tater Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 And 400th Falcon launch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 ISS orbital maneuvers via Dragon. First time soon! https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/11/for-the-first-time-a-dragon-spacecraft-will-be-used-to-move-the-space-station/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying dutchman Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superpluto126 Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-6 Flight 6 is aiming for Monday, Nov 18. Interestingly, there is a Launch Window later in the day that might be able to produce a Daylight Re-Entry/Splashdown, either way, HYPE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted November 6 Share Posted November 6 2 hours ago, Flying dutchman said: Stellar production quality; love the pacing, cuts, sound design and slo mo catch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted November 7 Share Posted November 7 9 hours ago, Superpluto126 said: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-6 Flight 6 is aiming for Monday, Nov 18. Interestingly, there is a Launch Window later in the day that might be able to produce a Daylight Re-Entry/Splashdown, either way, HYPE! Booster landing is just after a couple minutes so the second window is if a hold who can be fixed in some hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted November 8 Share Posted November 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted November 9 Share Posted November 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted November 9 Share Posted November 9 in startup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted November 9 Share Posted November 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted November 9 Share Posted November 9 Can I ask one of you guys who follows all of this what changes we can expect between IFT-5 and IFT-6? I know they're playing with tiles, but not much more. Does 6 incorporate any structural changes since 4 or 5? Thanks! PS - bonus points if you know whether the ship intended for 7 is already showing structural changes - or whether they were so far ahead in their production that it will have to be an even later flight before they incorporate lessons learned from 5. Tango Yankee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted November 9 Share Posted November 9 56 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Can I ask one of you guys who follows all of this what changes we can expect between IFT-5 and IFT-6? I am unsure about the structural differences between 5 and 6, but I do know that: They are testing removing a lot of tiles to make room for catch hardware on the ship They are trying the in space relight demo again They are doing a "simple fix" on the booster to try to prevent the nozzle warping we saw last time They are doing a higher AoA re-entry to figure out the limits of what the ship can handle They are adding nose art to the ship The ship for flight 7 is very different from the current ships as it is the first block 2/v2 ship. It has: Bigger fuel tanks on the ship A smaller payload bay A somewhat longer overall length The forward flaps are moved leeward for better protection I think the heat shielding has been upgraded even further but IDK Different downcomer arrangement Probably hundreds or thousands of other changes that haven't been publicly talked about. I don't know about any specific changes relating to lessons from flight 5 - From what I'm aware, they kind of anticipated the heat shield issues and that's why the flaps on block 2 are so different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AckSed Posted November 9 Share Posted November 9 Having looked through the relevant thread on NASASpaceflight I think the answer is: nothing to the Ship apart from the tiles. They're going to launch, try for a relight and see what goes right or wrong again. Incidental: I forgot this, but Ship 31 was the Ship that had the electrical fault in its raceway. It's also the Ship that now has a Banana For Scale: https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1854636262902403476 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deddly Posted November 10 Share Posted November 10 (edited) If the forward flaps are moving leeward for better protection from the plasma stream, that should also give them improved passive stability. Why not have them fixed in a slight V position and delete the actuators entirely in the spirit of "the best part is no part"? Edited November 10 by Deddly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted November 10 Share Posted November 10 2 hours ago, Deddly said: If the forward flaps are moving leeward for better protection from the plasma stream, that should also give them improved passive stability. Why not have them fixed in a slight V position and delete the actuators entirely in the spirit of "the best part is no part"? If attitude control authority can be maintained without the actuators, sure. But I’d guess it is too early in the iteration process to decide they won’t need that control authority to accommodate other changes, like tank and payload bay resizings, landing path heavier weather, etc. Then there is the thinner atmo on Mars but those would probably be a very different version any way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted November 10 Share Posted November 10 8 hours ago, Deddly said: If the forward flaps are moving leeward for better protection from the plasma stream, that should also give them improved passive stability. Why not have them fixed in a slight V position and delete the actuators entirely in the spirit of "the best part is no part"? Musk said in one of his Tim Dodd interviews that they may—MAY— be able to eliminate the forward flaps entirely, ala the OG ITS. I reckon we’ll see a lot of tweaking of the design over the next few flights, and maybe less pointy-ness. And speaking of the next few flights… next year Starship MIGHT fly more than the vaunted Saturn V did over its entire lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnemoe Posted November 11 Share Posted November 11 4 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Musk said in one of his Tim Dodd interviews that they may—MAY— be able to eliminate the forward flaps entirely, ala the OG ITS. I reckon we’ll see a lot of tweaking of the design over the next few flights, and maybe less pointy-ness. And speaking of the next few flights… next year Starship MIGHT fly more than the vaunted Saturn V did over its entire lifetime. Technically possible I say, you still need to be able to keep an weight / drag balance between front and rear, they put the header tanks in the nose for balance reasons, design vise it would be better to have them inside the tanks. Downside is that you strongly reduces the ability to return with an payload as it will shift center of mass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotel26 Posted November 11 Share Posted November 11 (edited) "Full speed ahead in 2025!" is going to provide much excitement. That is great. In my personal view (as a space dilettante, not quite afficionado), I'd say the big technological milestones I look forward to would be a) orbital refueling and b) developments in robotics. Keys to progress. Having said that, achievement milestones, such as establishing a permanent presence on the Moon, might just happen within my lifetime. I hope so! [Just a perspective.] Edited November 11 by Hotel26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flavio hc16 Posted November 11 Share Posted November 11 8 hours ago, magnemoe said: Technically possible I say, you still need to be able to keep an weight / drag balance between front and rear, they put the header tanks in the nose for balance reasons, design vise it would be better to have them inside the tanks. Downside is that you strongly reduces the ability to return with an payload as it will shift center of mass. And you probably lose the ability to yaw and limit your ability to pitch. Doable for the tankers that will be pretty standard, for the other kind of ships it's very hard. But as Elon says: "At SpaceX, we specialize in making the impossible merely late" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted Monday at 04:38 PM Share Posted Monday at 04:38 PM IFT-6 NET Nov 18th? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted Monday at 09:30 PM Share Posted Monday at 09:30 PM https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1856085347358388704 in progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted Tuesday at 09:02 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 09:02 PM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grawl Posted Tuesday at 11:12 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 11:12 PM There even is a banana, for scale ! Ho god, my meme days are coming back to haunt me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted Wednesday at 02:06 AM Share Posted Wednesday at 02:06 AM 2 hours ago, grawl said: There even is a banana, for scale ! Ho god, my meme days are coming back to haunt me... An earlier image had a worker in the frame near it—and that banana for scale is actually much bigger than a real banana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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