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4 hours ago, ThatGuyWithALongUsername said:

I think it's supposed to match with "starlink" more than anything. No idea what the last comment was about, probably just wild future speculation... :confused:

I don't think this is the case here... "Super Heavy" simply means it is... well, super heavy. Quite a bit heavier than, say the (Falcon) Heavy. This tweet seems to back up the single-stick design:



 

Yes super heavy is simply the BFS first stage or BFR

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4 minutes ago, NSEP said:

The only things that aren't going to change in the BFR design are the tooling and the fuel.

The only things that aren’t going to change if the BFR is to suceed. A drastic, costly redesign of the whole system is never out of the question - merely suicidal.

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25 minutes ago, DDE said:

The only things that aren’t going to change if the BFR is to suceed. A drastic, costly redesign of the whole system is never out of the question - merely suicidal.

Falcon 9 is drastically redesigned from the first F9 to launch.

I can't wait for the usual suspect to latch onto the promise that someday a version will go to another star system.

I've also seen good arguments that they might dump the pointy nose.

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7 hours ago, DDE said:

Well, he is a Level 80 troll.

One of his main competitors owns the Washington Post.  Stories that run there tend to be considered "real news" and run elsewhere.  Or he might be using an ancient troll, who knows.

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I think this is not a troll. He tends to do the stream of consciousness thing. I think they came to a realization regarding the vehicle, and they're going with it to move it left on the schedule.

We know the diameter is unlikely to change for this iteration, tooling is expensive, and they have tooling (and parts). Engines have years of work, also not changing.

That leaves everything else on the table. They already own a functional rocket factory, and with F9 stage 1 reuse, the booster part of that factory will be semi-idled. How to move left on the schedule, and what is counter-intuitive?

Counter-intuitive? Blunt nose. I still think they might fix the fins, and put the "up" side opposite one fin, like this: Y

Move left? Stage 1 is built of F9s. Not like FH, but bolted together, and landed as a unit. They can build that really soon, and they might be able to start with previously flown cores, reducing costs. Blunt nose also reduces cost, they build tanks, they build tank ends. Done.

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1 hour ago, tater said:

Move left? Stage 1 is built of F9s. Not like FH, but bolted together, and landed as a unit. They can build that really soon, and they might be able to start with previously flown cores, reducing costs.

They would have to make the cores a lot taller to do that. BFBooster is a lot taller than the F9 one. This might be as non-trivial structurally as Falcon Heavy was.

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1 hour ago, tater said:

Move left? Stage 1 is built of F9s. Not like FH, but bolted together, and landed as a unit. They can build that really soon, and they might be able to start with previously flown cores, reducing costs. Blunt nose also reduces cost, they build tanks, they build tank ends. Done.

So... like the first stage of the Saturn I and Saturn IB?

Spoiler

Saturn_1_USSRC_2007_RK_2.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_I#S-I_stage

Quote

The propellant tanks consisted of a central Jupiter rocket tank containing LOX, surrounded by a cluster of eight Redstone rocket tanks: four painted white, containing LOX; and four painted black, containing the RP-1 fuel.

 

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3 minutes ago, Silavite said:

So... like the first stage of the Saturn I and Saturn IB?

Yeah.

29 minutes ago, cubinator said:

They would have to make the cores a lot taller to do that. BFBooster is a lot taller than the F9 one. This might be as non-trivial structurally as Falcon Heavy was.

Do they? All it really needs to do is give the ship over 2km/s. Maybe it can be stubby and still do that.

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1 hour ago, tater said:

BTW, this is what I was thinking in terms of FSH/BFS:

Do you have some delta-V numbers for that? Looks like it might be able to cut it, but I suspect they had a big booster in the renderings for a good reason. The FSH version would also have a lower fuel/dry mass ratio.

And it has to do a RTLS after separating from the ship.

Edited by cubinator
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2 hours ago, tater said:

At least some images of the concept.

BTW, this is what I was thinking in terms of FSH/BFS:

rWVEdvH.png

 

Reminds me of an passenger shuttle I use in KSP, it uses 7 large SRB as first stage then the shuttle with rear heat shield, fuel, engines an MK3 passenger compartment. 
But no they will not use something like that. 

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I doubt Elon will want to go with clustering again after the huge mess with the Falcon Heavy. Redesigning the core again for this task is propably as hard as building a new rocket, especially if you allready have tooling/engines for the large version.

Maybe the will make the BFS land sideways somehow, that way they dont need the risky turn during reentry and have an easier way to disembark.

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2 hours ago, ThatGuyWithALongUsername said:

Oh, that I knew about, but that's something that is internal and doesn't have to change between "versions". Or, it could simply be a test article for proof of concept work.

I guess, since people are going to be like that, I'll have to clarify what I mean by "hardware": Something ready to commit to production.

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8 minutes ago, Xd the great said:

I thought they already start building the first prototype bfs.

Yep, they are. You are correct. See https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-bfr-spaceship-prototype-tank-dome-complete-hop-tests/

4 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Oh, that I knew about, but that's something that is internal and doesn't have to change between "versions". Or, it could simply be a test article for proof of concept work.

I guess, since people are going to be like that, I'll have to clarify what I mean by "hardware": Something ready to commit to production.

I think I get it now. This makes sense. You're saying that you aren't sure about the changes because they haven't been built yet and, more importantly, change rapidly, right?

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6 minutes ago, ThatGuyWithALongUsername said:

Yep, they are. You are correct. See https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-bfr-spaceship-prototype-tank-dome-complete-hop-tests/

I think I get it now. This makes sense. You're saying that you aren't sure about the changes because they haven't been built yet and, more importantly, change rapidly, right?

Exactly. Until they freeze the design, I'm not even bothering to pay attention to the latest idea Elon has had. Hopefully, they opt to make something that's actually possible, instead of blindly chasing Elon's latest notion.

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