totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[Superpluto126]

I doubt it was the engines exploding, I'd suspect we would have seen it rather than heard it if that was the case.

[magnemoe]

16 hours ago, Cuky said:

Both my cars and motorcycles exhausts make popping sounds after I shut engine off after a long ride and they start to cool off.

Maybe those really was something exploding. But then again maybe those pops are just hot metal parts being cooled by deluge system or fire prevention

That sounds more like engine doing a few more cycles. Simple gasoline engines like used on an chainsaw can continue to run on idle even if off as in the spark plug is disabled as engine is hot. 
Got this the chainsawing trees into stumps for making firewood as its long extended use more than in logging. solution is simply to cut something on idle but its an safety issue.
Assume more modern engines with computers also cut the fuel 
This is also true for guns, who is far more scary but if you fire so much you are either doing destructive testing of the gun or you are in so much trouble this is not very relevant. 
But belt feed machine guns tend to fire from an open bolt to avoid this.

Edited Monday at 02:31 AM by magnemoe

[Nuke]

russian gatling guns (eg the gsh-6-23, pay close attention to the rate of fire spec) are a rapid unplanned disassembly waiting to happen.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Back from my trip.  Never got a chance to see the flight.  Up at 4am to make a flight to Orlando, then cruising... 1am?  Nope.  Too old.  But here's what I did see:

Bob

Spoiler

Getting on the boat we looked down the wharf and spotted Bob.  Pretty exciting in itself.

As the ship started to leave the port we watched some cool stuff going on at the other wharves.  On one a crane was doing something interesting...

Spoiler

Turns out, the large industrial stanchion, covered in soot wasn't a crane stanchion at all - it was a SPACESHIP!

Spoiler

And not just any spaceship - but a Falcon 9!  Woot!

Spoiler

We all thought that was pretty cool!  But when we got back - we were treated to TWO Falcon 9s and BO's ship leaving the port.

Spoiler

 

Finally at the car rental lot we got a chance to see both pretty well.

Spoiler

Thing is - like I mentioned before - they don't look all that special.  Have a look at the first picture - of Bob.  The Falcon 9 is there... and I never recognized it.  We had to get up close for it to resolve itself into a spaceship.  They just look like industrial, workmanlike things.  Not overly different from the crane stanchions or other vertical industrial stuff in the area.  Still, in this last picture, you are seeing two rockets that were each up in space less than a week before the image was taken.

Cool stuff!

.

 

[tater]

 

[GuessingEveryDay]

MARMAC 303 is the registration of Just Read The Instructions.

[tater]

Maybe visible in the western US as well. I will look.

[tater]

 

[darthgently]

Another first for SpaceX coming up

 

[AVaughan]

So is that a launch to the same inclination as other Starlink launches, but using a launch trajectory that cuts closer to land?  (Presumably less of a dogleg, and so saving, and enabling larger payloads)?   Or is it the same trajectory, just with a different landing location of the booster?

[magnemoe]

7 minutes ago, AVaughan said:

So is that a launch to the same inclination as other Starlink launches, but using a launch trajectory that cuts closer to land?  (Presumably less of a dogleg, and so saving, and enabling larger payloads)?   Or is it the same trajectory, just with a different landing location of the booster?

I say they cut closer to land, this is something who has to be agreed on with Bahamas. 

[tater]

 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

2 hours ago, GuessingEveryDay said:

MARMAC 303 is the registration of Just Read The Instructions.

Then I saw that ship too!  (Second photo above)

[Superpluto126]

Most Rumors I'm hearing seem to indicate SpaceX still seems set on a Launch this Month,  whether or not this comes to fruition will be made clear very soon.

[darthgently]

 

[Minmus Taster]

4 hours ago, darthgently said:

 

Day of the falling grain silos, was anyone hurt?

[Ryaja]

8 hours ago, darthgently said:

 

They usually reenter over the ocean, apparently this one malfunctioned on the reentry brun and did an uncontrolled reentry.

[tater]

 

[Superpluto126]

1 hour ago, tater said:

 

Wonder how solid this window is, and whether SpaceX Fixed everything on time.

[GuessingEveryDay]

29 minutes ago, Superpluto126 said:

Wonder how solid this window is, and whether SpaceX Fixed everything on time.

They're called test flights for a reason /s

[Ultimate Steve]

There is a very small chance that I might be able to go see this one. Extremely small. But possible.

 

[Superpluto126]

1 hour ago, GuessingEveryDay said:

They're called test flights for a reason /s

Mhmmm

[Vanamonde]

As always, avoid politics. 

[Exoscientist]

 Robert Zubrin wrote another article about getting to Mars:

The Mars Dream Is Back — Here’s How to Make It Actually Happen.
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-mars-dream-is-back-how-to-go

 

 He again makes the argument there should be a smaller 3rd stage used for the actual landing, rather than the Starship, here called the Starboat.

  Bob Clark

[Ultimate Steve]

Zubrin is not thinking big enough.