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10 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Yes, aluminum is nice as you can just melt it down and reuse it. 
However its better to wreck the booster structure than the engines. if the booster get an abnormal g load you will scrap it anyway. 
 

I'd assume the crush cores are designed to bottom out before the engines hit the deck.

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1 hour ago, RCgothic said:

The question was "When did SpaceX last try to recover a booster but fail?"

Might not have been the booster's fault, but it still wasn't recovered intact. It was a failure of the recovery process.

They lost a falcon heavy core to weather in the arabsat mission (i believe).

They also lost a f9 core due to hydraulic failure on CRS16

Edited by Xd the great
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9 hours ago, tater said:

The question was about landing success, not transport across the ocean success. They've had better luck since getting "octograbber" working. Presumably the grabber is designed to get under the core even with a hard landing

 i really thought i made clear i understand that and that i agree with you.

Edited by Flying dutchman
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As the asker of the original question I think I'm entitled to weigh in on this. OK, so maybe I didn't say what I meant. What I really wanted to know (and got the desired answer to) was when was the last time a booster that was fully expected to land intact (because I knew that the FH core was a longshot) did not land intact on a drone ship (barge) or an LZ. I couldn't care less what happened to it after that. Indeed, as someone pointed out, from my point of view, falling off the barge is no different than if it was damaged or destroyed in a collision on the road. 

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4 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

If connect the shroud halves with a rubber band like the baby gloves, they can save both by catching one, and also catch the band with a hook in midair.

It is hard to believe that they could avoid hitting each other violently during supersonic atmospheric flight.

But maybe they could have a hinge which opens at fairing jettison and closes before hitting atmosphere. But there would be risks. I think one failure of telecom satellite or other expensive payload due to fairing separation problem would ruin all possible savings for a lifetime of launcher system.

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So apparently there is talk of Starship/Super Heavy construction possibly moving to Long Beach again (maybe instead of restarting FL? In addition to them? Perhaps production versions under better conditions, TX for prototypes?).

 

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A Raptor has been spotted in BC.

22 minutes ago, tater said:

So apparently there is talk of Starship/Super Heavy construction possibly moving to Long Beach again (maybe instead of restarting FL? In addition to them? Perhaps production versions under better conditions, TX for prototypes?).

 

Maybe it's exclusively for Starships that will launch NASA/commercial payloads. I'd think that Boca Chica doesn't have the infrastructure for scientific payloads. It seems like they invested quite a lot in BC too and they want to invest even more given the buy out proposals in the nearby town (unless that's somehow not a thing anymore?).

Anyway, I don't think BC will shut down once they stop making prototypes there. Both facilities might be active for a long time after all the prototyping is done. Even if they stop building them they will produce parts there and ship them to FL for quick assembly Willow Run-style.

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15 hours ago, Hannu2 said:

It is hard to believe that they could avoid hitting each other violently during supersonic atmospheric flight.

But maybe they could have a hinge which opens at fairing jettison and closes before hitting atmosphere. But there would be risks. I think one failure of telecom satellite or other expensive payload due to fairing separation problem would ruin all possible savings for a lifetime of launcher system.

I agree with you.  I don't think it's a good idea to make the fairing design try to be one part just to reduce recovery from 2 parts to 1.  Rocketry textbooks even as an overview have payload structure including fairing structure and separation design occupy most of or all of one chapter for a reason.  A lot of payloads have been lost due to that failing alone.

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9 hours ago, Wjolcz said:

A Raptor has been spotted in BC.

Maybe it's exclusively for Starships that will launch NASA/commercial payloads. I'd think that Boca Chica doesn't have the infrastructure for scientific payloads. It seems like they invested quite a lot in BC too and they want to invest even more given the buy out proposals in the nearby town (unless that's somehow not a thing anymore?).

Anyway, I don't think BC will shut down once they stop making prototypes there. Both facilities might be active for a long time after all the prototyping is done. Even if they stop building them they will produce parts there and ship them to FL for quick assembly Willow Run-style.

Are they not launched from Florida? California is for polar orbits. 
One problem with BC is an lack of port to handle starship sized stuff, KSC has this and the LA port is an port. SpaceX is building an facility at KSC
They might be juggling to see who location is best for production again. 

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2 hours ago, Wjolcz said:

New flaps?

That suggests that they're farther along with SN1 than it looks... those didn't appear until pretty late with Mk.1...

 

I've heard speculation that part of the changes in their construction method involves outfitting all the pieces *before* welding them together, avoiding the elaborate scaffolding and all that in Mk.1 (see pics of Elon *inside* Starship tanks). So, individual parts are worked on in the tents that sprung up, and welding them together should take a lot less time. By the time we actually see the rocket take shape out in the open, it may already be practically finished.

 

If this total speculation is true, than it really looks like they have most of the components ready. Elon tweeted directly that the domes/bulkheads are done, the Raptor appearance suggests that the thrust structure is finished enough to do fit checks, and now one of the fins have arrived.

Elon's timeline for SN1 could also hint at this. Now, I know, I know, factor for Elon time and all that. But Elon said in December that "flight is hopefully 2-3 months away." And while I can't find solid dates for these, with mk.1, Elon thought flight was 2-3 months away pretty much at the presentation in September with the thing fully built behind him (Nov.-Dec., I think he said somewhere). This suggests that SN1 is at the same level of completion as Mk.1 was at the presentation- just instead of putting it together first and then outfitting the interior, they're outfitting the interior first and then putting it back together.

Starship SN1... *may* be closer to flight than we think... and I am so dang ready. I hope it, y'know, actually flies this time.

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