totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[Xd the great]

Maybe he should take up ksp to wreck some rockets.

[James Kerman]

He has:
 

Quote

It turns out that Musk has not only played it — he deeply enjoys it.

“Kerbal is awesome,” he said in response.

https://venturebeat.com/2015/01/06/spacex-tesla-founder-elon-musk-loves-kerbal-space-program-mass-effect-and-civilization/

[IncongruousGoat]

5 hours ago, StarStreak2109 said:

Moreover, there are still no current and reliable infos on reusability (did I see tiles on the heat shield???), on costs, on mission profiles, on-orbit refueling, abort systems, you name it.

We do know some stuff about the heat shield, actually. The current plan is to use PICA-X, since that stuff has turned out to hold up to LEO re-entry surprisingly well. Also because SpaceX have been iterating on it and improving its heat shielding capacity over the years. The idea is to leave the heatshield more or less untouched between LEO missions, and only refurbish it after a Mars mission (or maybe several Mars missions, if it can last that long).

[CatastrophicFailure]

 

[mikegarrison]

6 hours ago, Green Baron said:

Surely not, but smoking ganja in the late 40s is a severe case of losing the sense for reality, even more so in his situation. It shows a childish attitude of a phase of life most people leave behind at 18-22 (or earlier) ...

You must not live in Seattle.

[tater]

6 hours ago, Green Baron said:

Surely not, but smoking ganja in the late 40s is a severe case of losing the sense for reality, even more so in his situation. It shows a childish attitude of a phase of life most people leave behind at 18-22 (or earlier) ...

It's not something I do, but who cares? They were drinking whiskey the rest of the interview, and had it stayed there, no one would care--even had the glass been constantly refilled for a couple hours.

 

[Bill Phil]

6 minutes ago, tater said:

It's not something I do, but who cares? They were drinking whiskey the rest of the interview, and had it stayed there, no one would care--even had the glass been constantly refilled for a couple hours.

 

The federal government cares. That's the problem. Since Musk is involved in companies with federal contracts and stuff.

[tater]

6 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

The federal government cares. That's the problem. Since Musk is involved in companies with federal contracts and stuff.

Agreed.

[Green Baron]

58 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

You must not live in Seattle.

I live on La Palma island ;-)

 

... where a stoned idiot caused a huge wildfire 2 years ago.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Green Baron

[Ultimate Steve]

9 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

I live on La Palma island ;-)

The one with the theorized giant slab of rock that could fall and cause a giant tsunami that could wipe out the East coast of the US?

[CatastrophicFailure]

17 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

The one with the theorized giant slab of rock that could fall and cause a giant tsunami that could wipe out the East coast of the US?

That’s the one, tho that theory has largely been debunked. 

still great fodder for fiction writers tho... 

So, back on topic, Boca Chica, right? 

[Green Baron]

Short answer: yes. Edit: not "wipe out".

Long answer: Flank collapses are frequent on the Canary islands, they actually form their shapes. A really big one happened on this island ~440,000 years ago and subsequent erosion formed the scenic Caldera de Taburiente with the extinct volcano Bejenado in its center. People are aware and the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja (which is the one in your question) is under constant observation, by laser distance measuring, GPS and satellite. The small movements that occur are interpreted as settling, not as precursors of immanent movements of larger masses.

These events can be really catastrophic, the sediments of larger debris flows have been located in the deep sea all around the islands. Shall i inform you when the neighbour slides down the sea ?

But all in all, i'd say, tropical storms should be of greater concern. Tropical Atlantic was unusually cold this year (-0.5° below last 20 year's medium), which made the season quite calm.

 

Edit: flank collapses are a possibility and no bunk. If they really cause giant tsunamis in the Americas is hardly known. Wet feet are a possibility, but probably nothing highly destructive. They do cause ~200m tsunamis on neighbour islands, in the Canaries as well as in the Cape Verdes, due to geography and short distance.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Green Baron

[Nightside]

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

 

I almost forgot about Boca Chica. 

What does the poster mean about reversal of purpose? 

[tater]

3 minutes ago, Nightside said:

I almost forgot about Boca Chica. 

What does the poster mean about reversal of purpose? 

They had originally talked about F9/FH launches from there.

[magnemoe]

10 minutes ago, tater said:

They had originally talked about F9/FH launches from there.

Some chance its the BFS test area? 
 

[CatastrophicFailure]

8 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Some chance its the BFS test area? 
 

Likely, since that seems to be their shift of focus there. With two pads in Florida, I can’t see having another “east coast” Falcon pad being a huge priority. Somewhere to launch the BFG from, now that is. Especially since they have a deposit now. 

[Nightside]

I guess they will have to transport it there by ship right? Is there any way to bring such a wide load over land from California to Texas?

[CatastrophicFailure]

3 minutes ago, Nightside said:

I guess they will have to transport it there by ship right? Is there any way to bring such a wide load over land from California to Texas?

Not realistically. This is exactly why they’re building the BFFactory right on the pier in LA. 

[tater]

NO, I think the entire focus of Boca Chica might well be BFR at this point. Have to see.

 

 

 

[Elthy]

One thing i just thought about:
Even the grasshopper version of the BFS will be a very powerfull rocket, to the point i cant realy imagine it taking off from just a flat surface without a launchpad. Reflected soundwaves could pose a huge threat, also even if it lands on solid concrete i imagine the landingpad wouldnt last long. This will be an even bigger problem on Mars...

Edited September 20, 2018 by Elthy

[magnemoe]

44 minutes ago, Nightside said:

I guess they will have to transport it there by ship right? Is there any way to bring such a wide load over land from California to Texas?

No, ships are pretty cheap, trying to move even the upper stage without wings or tail fin even across Texas on is closest would be Guinness record stuff. 
In short road transport is significantly less likely than they do an ballistic jump, way cheaper and far less paperwork
Transporting it by ship is trivial on the other hand. 
 

13 minutes ago, Elthy said:

One thing i just thought about:
Even the grasshopper version of the BFS will be a very powerfull rocket, to the point i cant realy imagine it taking off from just a flat surface without a launchpad. Reflected soundwaves could pose a huge threat, also even if it lands on solid concrete i imagine the landingpad wouldnt last long. This will be an even bigger problem on Mars...

On landing it would not be that heavy, just a couple of time heavier than an falcon 9 first stage, it can throttle deeper than merlin and the engines will come at rest higher above the ground. 
Not much sound issues on Moon or Mars, but yes they will need an pad for high suborbital level testings. 

[Racescort666]

34 minutes ago, tater said:

NO, I think the entire focus of Boca Chica might well be BFR at this point. Have to see.

 

 

 

I wonder if SX is considering an aerial fairing recovery? Grab it out of the air with a helicopter then soft-drop it onto a ship.

[Elthy]

15 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

On landing it would not be that heavy,

Yeah, but they plan to lift off almost every time the land somewhere, so thats the case they have to worry about. Im sure they have thougt about it...
BTW: I remember an article about ablation caused by material blasted away during the lunar landings. One mission landed close to a previos unmanned lander which was kinda sandblasted even by the small engine of the descent module. Landing one BFS on the moon wouldnt be much problem, but the second one would need a proper landing pad or a protective wall so it doesnt damage the first one.

[RedKraken]

8 hours ago, Xd the great said:

Did he get addicted to it?

 

It doesn't matter to most people.

Mostly harmless...alcohol/cigarettes and sugar are way more destructive.

Weed products are super important to folks who self medicate for chronic pain/cancer/ms etc.

Will he lose business for sparking up on-line? 

I don't know.

[magnemoe]

49 minutes ago, RedKraken said:

 

It doesn't matter to most people.

Mostly harmless...alcohol/cigarettes and sugar are way more destructive.

Weed products are super important to folks who self medicate for chronic pain/cancer/ms etc.

Will he lose business for sparking up on-line? 

I don't know.

Most people don't use pot like they use sugar or cigarettes, if the average smoker smoked as people used pot smoking would not be an health issue. 
This was the reason why smoking was not seen as an serious health issue for so long, tobacco was expensive so few smoked much, also air quality in cities was worse, not to talk about many factories.
Only after WW2 chain smoking in offices became common, now add two decades for the general health damage to show up and obviously the tobacco industry trying to cover it up. 
I say that pot mostly like alcohol give or take an magnitude, nobody want to test this and it might be illegal to test. 
However that something is used as painkiller is an warning in it self. Some natural products has been pulled from health stores as they contain restricted quantities of chemicals who require prescription or are harmful in quantities.