CatastrophicFailure

Like @Tullius said, there will be Block 5 FH cores, but they'll be specially constructed as FH cores. There's still 2-3 FH launches on the manifest. I think what we'll see it used for the next few years isn't so much heavy satellites but satellites delivered direct to GSO (as opposed to GTO and circularizing themselves). ArabSat 6a is about 1000 kilos lighter than the recently-launched, scale-tipping TelStar 18v, so it may be interesting to see if it gets bumped down to a F9, if only to get it launched quicker.

IIRC 58 54 days is the number to beat, the best turnaround from the early Shuttle days. I expect it to be beaten very soon.

Every booster for the foreseeable future will should be reused.

Welcome to the 21st century, where a bunch of nerds sit around marveling at a rocket lifting its leg...

Maybe this is what I need. Another engine in the tail to balance thrust, hmm...

So apparently they may be folding the legs on the Telstar booster after all...

@qzgy has done just this (link on the OP), and by now is probably wondering why the flarp he's got so many notifications just now. Likely the closest I'll ever get to an actual book (Because reality), but it does give me a bit of the chills leafing thru.

PDF compilation is now live on the OP, thanks to the hard work of @qzgy (which one day I might be able to type out without looking up to check). Next chapter is, indeed, a monster at nearly 7000 words, but is finally off to editing. Meanwhile, I've gotten down a solid thousand words on the next next chapter thanks in part to a ridiculously long ferry wait tonight. Hoping the pace continues. But for now, (finally,) off to that low, broad, downy-soft item of furniture in the next room with the power to cure fatigue and restore vitality...

Working on it now, finally. @Raptor42 you can find what you seek here, and in the OP. Great credit to @qzgy for compiling all this.

What everyone else said, plus there's simply no need. There's no payload even on the drawing boards right now that would max out what the BFR can do. Need to send something lighter farther? Send up multiple tankers to refill the BFS. That's the point of the entire architecture. Rapid, reliable re-use. Need something bigger? Scale up the original ITS concept, much easier, at that point, than BFR Heavy, given all the trouble FH had. Still have a real, pressing need for something even bigger? We're getting silly now Refer to my Sea Dragon comment above...

My sympathies. I grew up in a place where it once got so hot they had to shut down the international airport cuz the airliner manuals didn’t go that high. KSP would be a bit more interesting if it simulated density altitude like that. Today I was dying cuz it hit 90. C or F doesn’t matter, feels about the same to me. Today in KSP I did... absolutely nothing. Cuz I’m still sitting here waiting on my ferry at 11:30 at night. I hate summer.

Well in all fairness, if when they do need to, they’ll just make something bigger. I can just see it now, a high level meeting at SpaceX HQ, Elon sees a picture of the Sea Dragon... pauses a moment... then gets that look in his eyes.... ...and across the table Gwynne just slowly raises a hand to her face.

Um... maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but... maybe report it to the police? Assault, battery, making threats... not ok, not even in jest.

Tho SFN is currently putting that launch NET September, after the next Iridium and what used to be SHERPA..?

It’s 80-some degrees and not a cloud in the sky, been like that for weeks. I could do with a thunderstorm about now.

If you look at the base of that assembly where it meets the S1 tank, there are some hydraulic cylinders. It looks like they can even “steer” the plunger as it goes out to make sure the stages stay parallel and don’t tumble.

Is that a mock-up or flight hardware?

No. Reaching Mars in any way was never the intention, the objective was to test the new Falcon Heavy, which was a near-complete success. The car was only there because they have to launch something and a car is more interesting than a lump on concrete. It was never supposed to reach Mars. That would actually have been a fail, since crashing an unsterilized thing into it could have bad consequences for future science.

No, my friend, it is entirely too common. And... how do I phrase this? Nah, better not.

ಠ_ಠ

That would be quite the accomplishment. In more way than one...

hey as long as you’re inside my house, could you turn the AC up? Hot out here. Might be a banana in the fridge, don’t let the guinea pigs smell it tho.

Hey @Stunkfish, to get Imgur links to work here, you have to use the full link with file extension (.png). Easiest way is usually to just right click + copy image link from your Imgur page, then just paste here and the pic should come right up. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve done.