Jump to content

SpaceX Discussion Thread


Skylon

Recommended Posts

53 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

Sometimes I wonder if people have lost sight of the fact that "cool renders" are not actual hardware or usually even models of actual hardware. Most of the "cool renders" of SpaceX rockets are really nothing more than fanfic.

Yeah, obviously fanfic. Doesn't make the interesting POV any less cool.

Not fanfic:

ElDMATcX0AABHqf?format=jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It it supposed to launch with the wings out perpendicular? I presume it is. If it launched like that, those wings would be causing massive interference drag.

But on the other hand, it goes supersonic very quickly. Supersonic airflow is less intuitive to me. Maybe they want the wings inside the Mach cone? They aren't sharp like an ideal supersonic wing.

Edited by mikegarrison
Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

It it supposed to launch with the wings out perpendicular? I presume it is. If it launched like that, those wings would be causing massive interference drag.

But on the other hand, it goes supersonic very quickly. Supersonic airflow is less intuitive to me. Maybe they want the wings inside the Mach cone? They aren't sharp like an ideal supersonic wing.

They might stay folded? It's hard to tell, no official animations. The rest position  seems to be not perpendicular, either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, tater said:

They might stay folded? It's hard to tell, no official animations. The rest position  seems to be not perpendicular, either.

 

20 seconds in on the promotional animation. Take it as you will, design might have changed or it might have been slightly inaccurate

 

Edited by Clamp-o-Tron
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Clamp-o-Tron said:

20 seconds in on the promotional animation. Take it as you will, design might have changed or it might have been slightly inaccurate

That was the older version of SS where the flap fairings were set for perpendicular.

This neopork render shows what the plan view visible in the SpaceX tent shows:

Ejuvwp7WAAAa9Sf?format=jpg

Unsure if it ends up folding all the way flat.

That said, I have no idea :D

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing is, the sharper the angle between those wings and the body, the more interference drag there will be (subsonically, anyway). But with enough thrust, you can power through any drag you want to. And they may not want anything sticking out of the bow shock in supersonic flow. Those wings *really* don't look designed for supersonic flow. So ... I don't know.

That's why I asked if anybody knows.

Edited by mikegarrison
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Meecrob said:

What is the issue with bolt on aside from slightly increased weight...This is roughly a thousand(? hundred?) kilograms on a ship classed in hundreds of tonnes? This is a prototype. The issue is rapid debugging, not efficiency right now.  In all honesty, this ship (or a subsequent SN) WILL crash and the real question is "how much refinement do we pay to make this wreckage more efficient, or should we save it for SN 30(-ish)?"

14 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

The argument made is that bolting it on is potentially introducing another point of failure into an already rather uncertain system. Don’t entirely buy that myself, seems like pretty straightforward engineering for an aerospace company, however it looks to be a moot point. There’s pix up on. NSF today that show the nosecone clearly tack-welded in place today. :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reading some of the back and forth on this got me thinking... hey @mikegarrison, you know a thing or two about 747s, maybe you know this: on Boeing’s Dreamlifter, the whole dang tail swings open to load cargo. Are all the various electricals, hydraulics, cables, etc run through the hinge mechanism or is there some kind of quick-disconnect around the periphery?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Reading some of the back and forth on this got me thinking... hey @mikegarrison, you know a thing or two about 747s, maybe you know this: on Boeing’s Dreamlifter, the whole dang tail swings open to load cargo. Are all the various electricals, hydraulics, cables, etc run through the hinge mechanism or is there some kind of quick-disconnect around the periphery?

See this photo: https://www.airliners.net/photo/Boeing/Boeing-747-409-LCF-Dreamlifter/1405694/L

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Raptor seemed to be installed on SN8 at around 12:46am. I'm not sure whether it was SN39 or SN36. We'll probably get better video soon, but for now you can zoom back on this feed and see if you can see it.

Edit: I found a fairly good screenshot on Reddit:

hnfgcwm0czu51.jpg

Edited by RealKerbal3x
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, tater said:

Cool render:

 

 

Not much an fan of the whale mouth hatch. Prefer an side opening hatch. First the mouth make integrating payload harder as in how do you do it? You need to either remove the hatch or get payload above the starship and then tread it between nose and hatch and down to the adapter in the bottom. 
It also limit deployment and will not work if you land on an surface. I also say it would make moving stuff between an cargo starship and an moonship cargo version harder. 

As I understand satellite deployment with starship will be that you put your satellite in an container and the container will be opened in space an the satellite is released. 
With the wale mouth its hard to release other direction than straight up after you tilted the container to clear the nose. 
With an side door you can easier release multiple satellites. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...