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12 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

sJb5h5i_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

I wonder if the launch date for STP-2 depends on a successful recovery of all three cores from STP-1?

I am sure that they will tear down the first recovered Falcon Heavy core for thorough inspection, just like they did with the first Block 5.

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Mr steven of the future has methane thrusters for directional control.

Is a hovercraft for catch mode.

Lift fans are methane-electric (diesel-electric analog)

Then converts to ekranoplane-mode for distance travel.

It doesn't have a net at all... just a tub for the fairing to slot into.

Not serious .... unless it works.

Edited by RedKraken
no net
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2 hours ago, sh1pman said:

What if they installed Merlin engines at Mr. Steven for better control?

- Captain, we’re going too fast!

- Fire retro thrusters, full throttle! 

*BOOOOOOM* full stop after 3 seconds.

Can be used for acceleration, too. 

What is Mr. Steven's gross displacement, anyway?

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12 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

What is Mr. Steven's gross displacement, anyway?

Wiki says 96t. Let's say we added two Merlin engines (fore and aft) and 100t of kerolox. Should be around 200t total. Very roughly, at ~1 MN thrust one engine should produce 0.5g of acceleration.

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So the first video we got, they couldn't turn quite fast enough.  This time, Mr Steven was dead center, but going just a hair too fast.  This feels a lot like the first attempts at booster landings.  Fix one problem, another comes up. They'll get it eventually.  At least, landing a gently parachuting fairing in a gigantic net seems a lot simpler than hoverslamming a booster onto a barge.

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1 hour ago, Xd the great said:

I think they should make Mr. Steven bigger. Like "cargo ship" level bigger.

That would make a bigger target, but be impossible to control. The HIMMS Steve-O is a Fast Resupply Ship, that means it’s, well, fast, and also extremely maneuverable for its size. For a task like catching a parachuting fairing, you want a corvette, not a semi. 

2 hours ago, RedKraken said:

Not serious .... unless it works.

Step up the size and they could use it to catch a wayward Starship running low on fuel. :D

“This is your automated captain speaking, we used a little too much fuel on that re-entry, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then... explode on impact.”

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31 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Do the fairings even have any sort of guidance or do they jus do a “dumb drop?”

They must  have something to predict where the fairing will reach net height. It looked like they may have had the problem of the chute pulling the fairing off the net

I don't know if it has GnC of its own, but it looks like *something* triggered it to cut the chute when it hit the net.

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1 hour ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Do the fairings even have any sort of guidance or do they jus do a “dumb drop?”

They must  have something to predict where the fairing will reach net height. It looked like they may have had the problem of the chute pulling the fairing off the net

Parafoils are highly steerable, so I would assume there’s some kind of active guidance there. Maybe the whole problem is just getting the chute and the boat to talk to each other. 

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7 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Parafoils are highly steerable, so I would assume there’s some kind of active guidance there. Maybe the whole problem is just getting the chute and the boat to talk to each other. 

Hmm... Some sort of differential GPS, and the fairing is interfering with the GPS reception on the boat? I know that carbon fiber does that, as several kit planes require you to put your GPS receiver in areas where there is essentially zero carbon fiber above it.

 

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2 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Hmm... Some sort of differential GPS, and the fairing is interfering with the GPS reception on the boat? I know that carbon fiber does that, as several kit planes require you to put your GPS receiver in areas where there is essentially zero carbon fiber above it.

 

More likely that fairing is more affected by wind than most normal cargoes and that the parafoils controller don't need pinpoint accuracy for other uses. 

Yes you have automated parafoil system, mostly used to supply remote military units and for this +-100 meter is not an large issue. 
System has two benefits, first it can be used from high attitude out of range of enemy and its silent, drop on an dark night and its very stealthy. 

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Spoiler
9 hours ago, ThatGuyWithALongUsername said:

Well, we ARE getting 4014 this year, although obviously not from SpaceX...

Space X now can unify its crafts, making both boring trains and rockets of steel sheets and rivets.

rivets.jpg

Then when it's on wheels, it's a train. When it flies, it's a rocket.

93d648374c685bd75a558aaa076c7628.jpg51faa7a1d0f94e50e0f9f4f7141f21f0--festiv

 

Edited by kerbiloid
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59 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:
  Hide contents

Space X now can unify its crafts, making both borings trains and rockets of steel sheets and rivets.

rivets.jpg

Then when it's on wheels, it's a train. When it flies, it's a rocket.

93d648374c685bd75a558aaa076c7628.jpg51faa7a1d0f94e50e0f9f4f7141f21f0--festiv

 

"In order to facilitate road transport of the sharship, we have added wheels, allowing it to use the American railroad."

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20 minutes ago, tater said:
 

 

Radically redesigned?

Given what that meant the last time there was an “architecture change”, are they NERVAs now?

Edited by DDE
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7 hours ago, Xd the great said:

"In order to facilitate road transport of the sharship, we have added wheels, allowing it to use the American railroad."

While it's not anything like the starship, it is important to note that the space shuttle SRB's were carried by rail all the way from promontory to the Cape. NASA even has it's own shortline for handling them. Apparently the SLS SRB's will travel the same way.

 

And then there's the Russians...

Soyuz_TMA-05M_spacecraft_roll_out_by_tra

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