totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[Silavite]

2 hours ago, RCgothic said:

 

 

 

Maybe they'll be able to get the dent out via pressurization? It worked for Falcon 1 flight 4.

[RealKerbal3x]

3 minutes ago, Silavite said:

Maybe they'll be able to get the dent out via pressurization? It worked for Falcon 1 flight 4.

The dent is already gone (they must have hammered it out or something), but pressurisation would have done the trick.

Edited August 2, 2021 by RealKerbal3x

[sevenperforce]

2 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

 

Now THAT is the most Kerbal thing I have ever seen.

How many times have I wrapped an ungodly number of Vector engines around the base of a monster rocket.....

[sevenperforce]

Of note:

Just below the tip, the taper is so aggressive that they are only doing three tile layers between each latitudinal straight seam. Probably large-medium-small.

There are no studs above that line so the odds of a large single-piece (or perhaps 2-3 piece) glued-on nosecone seem high.

[tater]

3 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

There are no studs above that line so the odds of a large single-piece (or perhaps 2-3 piece) glued-on nosecone seem high.

Maybe closer to Shuttle with RCC?

[Elthy]

After seeing the plumbing for that im almost sure that proper engine ignition (a.k.a. without RUD) is as hard as the flip maneuver.

[RealKerbal3x]

[sevenperforce]

12 minutes ago, tater said:

Maybe closer to Shuttle with RCC?

That's my thought.

@RealKerbal3x Interesting that they already freely have circumferential straight seams.

Also, I think we have a candidate for those catching arms:

Look how absolutely massive those hinges are.

[Beccab]

1 minute ago, sevenperforce said:

That's my thought.

@RealKerbal3x Interesting that they already freely have circumferential straight seams.

Also, I think we have a candidate for those catching arms:

Look how absolutely massive those hinges are.

That should actually be S20's fuel arm, while the black parts are more likely to be catching arms

[tater]

1 minute ago, sevenperforce said:

Look how absolutely massive those hinges are.

Everything about this is massive. I just went on google earth and drew a 4.5m radius circle over my house with the ruler tool. Wow.

[CatastrophicFailure]

8 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Interesting that they already freely have circumferential straight seams.

This. Certainly seems to be alot of them. I thought the whole point of the hexagon tiles was to avoid seams and the straight pathways for hot reentry gas they create?

[sevenperforce]

Just now, CatastrophicFailure said:

This. Certainly seems to be alot of them. I thought the whole point of the hexagon tiles was to avoid seams and the straight pathways for hot reentry gas they create?

I think the straight seams that run circumferentially are fine. It would be longitudinal seams that would cause trouble.

During the worst of re-entry, Starship will be flying in with a high angle of attack in order to achieve a lifting-body entry, and thus the plasma flow path will be at a sharp angle to any circumferential seams.

[Spaceception]

19 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Are they moving into the highbay as soon as BN4 leaves then?

[Beccab]

37 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Are they moving into the highbay as soon as BN4 leaves then?

Road closure starts in half an hour, so most definitely yup

Edit: road should be closed now

Edited August 2, 2021 by Beccab

[sevenperforce]

SN20 aft flap install.

This is happening SO fast.

Do we think this is the flap root cover?

 

EDIT: For those watching the livestream, BN4 is starting to inch her way out of the High Bay.

Edited August 2, 2021 by sevenperforce
MOAR BOOSTER

[tater]

2 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

This is happening SO fast.

Likely they get this thing ready to go right after my kids start school again.

Regardless, I think I drive down that way when it looks like they have TFRs in place, etc.

15 hour drive. Yikes.

[zolotiyeruki]

2 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

I think the straight seams that run circumferentially are fine. It would be longitudinal seams that would cause trouble.

During the worst of re-entry, Starship will be flying in with a high angle of attack in order to achieve a lifting-body entry, and thus the plasma flow path will be at a sharp angle to any circumferential seams.

If that's the case, though, then there'd be no need for hexagonal tiles at all--they could just use rows of rectangular tiles, and stagger the longitudinal gaps.  Or used trapezoidal tiles, which could be used for both straight rows (alternate them up/down) and the nose cone (point all the trapezoids up).

[CatastrophicFailure]

[tater]

2 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

That's my thought.

And we're both wrong...

 

 

[tater]

[sevenperforce]

25 minutes ago, tater said:

And we're both wrong...

 

 

They do look very large, though.

[tater]

8 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

They do look very large, though.

Yeah, a couple more novel shapes, too.

[StrandedonEarth]

I love seeing all this rapid progress. It was seeming a little quiet for awhile aside from deliveries, but now that all the engines have arrived and the launch  table is stacked, it’s like they’ve gone to Plaid again. 

[tater]

13 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

I love seeing all this rapid progress. It was seeming a little quiet for awhile aside from deliveries, but now that all the engines have arrived and the launch  table is stacked, it’s like they’ve gone to Plaid again. 

Apparently they moved a few hundred people from Hawthorne to TX for a while, hotel rooms in Brownsville are hard to come buy.

[mikegarrison]

How hot do those engine nozzles get? There is really nowhere for the heat to radiate to in that configuration. (Yes, I know they are cooled by the fuel.)

I assume most of the net total heat is being removed via the exhaust flux.