Posts: 52203 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-19-2024 11:18 AM
From Reuters' space reporter Joey Roulette (via X):
SpaceX's Gwynne Shotwell at the Satellite 2024 convetion says next Starship test flight coming "hopefully in about six weeks," and she doesn't think they're going to deploy Starlinks on that test — wants to "focus on getting reentry right."
NukeGuy Member
Posts: 118 From: Irvine, CA USA Registered: May 2014
posted 03-25-2024 11:59 AM
Was Starship deliberately under-fueled for this test or did it carry a mass simulator in the payload bay?
The reason I ask is that the propellant quantities on the graphic displayed by SpaceX showed very low levels at shutdown. One would expect this if it was carrying its designed payload mass. But I don’t recall hearing of the test containing a mass simulator and one was not obvious from the camera in the payload bay.
Admittedly, the graphics are misleading as the LOX and methane tanks are different sizes but presented on the same scale.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52203 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
Super Heavy booster for Flight 4 moved to the pad at Starbase.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52203 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-05-2024 04:35 PM
SpaceX Flight 3 highlights video
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52203 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-06-2024 08:40 PM
April 5 static fire of the Flight 4 Super Heavy booster:
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 52203 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-06-2024 08:46 PM
SpaceX video
The goal of SpaceX is to build the technologies necessary to make life multiplanetary. This is the first time in the 4-billion-year history of Earth that it's possible to realize that goal and protect the light of consciousness.
At Starbase on Thursday, April 4, SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk provided an update on the company's plans to send humanity to Mars, the best destination to begin making life multiplanetary.
Go to X for the full talk, which also includes the mechanics and challenges of traveling to Mars, along with what we're building today to enable sending around a million people and several million tonnes to the Martian surface in the years to come.
denali414 Member
Posts: 859 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 04-08-2024 07:27 AM
I find Musk more confusing by the year. The threat of nuking moon/Mars was bizarre.
Not once addresses the main problem of space radiation and solar flares that would impact any long flight to Mars or the impact on Mars to insulate the one million person "city" long term without an atmosphere to protect humans. Not even going into how you feed the large population. Sounds nice but still not viable.
Also the cost of shooting hundreds of rockets to Mars yearly to build this city, is beyond even Musk or any nations' wealth.
capoetc Member
Posts: 2365 From: McKinney TX (USA) Registered: Aug 2005
posted 04-08-2024 06:24 PM
quote:Originally posted by denali414: Also the cost of shooting hundreds of rockets to Mars yearly to build this city, is beyond even Musk or any nations' wealth.
It is perhaps a bit premature to dismiss the notion out of hand.
There are many things to learn before colonizing the moon or Mars, and one of them will be, "What raw materials are already there that we won't have to bring along?" There will certainly be some materials that will be usable once some smart engineering minds are applied to the problem and a proper assessment of what is actually there is completed. We have hardly scratched the surface of knowledge, particularly about the red planet.
denali414 Member
Posts: 859 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 04-09-2024 07:20 AM
Agree, we have barely scratched the surface of knowledge of Mars. Musk was talking within the next few years, not decades from now. Maybe I took it wrong,but he was saying this is possible now and in my opinion, not close to possible.
It is great to think big and have a vision, but constraints and reality are many times much different. That talk seemed much more science fiction than current reality.
issman1 Member
Posts: 1121 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
posted 04-09-2024 01:05 PM
Musk is now over 50, therefore must feel his mortality.
He said many times that he wants to die on Mars. But for that to happen every upcoming Starship test flight needs to be 100% successful.
posted 03-19-2024 11:18 AM
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