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1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Shouldn't it have 4 tanks, then? 

If they only have 3, then they're not testing transfer of one of the critical liquids, right? 

Might not be necessary to get the “Contract Complete” message. Or there’s a 4th tank they didn’t test today for whatever reason, looks like there’s plenty of room for one. 

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1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Might not be necessary to get the “Contract Complete” message. Or there’s a 4th tank they didn’t test today for whatever reason, looks like there’s plenty of room for one. 

Or it's just too far into the nosecone to show external effects - the fairing space there is *big*

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12 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Shouldn't it have 4 tanks, then? 

If they only have 3, then they're not testing transfer of one of the critical liquids, right? 

The contract only requires a demonstration of a LOX transfer:

SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, $53.2 million
Large-scale flight demonstration to transfer 10 metric tons of cryogenic propellant, specifically liquid oxygen, between tanks on a Starship vehicle. SpaceX will collaborate with Glenn and Marshall.

From here.

So they could have a methane tank inside the fairing to demonstrate transferring both, but it's not necessary.

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13 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

demonstration of a LOX transfer

That is interesting.  I can see a lot of use for transferring LOX beyond fuel - so that part makes sense. 

Anyone know whether there is something particularly difficult about LOX transfer over Methane ( /other fuels - excluding hydrogen) that would make a solution that works for LOX prove to be adequate for the other fuels? 

 

 

 

(I exclude hydrogen because I've read how persnickity it is) 

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44 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

That is interesting.  I can see a lot of use for transferring LOX beyond fuel - so that part makes sense. 

Anyone know whether there is something particularly difficult about LOX transfer over Methane ( /other fuels - excluding hydrogen) that would make a solution that works for LOX prove to be adequate for the other fuels? 

(I exclude hydrogen because I've read how persnickity it is) 

I could only speculate, but I would think there are a few reasons why the milestone would ask for a demonstration of LOX transfer:

  • This is still baby steps, so you only need to show one thing at a time
  • Starship (like all launch vehicles) carries proportionally much more LOX than fuel, so there would be more LOX left over at the end to work with
  • All launch vehicles use LOX, so demonstrating LOX transfer is more broadly applicable than demonstrating transfer of fuel, which may differ from vehicle to vehicle
  • As a medium-deep cryogen, LOX occupies a temperature situated between liquid hydrogen on the one hand and liquid methane or kerosene on the other hand, and so a demonstration of cryogenic LOX transfer is more likely to be broadly applicable to other propellants than an outlier
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On 2/24/2023 at 8:01 AM, tater said:
The embed cuts off the image:

FpqU3alakAECloL?format=jpg&name=small

I assume this is the launch tower? Why is it all the middle stations the tower only has the arm as far as I can see, perhaps an machine room below for the arm control. But does the tower contain more than the elevator and an backup staircase? 
Its only function as I can see is to give astronauts access to the capsule, unlike say the Saturn 5 tower who was used to power and fuel the rocket on falcon 9 this is done by the strongback. 

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17 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

I assume this is the launch tower? Why is it all the middle stations the tower only has the arm as far as I can see, perhaps an machine room below for the arm control. But does the tower contain more than the elevator and an backup staircase? 
Its only function as I can see is to give astronauts access to the capsule, unlike say the Saturn 5 tower who was used to power and fuel the rocket on falcon 9 this is done by the strongback. 

Yeah, unsure what the deal is with the other stops (in feet) given that the S1 and S2 GSE are via the TE.

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12 hours ago, magnemoe said:

I assume this is the launch tower? Why is it all the middle stations the tower only has the arm as far as I can see, perhaps an machine room below for the arm control. But does the tower contain more than the elevator and an backup staircase? 
Its only function as I can see is to give astronauts access to the capsule, unlike say the Saturn 5 tower who was used to power and fuel the rocket on falcon 9 this is done by the strongback. 

Betcha every landing on the tower has an elevator door.

Certainly appears to be the same number of stops as appears to be landings in this picture.

FpqUsxwagAEwqOR?format=jpg&name=4096x409

Edited by mikegarrison
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