StrandedonEarth

You forgot “...and keep the Shuttle contractors involved” Probably the biggest advantage of a clean sheet design instead of trying to make it look like they were using Shuttle-heritage systems is that they probably would have quickly concluded that LH2 for the first stage is not the most cost-effective choice.

I wouldn't have clued into this if I hadn't followed the introduction of Tesla's new 4680 cells. The ones that measure 46x80.... Flash forward a few weeks. My dog has an LED light on her collar for 'night ops' (as I call it) that takes two 2016 coin batteries. I had bought some Energizer replacement batteries for it from the grocery store; well within their expiry date but they didn't seem to last long. But at Costco, I found a card of 16 2032 Duracell coinbatts for a fraction of the usual per-batt cost (usually $10/pr, vs $17 for the costco card). I couldn't remember the battery number at the time, so I bought them because they looked the right size. Got home to find that nope, different number. But I tried to jam them in anyways, and oh hey, just one fits perfectly. That's when the light finally dawned on me, that coin battery numbers reflected the size, that the 2032 was twice as thick as the 2016 (20x1.6mm) The light might have been getting only half the voltage but appeared only slightly dimmer; still plenty bright enough for my purposes. And that first single 2032 battery I put in has lasted longer than any other pair of 2016s I've put in it, except maybe for the original pair it came with. So now it seems I won't have to buy batteries for that light for a few years....

I recall a story from somewhere that involves someone going back in time with an early electronic calculator, the kind with the red LED display. While demonstrating it to the locals, he entered an equation that resulted in the answer "666" being displayed in glowing red numerals and was promptly accused (apprehended? chased? I don't quite recall)) of being a witch. E: I'd consider a tachyon drive to be imaginary, based on the math....

Holey Kraken Kerbman! They actually did build something in there!

Well, eventually it’s supposed to be able to re-enter from Mars... they’d probably have to run the numbers to see what is cheaper: include the kick stage as payload or send up the tankers. Or send up a bare F9, dock the payload to the second stage and use that for the kick.... Okay, that defeats the purpose of SS. Really, it would depend on the mass of the payload. But SS is designed for BLEO work, although I suppose LEO tankers could have a lighter/thinner heat shield

I was gonna list professional procrastinator, but I’m gonna quit that profession tomorrow...

Egg bites: just mix up an omelette and pour it in a muffin pan or any other bite-size pan and bake. Store in the fridge (let cool first and not in a sealed container or they sweat) for breakfast on the go, just needs a few seconds in the nuker. My wife has become a Pampered Chef consultant, so we have the deluxe air fryer which makes fantastic (if small, <4lbs) roasts on the rotisserie, among other things. Then there’s the quick cooker (pressure cooker) and the cooking blender, plus a zillion other dooodads. Can’t wait until their new griddle arrives (sample for the consultants); it’s basically an evolved George Foreman grill on steroids.

Almost even seems legit...

I wonder if they're offering to the far south yet, like NZ, Argentina or Chile? I suppose they'd need base stations there... McMurdo station?

It certainly does help to have an orbiter relaying data for landers, but NASA already has three of those active .Well, according to this SS subway map I googled, it's 1440m/s for LMO insertion, without any aerobraking. That's a heap'o'propellant. Add on any deorbit burn and possible release mechanism (for orbiter/lander combo). Much less mass to just plow in. In fact, most combos IIRC separate on approach and have the lander enter direct while the orbiter does a capture burn. Again.less props needed, compared to a trivia amount of extra shielding needed to handle the extra speed.

FTFY

Hey, that is pretty nice. I just happened to skip forward to around the 46 minute mark, and wait what? What are all these track-like formations? (link to time of interest in spoiler) Some sort of cooling cracks?

Yeah, Vancouver is slated to dip below -10C for a couple nights this week, which is rare. Yellowknife (Northwest Territory) reported-57C with the wind chill!

As in into a tree? been there, done that, got the dent

By a repairbot inside the tank? Probably doable

Had to go downtown, so I swung by the Tesla showroom to drool and dream a bit. I want one, but the best EV I can afford might be a used Bolt in a year or so. Also:

I wonder how much of the inspection process they've automated so far? I envision running the cores through a car-wash-style setup, with the booster going through a machine that automatically locates, cleans, and inspects (X-rays?) the welds. As for Starship numbers, at the rate they're already producing prototypes, it's easy to imagine them churning out thousands of airframes once the Alien Juggernaut in Boca Chica grows up, especially if they add another production line or two. Outfitting the interiors is a different matter of course, and will probably be by far the longest part of the build, but bare airframes look quick and relatively simple to build, and they're going to need a lot of tankers. But that thin skin does concern me when it comes to crew. Sure, crew compartments can have extra shielding, but what about all that tankage? How resistant is 3mm or 4mm 304x stainless steel to MMOD damage, and what happens if it pierces a tank? I suppose that's one advantage of stainless; at least they can weld a patch over it. They'll need to work on their zero-gee-vacuum-welding skills. I wonder if plain vacuum welding aka cold welding could work, but probably not if propellants are trying to leak through. So hot welding (aka fusion welding) would probably be best. That also makes me wonder if it would be worthwhile to store repair 'bots in the tanks, so they can repair from the inside. Then when the tank is pressurized it helps push the patch against the puncture. *Note: That's just 747s. Total "widebody" production, according to wiki: If one wanted to include the smaller airliners, the 737 family alone has produced over 10,000 units since it first entered commercial service almost exactly 53 years ago. If the SS/SH model pans out, it's not hard to imagine thousands of Starships produced by 2170

Or camera parts...

As far as I can tell Mt Dew is yellow. A rather familiar shade of yellow. Which is why you never drink a bottle of Mt Dew found by the side of the road, or on the floor of a trucker’s cab. Those long-haul truckers don’t stop for anything, certainly not for a measly call of nature.

"And with that, we're gonna wrap up today's webcast, thanks for logging on and watching, and we'll be back with another Starship in the near future." - SpaceX webcaster after the SN9 flight.