double aught said:

That was awesome. Do it again!


They've already got the next one built. I think they actually have two more. They built the factory to build these things and are turning them out quickly, even before flying them for the first time. SpaceX is an incredibly innovative company.

wangus12
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Can you imagine that flip as a passenger. People will **** themselves

lb3
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I'm guessing that they have a lot of fuel sloshing around the tank after maneuvering to a vertical orientation and momentarily ran the pumps dry.
A is A
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Cactus Jack said:

nutmegger_aggie said:

wangus12 said:

Welp loss on return, but initial flight looked great. So close to nailing the landing
pretty cool. Was the free fall intended or was it suppose to be lit the entire way down?

at first I was like: is it falling to its doom?
then I was like: oh...its flying!
then I was like: I can see the ground...its going down straight.
then I was like: oh! theres the boosters
then I was like: ouch.


Yes. The freefall bellyflop is how this ship is designed to land. Instead of relying on thermal tiles and gliding to a runway, when it re-enters the atmosphere it will bellyflop with active cooling and a flight system using the fins. It will glide more like an airplane until almost on the ground, then flip vertical and fire a quick burst from the engines. That part of the flight was absolutely perfect. It landed dead center in the middle of the landing pad.

Per Musk Twitter account, they had some low pressure in one of the tanks on landing resulting in less thrust than ideal. Otherwise the flight went really well.


It was amazing to watch
07ag
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lb3 said:

I'm guessing that they have a lot of fuel sloshing around the tank after maneuvering to a vertical orientation and momentarily ran the pumps dry.
they have header tanks specifically to deal with this problem, apparently didn't get it quite right
https://ts.la/eric59704
wangus12
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I'd say that low pressure resulted in one of the Raptor engines only burning LOX without the methane and it burned up the engine. That green flame at the end is the copper burning inside the engine bell.
wangus12
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In other news, NASA introduced the Artemis astronaut team yesterday afternoon.

Decay
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Artemis is going to be trying their first moon landing when SpaceX celebrates a decade on Mars
wangus12
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Wouldn't be shocked if NASA dumps SLS for Starship by the time the landings are supposed to happen. That said, I desperately want to see SLS launch
double aught
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I was coming here to pose just this question. I think I have a good idea, but why has NASA yet to dump SLS and go all in with SpaceX on Starship?
Decay
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My thought is simply that Starship isn't designed for lunar landings. No air so you can't do the belly flop maneuver.

Other than that, it's probably just a contract thing. Also our completely responsible government isn't about to slow down paying a defense contractor.
wangus12
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Yeah supposedly they have plans for Starship to do lunar stuff, but I think that is way down the line. At this point SLS is probably gonna be the quicker option

SLS seems to finally be getting close (just jinxed it) to getting off the ground. They have a tentative launch next fall, for Artemis 1 which will take a bunch over different projects out towards lunar orbit. Granted that may change if/when the government changes hands next year. The new regime might balk at the massive price tag to launch SLS.

The Orion capsule has also been totally designed with SLS but, it could probably launch onboard a Delta Heavy or a Falcon Heavy.
wangus12
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Live feed of the Delta IV Heavy - NROL 44.

Damn thing has scrubbed like 10 times including at T-03 & T-07.

Maximus_Meridius
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double aught said:

I was coming here to pose just this question. I think I have a good idea, but why has NASA yet to dump SLS and go all in with SpaceX on Starship?


Congress. I believe NASA tried to end the program about 2 years ago, and a bunch of congressmen lost their **** because it would cost jobs in their home states.

Could be wrong, I'm kinda sleep deprived.
lb3
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wangus12 said:

In other news, NASA introduced the Artemis astronaut team yesterday afternoon.


Unless I'm mistaken nobody has been assigned to Artemis missions. From the names shown, this appears to be many of the astronauts supporting the Artemis program office.
lb3
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07ag said:

lb3 said:

I'm guessing that they have a lot of fuel sloshing around the tank after maneuvering to a vertical orientation and momentarily ran the pumps dry.
they have header tanks specifically to deal with this problem, apparently didn't get it quite right
Well I did say it was a guess.
07ag
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lb3 said:

07ag said:

lb3 said:

I'm guessing that they have a lot of fuel sloshing around the tank after maneuvering to a vertical orientation and momentarily ran the pumps dry.
they have header tanks specifically to deal with this problem, apparently didn't get it quite right
Well I did say it was a guess.
afaik, officially per elon's twitter is that they lost fuel pressure, no word on why. perhaps the fuel in the header tanks were sloshing in an unexpected manner? idk
https://ts.la/eric59704
Not a Bot
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Decay said:

My thought is simply that Starship isn't designed for lunar landings. No air so you can't do the belly flop maneuver.

Other than that, it's probably just a contract thing. Also our completely responsible government isn't about to slow down paying a defense contractor.


They are designing a lunar version. It sounds like their goal is to use it as part of a ferry system that would not renter the earth's atmosphere, so no bellyflop. All of their renderings have shown it being white with no wing flaps. The white color maybe to reflect heat, but it seems like it's possible they may forgo stainless steel.
lb3
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The renderings I've seen show the wing flaps. Artemis is planning to use Orion to return crews from the moon so the SpaceX likely wouldn't need the flaps but I would assume Elan plans to return everything and prove the capability for future tourists.
Not a Bot
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Just looked it up. There may actually be two versions of their lunar lander. Elon tweeted several months ago that the first several landers will have a lot of the return mass removed to make room for equipment for a lunar base and would stay on the surface to be part of the base. Those are the white ones. Pretty neat stuff.
The Fife
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Tourists had better be allowed to bring some rocks back!
wangus12
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The way they made the announcement makes me think this is the pool though and the crews will come from this list. If these are the folks that are gonna be so instrumental in developing the program, they'll have the most hands on experience with the spacecraft
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