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12 hours ago, tater said:

A small SS stretch makes lunar surface round trips a thing from LEO.

Im guessing they could set up the refuel depot at a higher orbit too, or even have a refuel location in Lunar orbit. Once you've got big mobile fuel tanks there are a lot of options. 

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1 minute ago, Pthigrivi said:

Im guessing they could set up the refuel depot at a higher orbit too, or even have a refuel location in Lunar orbit. Once you've got big mobile fuel tanks there are a lot of options. 

An architecture where everything is loaded in LEO (or MEO, whatever) is obviously ideal as it obviates SLS. >$4B a flight freed up buys a lot of lunar missions with other vehicles.

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6 hours ago, DAL59 said:

How many Starship launches/launch attempts do you think SpaceX is aiming for 2024? 

I'd guess >2 but <4.  They are likely aiming for as many as remotely possible plus one, ha ha.  How many will actually happen?  The problem is reconciling "take Elon-time with a grain of salt" with "never, ever, underestimate what the SpaceX team will achieve in demon mode".   Who knows?

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2 hours ago, darthgently said:

I'd guess >2 but <4.  They are likely aiming for as many as remotely possible plus one, ha ha.  How many will actually happen?  The problem is reconciling "take Elon-time with a grain of salt" with "never, ever, underestimate what the SpaceX team will achieve in demon mode".   Who knows?

I guess 5 who is their current permit as I understand, might be more as they have plenty hardware stacked up already

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As many as they can get away with, which likely depends on how well IFT-2 goes, and if the new pad holds up. If it does, we can expect them to push for IFT-3 immediately after, if not by the end of the year, then early 2024, with subsequent flights every couple months or so, give or take. So I vote 4-5 next year, with the possibility of at least one successful landing attempt by the booster and/or ship before 2025. And this can either be on land, or a soft water splashdown.

2025 will be the year the Starship program really gets rolling, as they'll transition from testing to operations, and begin achieving critical milestones for both their internal and HLS goals, like reuse and refueling.

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11 hours ago, DAL59 said:

How many Starship launches/launch attempts do you think SpaceX is aiming for 2024? 

Wow, I read this as 2023 originally when I guessed 3-ish.

2024?  Way too many variables,  but I'm thinking as many as 5+, 3 at the lowest, 7 highest.  Any delays would be from RUDs and resulting reporting/compliance issues mostly, but perhaps some out of the blue EPA issue (turtle spawning season?)

I'm being optimistic, admittedly 

Edited by darthgently
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41 minutes ago, darthgently said:

being optimistic, admittedly

I think that's warranted.  Realistically all they're trying to do is scale up from what they already know how to do. 

Yes, new engines and yes, different vehicle... But there is a whole difference between trying to do something for the first time ever and trying to do it again, but bigger. 

I'm guessing the October (fingers crossed) launch will succeed. 

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9 hours ago, Spaceception said:

As many as they can get away with, which likely depends on how well IFT-2 goes, and if the new pad holds up. If it does, we can expect them to push for IFT-3 immediately after, if not by the end of the year, then early 2024, with subsequent flights every couple months or so, give or take. So I vote 4-5 next year, with the possibility of at least one successful landing attempt by the booster and/or ship before 2025. And this can either be on land, or a soft water splashdown.

2025 will be the year the Starship program really gets rolling, as they'll transition from testing to operations, and begin achieving critical milestones for both their internal and HLS goals, like reuse and refueling.

It’s so weird to think a super heavy lift launch vehicle will be launching so often, considering how little the Saturn V flew.

It’s a shame the Soviets couldn’t launch N1s at the same rate they did R-7s. SpaceX will have to avenge them and the 30+ engine design!

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