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Skylon

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Lunar regolith has a density of ~1500kg/m3, so a Starship buried to 3m would be under 4500kg per m2 or 7360Pa in lunar gravity.

Internal air pressure of 1bar or 100kPa easily counterbalances that, though unintentional depressurisations and large unpressurized spaces would need additional consideration.

 

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22 minutes ago, RCgothic said:

Lunar regolith has a density of ~1500kg/m3, so a Starship buried to 3m would be under 4500kg per m2 or 7360Pa in lunar gravity.

Internal air pressure of 1bar or 100kPa easily counterbalances that, though unintentional depressurisations and large unpressurized spaces would need additional consideration.

 

 

Yeah while pressurised it can definitely support being buried, and I imagine they want it to be livable before starting to bury it. I'm not sure if "habitat can survive rapid depressurization" would be a necessity for the base design to be adopted, but probably making the structure strong enough to support that regolith (which has a density lower or comparable to sand) under lunar gravity wouldn't be too hard?

Edited by Beccab
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13 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Any word on the tiles that fell off during static fire?

 

I'm 99% certain that 6 tiles fell off total, all from the body (the nosecone ones stayed). Musk/SpaceX clearly doesn't seem worried by that at the moment, and also confirmed that they did expect tiles to fall of during SFs

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1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Can one of you smart guys explain this? 

Why does a rocket engine, designed for high-heat operation, require a thermal protective cover?  (And what dictates when you need one vs when you dont)

thanks in advance

*Some* things inside a rocket engine are designed to handle high-heat stuff.  And most of the hot stuff is on the inside.  There's plenty of stuff outside the combustion chamber and bell that don't react too well to super high temperatures.  Recall during some of the earlier SS hops, there were things catching fire under the skirt, from residual fuel burning after an engine shuts down, or turbulent airflow sucking burning stuff back up.

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25 minutes ago, Deddly said:

Why don't they do the static fire before fixing the tiles in place? 

It's probably meant to identify the poorly attached tiles, and fix them.

Those that held ok will probably keep holding, so no worries about them, those that got knocked off are replaced and thoroughly checked.

It's not a bug, it's a feature, actually. I see it as a way faster than full inspection !

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7 hours ago, grawl said:

It's probably meant to identify the poorly attached tiles, and fix them.

Those that held ok will probably keep holding, so no worries about them, those that got knocked off are replaced and thoroughly checked.

It's not a bug, it's a feature, actually. I see it as a way faster than full inspection !

Wow.

That's definitely the nicest possible way I have ever seen of saying "either this attachment scheme or the quality control still needs some work". There is just no way that "parts falling off our flight vehicle" is "a feature".

Edited by mikegarrison
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20 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

Wow.

That's definitely the nicest possible way I have ever seen of saying "either this attachment scheme or the quality control still needs some work". There is just no way that "parts falling off our flight vehicle" is "a feature".

If you attach all the tiles in the same manner, and then subject the vehicle to the stress and vibration of pressure test, cryo-proof, and static fire, you are able to positively identify the zones at highest risk of tile loss.

You are now able to adjust accordingly in those areas.

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9 hours ago, Deddly said:

Why don't they do the static fire before fixing the tiles in place? 

Why build the catching tower before even having tested the first stage of the thing to catch?

What can go wrong?

28 minutes ago, Nothalogh said:

If you attach all the tiles in the same manner, and then subject the vehicle to the stress and vibration of pressure test, cryo-proof, and static fire, you are able to positively identify the zones at highest risk of tile loss.

Vibration test doesn't require the static fire.

28 minutes ago, Nothalogh said:

You are now able to adjust accordingly in those areas.

Put more glue?

What if next time another tile unsticks?

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