JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Currently staring at 39A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 FYI - KSC is pretty cool these days. Lots more to see than when I was last here 10 years ago. Space X well represented, as is ULA and BO. Maybe in another 10 years, Stoke and RocketLab? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) OK - so a little more: when we were last at KSC ~ 8-10 years ago the Bus Tour took guests around LC 39. That was really cool and the unexpected surprise of seeing the flame trenches piled up with alligator bones really showcased the power of the rockets to a bunch of excited kids. Also getting to see the LCs up close and hearing the history of the launches was equal to the other highlight - getting up close to the VAB. From any distance the VAB doesn't look immense because the scale is off. You need it to tower over you and have it stretch left and right to get that feeling. The bus doesn't take the same route these days. (Much to the disappointment of my kids!) We stuck to the road and pretty much went straight to and from the Saturn 5 museum - which would be a great place to watch a SX launch, btw. So it looks like the SX cadence from 39A is just too great to accommodate tourists. On the other hand - guests can now likely see an actual launch - which is probably the coolest of all! (The other thing is how much the area around the KSC has built up. BO's site is huge. SX has a big footprint. There is a massive Amazon building and a bunch more to see. The change is nice - when we were there last, KSC was largely an ode to the past glory of the US space race. The one forward leaning thing was the Perseverance display. You still get that - but there is so much going on around the KSC that it feels like an active launch complex... Not a museum.) Edited January 2 by JoeSchmuckatelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Some interesting Starlink numbers if things go as planned https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2025/01/02/the-worlds-largest-flying-pez-dispenser-will-make-the-first-trillionaire-n4935597 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Inside track: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) 2 hours ago, darthgently said: Inside track Would these be 'new catch arms' in Texas or Fla? Edited January 2 by JoeSchmuckatelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 2 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Would these be 'new catch arms' in Texas or Fla? Boca Chica. He updated hydraulics and landing rails. Not sure which tower but almost certainly the original that they’ve been using. The new tower is just about to receive its arms and so they can still be worked on on the ground so Ken was almost certainly up on the OG tower that previously had the quaint bbq pit under the launch mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 2 hours ago, darthgently said: Chica. He updated hydraulics and landing rails Makes sense given the rest of the message - they're planning to launch again in a few days, so it makes perfect sense to change stuff up on a key part of the plan. * for SX Anyone else would still be filling out the funding request for the study to determine the efficacy of a proposal to request a university engineering report on several proposed courses of action... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 37 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Anyone else would still be filling out the funding request for the study to determine the efficacy of a proposal to request a university engineering report on several proposed courses of action... They’d be waiting for the requisition for the hand degreaser to be approved, ordered, shipped, received, and transported via interfacility logistics, then intrafacility routing. SpaceX uses handy Monster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 “Starship’s sixth flight test aimed to push the vehicle to its limits as we iterate towards a rapidly reusable rocket. Up next: a new ship, new year, and new limits. Excitement still guaranteed → spacex.com/launches/missi… A block of planned upgrades to the Starship upper stage will debut on this flight test, bringing major improvements to reliability and performance The vehicle’s forward flaps have been reduced in size and shifted towards the vehicle tip and away from the heat shield, significantly reducing their exposure to reentry heating while simplifying the underlying mechanisms and protective tiling. The ship’s heat shield will also use the latest generation tiles and includes a backup layer to protect from missing or damaged tiles Redesigns to the propulsion system, including a 25 percent increase in propellant volume, the vacuum jacketing of feedlines, a new fuel feedline system for the vehicle’s Raptor vacuum engines, and an improved propulsion avionics module controlling vehicle valves and reading sensors, all add additional vehicle performance and the ability to fly longer missions Avionics upgrades include a more powerful flight computer, integrated antennas which combine Starlink, GNSS, and backup RF communication functions into each unit, redesigned inertial navigation and star tracking sensors, an integrated smart batteries and power units that distribute data and 2.7MW of power across the ship to 21 high-voltage actuators, and an increase to more than 30 vehicle cameras giving engineers insight into hardware performance across the vehicle during flight With @Starlink, the vehicle is capable of streaming more than 120 Mbps of real-time high-definition video and telemetry in every phase of flight, providing invaluable engineering data to rapidly iterate across all systems” Spoiler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flavio hc16 Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 the Footage on a 4k tv is insane, it looks like a film, especially the lauch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Highlights: Flap Changes Bigger tanks Redesigned propellant lines that are now vacuum jacketed (if I had to guess, this is to prevent thermal transfer between the methane and oxygen as one of the propellants has feedlines that run through the other propellant tank) Improved avionics Improved heat shield with backup layer (I think they tested this on flight 5 but didn't on flight 6 but it might be further refined idk) Communications hardware is now more centralized instead of all over the place New batteries that can support a draw of 2.7 Megawatts Over 30 cameras Ship will deploy 10 Starlink mass simulators on a suborbital trajectory (estimated at a total of 12.5 tons on one Discord server) Removed tiles in some areas for stress testing Multiple metallic tile options including one with active cooling, are being tested Side note, this is one of my favorite things about the Starship program. If something doesn't give them the results they need for their long term goals, they aren't afraid to explore alternatives and if necessary do massive pivots, sunk costs be damned "Non-Structural" ship catch fittings are being tested to make sure they can survive re-entry (I would imagine if they involve moving parts, thermal expansion and contraction is a fairly large concern) Tile line edges have been smoothed to address hot spots observed in flight 6 Ship re-entry profile designed to stress test the structural limits of the flaps at (a presumably more intense than normal) max q. Several radar sensors on the chopsticks are being tested to increase accuracy of determining the relative vehicle-chopstick positions. A Raptor is being reflown from flight 5 Damaged sensors on the chopsticks were the cause of the flight 6 offshore divert, new protections have been added Starship is aiming for full reuse this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Getting annoyed with the projected date of the flight (as I scan for info). Some use UTC which apparently means the flight is on the 11th. Some use local - which means the flight is on the 10th. Come on folks: the thing is flying out of Texas. As in 'Murica! The only relevant time is LOCAL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate Steve Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 I'm just happy to not have to convert. Finally there's relevant launches happening in my time zone (well I guess technically there is also new shepard) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 2 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Getting annoyed with the projected date of the flight (as I scan for info). Some use UTC which apparently means the flight is on the 11th. Some use local - which means the flight is on the 10th. Come on folks: the thing is flying out of Texas. As in 'Murica! The only relevant time is LOCAL! I can deal with it being in any time zone but they need to put the time zone next to the time. “Dammit, Jim. I’m a doctor, not a mind reader!” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBase Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 (edited) NOTAM reads (all in UTC ): Quote B0026/25 NOTAMN ... B) 2501102200 C) 2501162338 D) 10 12 13 14 15 16 2200-2338, 11 1300-1438 ... which translates to 1600 or 4pm CST (Boca Chica local time zone) on 10th for launch. Landing will occur on 11th local time in the morning (not sure if landing area is UTC+7 or +8, but something around this). But yes, I agree we should really give times in local time for events that span 13h time zone difference as it is too hard to convert UTC using google, siri, chatgpt or.... Edited January 3 by CBase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Bets on the name? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthgently Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Upcoming Thuraya 4 F9 launch in a few minutes https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=thuraya4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 1 hour ago, darthgently said: Thuraya 4 F9 launch Saw it. Can confirm, was cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 First time I saw one at night - you can see it long after staging. A 'slowly descending fuzzy star' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Kerbin Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Okay guys. Here’s a very odd question. Could a heavily modified S-II (Saturn V second stage) , with all the improvements of today (no paint, like a ET, etc) lift a heavy payload on top of a Superheavy? Some info to go off of, The S-1C took the Apollo stack to 68km. Superheavy separates at ~65 km from Starship. Starship - 1,600 tons. S-II - 480 tons. (No new tech) S-II and S-IVB - 603 tons. (No new tech) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 14 hours ago, Mr. Kerbin said: Okay guys. Here’s a very odd question. Could a heavily modified S-II (Saturn V second stage) , with all the improvements of today (no paint, like a ET, etc) lift a heavy payload on top of a Superheavy? Some info to go off of, The S-1C took the Apollo stack to 68km. Superheavy separates at ~65 km from Starship. Starship - 1,600 tons. S-II - 480 tons. (No new tech) S-II and S-IVB - 603 tons. (No new tech) This was answered perhaps a year and a half or so ago. Someone ran the numbers and basically the answer was 'of course'. So imagine an adapter / separator atop the SH and as long as the payload above weighs less than SS - SH should be able to throw it. If you search the forums via Google you should find the post with the numbers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kekkie Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 On 1/3/2025 at 4:54 PM, Minmus Taster said: Bets on the name? I’m rooting for either Hope or Challenge (Inspiration was already taken by a mission flown by the Dragon capsule). However, I would understand if Challenge is too similar to Challenger, which, to put it mildly, is bad luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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