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1 minute ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

It worked! :D

Now the big question is, do they pick it up and put it right back on the launch structure again?

That is not for sure! :)

- First thing is to analyze the flight data in detail ( and understand the final 30m off target) once the weather was bad for video and live telemetry.

- Analyze the tiles in different parts of the ship.

- Re-check the engines and recheck the fuel tanks and as well the flaps and so on...

 

 

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I just watched the SpaceX feed a second time.  Looks like only two Raptors relit?  (and they landed on both)

 

EDIT: oh - and they were just baaaaarely on the pad.  Landed very, very close to the dirt; Bravo Zulu (and whew!)

Edited by JoeSchmuckatelli
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The video was frozen during the engine re-light. They could have lit three, and already turned one off by the time the video unfroze. Same with landing... did they land on two engines, or did the turn one off right near the end. I can't tell because the video is frozen there.

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5 minutes ago, RCgothic said:

Maybe they'll be able to recover the camera drives intact this time and give us some clean footage eventually.

Are we sure the previous footage was burned? Hardened storage of telemetry and footage is far from impossible.

Edited by ExtremeSquared
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Now what’ll happen to SN15 after post-flight checks? Will it

  • Be scrapped?
  • Rust in a shed?
  • Be displayed outside like Starhopper?
  • Be shipped to the nearest aerospace museum?
  • Refly
Edited by OrdinaryKerman
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I don't think they'll refly, they already have other prototypes waiting. I think they'll strip this one down and study everything they can so they can land SN16 in prep for a supersonic, and after, orbital flight. Maybe keep it as a memento like Starhopper. Reflying will come later.

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1 hour ago, SpaceFace545 said:

Why? It didn't break any records or do anything groundbreaking.

There are 2 difficult aspects of the Starship/Super Heavy system. Super Heavy is a solved problem, it's a big F9 booster.

One is reentry for Starship.

Two is landing SS after entry and descent.

They have validated the landing (and elements of descent) approach. So a reusable SS is not yet a thing, they need to break a few coming in at orbital velocity, but at least if they can get one to survive, the landing concept is sound. If it turns out that intact reentry is impossible (contrary to all their computer modeling), then yeah, this was not much of anything. Assuming they get reentry to ever work, validating the landing is a big deal.

Edited by tater
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53 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

I don't think they'll refly, they already have other prototypes waiting. I think they'll strip this one down and study everything they can so they can land SN16 in prep for a supersonic, and after, orbital flight. Maybe keep it as a memento like Starhopper. Reflying will come later.

Agreed. They will certainly pull these engines off and reuse them, assuming there is no damage. The Raptors are expensive. But the rest of the vehicle is fairly disposable at this point. They need data now. 

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8 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Agreed. They will certainly pull these engines off and reuse them, assuming there is no damage. The Raptors are expensive. But the rest of the vehicle is fairly disposable at this point. They need data now. 

There was some discussion about this on the NSF livestream. While getting more flip/landing data would certainly be desirable, every time they fly they have to shut down assembly on the orbital launchpad, put away tools, hide the donuts, etc. The big milestone has been accomplished now, concept demonstrated, now orbital reentry is the next long pole, be interesting to see what they do with 15... and 18 and 19...

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