totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[tater]

Whole interesting thread from her.

[magnemoe]

On 8/22/2022 at 6:20 PM, Beccab said:

Before Columbia, NASA was actually planning to return it to Earth at the end of its life: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3607023

Now that orbit module could also be used to raise the orbit. Having it attached during operation could be an problem as Hubble would now be heavier at the rear. 
But I assume this could be solved in software and you have tanks with pistons who don't slush around and you seriously want to attach this satellite while Hubble reaction wheels are working. 
And the module would have reaction wheels and rcs so it could just as well be an life extension for Hubble, raising its orbit and taking stress off the reaction wheels. 
Then Hubble fails Its an question should we deorbit it or boost it to an longer lasting orbit. 
I say boost it and tell its free salvage. Nice thing to have outside the window on the zero g gym at your orbital hotel next to Snoopy
Yes every space organisation wanted to look at how an 60 year old spacecraft decay, that paid for the recovery, it has not paid for Snoopy yet but that was hairy. 

[Beccab]

 

[tater]

Edited August 24, 2022 by tater

[tater]

 

[Beccab]

28 minutes ago, tater said:

The presentation will apparently be at Boca Chica, so it could be Starship related. Could be just for visuals tho

[tater]

 

[tater]

 

[Pthigrivi]

Edited August 25, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[mikegarrison]

Nice how "massive explosion" is reworded as "overpressure event". The PR people are on the job.

[tater]

Basically the same notice they've been giving out since the hopper.

[tater]

 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

On 8/26/2021 at 1:21 AM, Beccab said:

 

The test tank lives! I don't have pics but the one below unfortunately as it was late night, but it has been doing a cryo test for a while with venting and condensation. It is filled witn nitrogen and not methane / LOX, so for the first time they were able to leave the road open during the whole testing

The bottom hatches of S20 were closed as well, so they may be getting ready to do a cryo test with that as well

B4 COPV skeleton aerocover installed, either for a fit check or to complete mounting it while it is already installed

Road closure later today, very likely to roll GSE 7 out. Iirc, only GSE 8 will be needed after that

 

Booster QD arm has been installed shortly ago( not to be confused with ship QD arm), which was one of the last milestones that prevent the OLM from being operational. SpaceX may or may not be ready to fuel the booster partially for a static fire on the orbital pad now

Just for fun, I went back to see where SX was this time last year... and this post from Beccab showcases it all nicely.

Frankly, I'd hoped that we'd have seen another SS launch in this time... but even without one, they've clearly accomplished a lot since then!

[tater]

Starlink V2 will communicate directly to cell phones—low bandwidth.

 

Starting with SMS, etc, so no dead zones for basic comms. Pics, even video (if few users).

T-Mobile says same price as now, included for all on their most popular plans. Super low priced plans might not have it—but can add it.

Edited August 26, 2022 by tater

[tater]

Cell antennas ~25m² Fold out

2-4 megabit bandwidth per cell (1000-2000 simultaneous phone calls, or 100s of thousands of SMS at once per cell—but the cells are huge on the ground. Meant for very basic coverage to places with zero coverage now.

Can be asynchronous right from the start. Send SMS, goes up, and might take a while—faster once more up. So until fully deployed it's more an emergency thing, but usable.

Edited August 26, 2022 by tater

[tater]

 

[Beccab]

Currently, S24 has been hooked up to the crane - this could be either to roll out to the pad for a stacking on B7, or simply because the cargo currently in it is too heavy to open the LOX crew hatch safely without additional support. If it doesn't go somewhere else this weekend, the pad is now ready to sustain a 6 engine static fire. In fact, S26 will have stingers inside the LOX tank that might make that unnecessary in the future

 

Edited August 27, 2022 by Beccab

[magnemoe]

On 8/26/2022 at 2:27 AM, tater said:

Cell antennas ~25m² Fold out

2-4 megabit bandwidth per cell (1000-2000 simultaneous phone calls, or 100s of thousands of SMS at once per cell—but the cells are huge on the ground. Meant for very basic coverage to places with zero coverage now.

Can be asynchronous right from the start. Send SMS, goes up, and might take a while—faster once more up. So until fully deployed it's more an emergency thing, but usable.

As I understand Starlink 2 is 7x3 meters who is 21 square meter. if they add a bit to it think more half circle so center part is a bit over 3.5 meter wide they can easy reach 25 m² without folding.
They might use folding to increase the area, might be combined with reducing reflected light. 
Starlink uses a lot of frequencies so it should be able to handle it. The weird part for me is to picking up cell signals from hundreds of km, but I kind of guess 5g has some sort of beam forming. 

And if they get this to work they have an winner. Cell phone providers will use this to plug holes in their coverage. 

[tater]

6 hours:

 

[darthgently]

I'm wondering if SpaceX might have a Starlink v2 plan b that may involve a yet to be revealed larger F9 2nd stage and larger fairing already in development.  Anyone know anything? They mentioned maybe using falcon but I don't think they'd want to do that in dribbles.

Even if they can fit  several v2  in the current  F9 fairing I don't think they'd be happy with a few and would want to max the payload.  I'm seeing numbers of v2 massing 4x  what v1.5 weighs so probably around 1/4 the number of v1.5 per falcon v2  launch assuming they fit the volume

 

[tater]

 

[tater]

Live.

[tater]

Landed, nominal orbit.

[tater]

 

[tater]