totm nov 2023 SpaceX Discussion Thread

[monophonic]

5 hours ago, cubinator said:

Based on analysis of the above photo and data from @Just Jim I believe the Zuma spacecraft was launched with an inclination of about 40 degrees. The second stage may have fired again at some point, so it may be in a different, higher orbit by now. However, since Stage 1 performed a RTLS rather than landing on the barge, Zuma probably isn't incredibly far from where I projected it to be. Unless the spacecraft itself did a major burn, which can't be ruled out entirely.

There was some talk about the first launch window possibly aiming really close to the orbit of a previously launched government satellite. Any idea if there were such "coincidences" this time around yet?

[StarStreak2109]

17 hours ago, Starman4308 said:

Technical point of order: that's 3 RS-68 engines, not 3 RS-25s. An RS-25 is an SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine), AKA "so expensive nobody but Congress would envision using them on an expendable lift vehicle". [Snip]

My bad, mixed those up, meant of course the RS68...

14 hours ago, KSK said:

Also, my understanding from other, wiser heads on this thread is that the FH payloads are already volume limited rather than mass-limited. [Snip]

That's what I was wondering as well... Maybe FH is opening up more opportunities for interplanetary missions (more dV)??!??

[NSEP]

 

[PB666]

20 minutes ago, NSEP said:

 

The video has alot of ifs and maybe's in it.

[tater]

SN is funded for COTS. I fully expect it to fly. 

[cubinator]

Looks like SES-16 and Paz are both slated for January 30.

[tater]

It'll be exciting to see which day the TEL with FH rolls out.

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, PB666 said:

The video has alot of ifs and maybe's in it.

And ~20 occurences of "space-axe" per first two minutes.

[tater]

1 minute ago, kerbiloid said:

And ~20 occurences of "space-axe" per first two minutes.

This comment got me to actually listen for a couple seconds, lol. I read what you said, and was assuming that someone was oddly pronouncing something regarding legislation (some "space act"), it never even occurred to me that it might be an odd pronunciation of SpaceX.

[Nibb31]

On 06/01/2018 at 8:49 PM, mikegarrison said:

So that basically ends their funding, or what?

No, they are done with the flight testing milestone, so they can retire the flight test vehicle.

Now, they can move on to building the Commercial Cargo vehicle.

[tater]

 

[CatastrophicFailure]

8 hours ago, monophonic said:

There was some talk about the first launch window possibly aiming really close to the orbit of a previously launched government satellite. Any idea if there were such "coincidences" this time around yet?

According to the article over on SpaceFlightNow.com, this time it was nowhere near that other thing. And the NRO has flatly disowned it at this point, which is unusual if it’s really theirs. 

4 minutes ago, tater said:

 

Could... could that mean a static fire today?? Would they livestream that, given the magnitude of it?

[tater]

There are private streams that appear for static tests. I think they roll out, then fire the next day, usually. They'd have to have closed the range, too, loads of roads would have to be closed when they fuel that up. It;s gonna stop everything within a few miles of 39A.

[CatastrophicFailure]

IIRC, the last rollout was just for fit checks. Maybe they’re going to do fueling tests now, even that would be impressive to see!

[tater]

They said static fire this week once Zuma left.

[PB666]

4 hours ago, tater said:

SN is funded for COTS. I fully expect it to fly. 

Yes, but after that, hanging from a bag in the closet with  little white aromatic balls at the bottom.

[tater]

 

[CatastrophicFailure]

...sounds like that Tesla’s going to space, one way or another. 

[Shpaget]

52 minutes ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

 NRO has flatly disowned it at this point, which is unusual if it’s really theirs. 

Which doesn't narrow it down much, since there are 15 other intelligence agencies in the US gov, and countless other that could very well be the owner.

Somebody should mass spam every acronym agency and ask them if it's theirs XD

[CastleKSide]

Is FH human-rated? I remember hearing it was able to launch D2 way back, but that was before a lot of the delays/redesigns

[CatastrophicFailure]

10 minutes ago, CastleKSide said:

Is FH human-rated? I remember hearing it was able to launch D2 way back, but that was before a lot of the delays/redesigns

It’s not even machine-rated at this point , that’s what all these tests are for. But yes, the flight around the moon in a D2 is still on the agenda, so it’s still slated for man rating, probably along with the F9B5. 

[Nibb31]

1 hour ago, PB666 said:

Yes, but after that, hanging from a bag in the closet with  little white aromatic balls at the bottom.

Just like Cygnus, Dragon and CST-100

[PB666]

49 minutes ago, CastleKSide said:

Is FH human-rated? I remember hearing it was able to launch D2 way back, but that was before a lot of the delays/redesigns

lol, human rated? Are you volunteering? Thats kind of a hard way of getting a ride in a Tesla. 

Of course its' not human rated. There is no rated crew vehicle and the launch pad does not have crew access or crew safety stuff.

I don't think there is a human rated vehicle that can be launched from the US, at least the whole package. Unless the Russians decide to launch a Soyuz from a boat in US waters.

 

[NSEP]

So Zuma is satellite destroyer? Thats the only thing i can think of beshides a resupply vessel of a small unmanned space station, and to be fair, it is sort of odd to have a top secret space station with no people to do stuff inside, so i doubt it is.

1 hour ago, CastleKSide said:

Is FH human-rated? I remember hearing it was able to launch D2 way back, but that was before a lot of the delays/redesigns

Not yet but it is probably going to be in the future if they really want to send rich people around the Moon.

Anyways, how does the D2 protect itself from radiation or is it going to jump over the Van Allen belts like Apollo did?

[tater]

45 minutes ago, PB666 said:

lol, human rated? Are you volunteering? Thats kind of a hard way of getting a ride in a Tesla. 

Of course its' not human rated. There is no rated crew vehicle and the launch pad does not have crew access or crew safety stuff.

I don't think there is a human rated vehicle that can be launched from the US, at least the whole package. Unless the Russians decide to launch a Soyuz from a boat in US waters.

Atlas is already man-rated.

F9 Block 5 will be the man-rated F9, which is why they need to launch them soon. They have to launch 5 of them before people. Odd, since SLS will fly with people on the very first "all up" flight (EM-2).