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36 minutes ago, tater said:

They didn't swap any engines though, right?

I don't believe so, which could mean that they concluded it was minor enough to go forward with flight. Do we know what they consider minor though? Superheavy can get by with 3 engines out, and they likely accept higher odds of something like that happening in early test flights, considering IFT-1. 

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6 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

I think its weird they don't do more static fires while waiting. 

The risks are similar enough to liftoff that there is not much to gain. The fact that they don't suggests that whatever the early shutdowns were, they worked the issue.

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18 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

I think its weird they don't do more static fires while waiting. 

The logistics of moving water and fuel are fairly onerous.  Lots of trucks and time and money.  I can understand not doing them too whimsically

... And compliance paperwork.  Can't forget that

Edited by darthgently
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50 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

I don't believe so, which could mean that they concluded it was minor enough to go forward with flight.

It could also (imo, probably does) mean that they concluded it was GSE related, not engine related. If they did work that they think will fix the GSE problems, we wouldn't necessarily know about it. Which is the point @tater was making when asking the question (again, imo).

Edited by Kerwood Floyd
a little more clarity
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4 hours ago, darthgently said:

The logistics of moving water and fuel are fairly onerous.  Lots of trucks and time and money.  I can understand not doing them too whimsically

... And compliance paperwork.  Can't forget that

Yes, the logistic and stuff to get to do another makes sense if launch is near, as in a week, if it was two months because of FAA I would expect more static fires. 

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38 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Because if it was an long wait, simply do more static fires to be sure you solved the issues before launch, I also doubt they would stack SS on top to stand there for an month. 

They either got the data they needed, or they didn't.

More static fires just to kill time is needless. Each one presents a nonzero RUD risk—as any WDR/static fire/launch does. The failure modes just short of actual launch are all there. So it's a balancing act of what useful data can they gather vs risk—even if the risk is low.

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12 hours ago, mikegarrison said:

"All the regulatory requirements": Possibly a reference to the environmental impact?  Maybe something else?

They have the deluge/diverter now so hopefully there's less risk of dumping sand on everything for 6 miles. I recall reading there was another issue with the self-termination system, something like a 40 second delay between it being ordered and vessel unzippering. There may be additional concerns about that sequence. 

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14 minutes ago, Pthigrivi said:

They have the deluge/diverter now so hopefully there's less risk of dumping sand on everything for 6 miles. I recall reading there was another issue with the self-termination system, something like a 40 second delay between it being ordered and vessel unzippering. There may be additional concerns about that sequence. 

As I understand the FTS did not worked well, probably as it was designed for aluminum but steel is more resistant. I assume they fixed it using more explosives. 

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1 hour ago, magnemoe said:

As I understand the FTS did not worked well, probably as it was designed for aluminum but steel is more resistant. I assume they fixed it using more explosives. 

I think this was a separate issue possibly related to communication. You surely wouldn't want something that big failing to reach orbit and also failing to terminate and coming down in Africa or wherever. 
 

Quote

And then there’s that pesky flight termination system. Musk hasn’t said much about what went wrong, but the 40-second delay between the system’s activation and the destruction of the vehicle is a real issue. Mosdell says some of the things FAA officials would personally verify were the transmitters and antennas for the flight termination system, because of its close link to their primary mission of ensuring public safety. That suggests the agency will carefully scrutinize any changes that SpaceX makes to the current system.

https://qz.com/spacex-convince-faa-launch-starship-rocket-in-texas-1850758869

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19 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

FAA to SpaceX: 

:/

 

This isn't the first time the FAA have issued a nothing-burger statement like this as I recall.

It's not news the next launch license needs to wait on the mishap investigation and this statement says nothing about timescale. It's just their standard "Stop hassling us. It'll be done when it's done," press release.

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Just now, RCgothic said:

This isn't the first time the FAA have issued a nothing-burger statement like this as I recall.

It's not news the next launch license needs to wait on the mishap investigation and this statement says nothing about timescale. It's just their standard "Stop hassling us. It'll be done when it's done," press release.

Agreed -- that's how I read it.

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