Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-05-2020 05:42 PM
SpaceX photos and video stills
oly Member
Posts: 1484 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 08-05-2020 08:04 PM
quote:Originally posted by ManInSpace: no other space program provides the quantity and quality of video coverage (usually live) that we get from SpaceX.
I also applaud SpaceX for the coverage they provide, some of the video is astounding and goes a long way towards connecting the public and getting them excited about spaceflight.
Not all of the images and video come directly from SpaceX, there are also a dedicated group of enthusiasts who provide some amazing material as well. I also applaud these folks for their efforts.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5403 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-06-2020 11:08 AM
This tech should also be a huge boon to the transportable grain silo industry.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-03-2020 01:01 PM
SpaceX conducted a successful hop with its SN6 Starship prototype today (Sep. 3).
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5403 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-03-2020 04:10 PM
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-03-2020 06:44 PM
From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Starship SN6 flew a similar hop to SN5, but it was a much smoother and faster operation.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-04-2020 02:11 PM
From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Turns out you can make anything fly haha
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-04-2020 08:02 PM
From SpaceX (via Twitter):
The first Raptor Vacuum engine (RVac) for Starship has shipped from SpaceX’s rocket factory in Hawthorne, California to our development facility in McGregor, Texas.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5403 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
SN8 (unlike its predecessors) will also be fitted with flaps to assist with steering and a nosecone, which will be used in the future to hold cargo or people. The addition of both, Musk notes, will give the rocket a look much like the final design. The plan also calls for turning off the three engines during the initial stage of a descent and controlled landing — the rocket will perform a belly flop routine to slow its descent for several minutes and then the engines will be restarted, allowing the rocket to land in an upright position.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-02-2020 10:00 AM
From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Starship update coming in about 3 weeks. The design has coalesced. What is presented will actually be what flies to orbit as V1.0 with almost no changes.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-20-2020 01:12 PM
SpaceX performed a static fire test with Starship SN8, which is the first prototype with three Raptor engines installed.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1345 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 10-24-2020 06:26 PM
With the nosecone attached, will SN8 be the same size as the Starship vehicles that will travel to the Moon and Mars (excluding the Super Heavy first stage launch booster)?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-24-2020 08:01 PM
Basically, yes, though SpaceX has not shared many details about how the NASA HLS variant will differ from the orbital/Mars version.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-13-2020 08:22 AM
SpaceX conducted its third static fire with the SN8 prototype on Thursday (Nov. 12), but ran into problems. From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
We lost vehicle pneumatics. Reason unknown at present. Liquid oxygen header tank pressure is rising. Hopefully triggers burst disk to relieve pressure, otherwise it's going to pop the cork.
Burst disk worked, so vehicle appears to be ok. We'll have to swap out at least one of the engines.
Maybe melted an engine preburner or fuel hot gas manifold. Whatever it is caused pneumatics loss. We need to design out this problem.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-24-2020 09:48 PM
From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Good Starship SN8 static fire! Aiming for first 15km / ~50k ft altitude flight next week. Goals are to test three engine ascent, body flaps, transition from main to header tanks and landing flip.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-07-2020 01:43 PM
SpaceX video
As early as Tuesday, December 8, the SpaceX team will make the first attempt of a high-altitude suborbital flight test of Starship serial number 8 (SN8) from our site in Cameron County, Texas. The schedule is dynamic and likely to change, as is the case with all development testing.
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-08-2020 04:41 PM
At T-1.3 seconds during the first attempt on Tuesday (Dec. 8), an abort was initiated due to an issue detected with the Raptor engines. Per SpaceX, "standing down for the day."
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-09-2020 02:24 PM
SpaceX live video
thisismills Member
Posts: 570 From: Michigan Registered: Mar 2012
posted 12-09-2020 05:10 PM
Fantastic test!! This was wonderful to watch, especially with the provided on-board camera angles from SpaceX. Excited to see future flights.
p51 Member
Posts: 1785 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 12-09-2020 06:00 PM
I sure hope to not see more like the ending of that one!
Looks like at the end, one engine never lit, the other went out and the third was having some type of issues when old pilots describe as, "they ran out of air" and met the ground too fast.
Kaboom.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-09-2020 06:14 PM
According to Elon Musk (on Twitter), the engines performed exactly as planned ("Yeah, engines did great!") and the landing failed due to low fuel header tank pressure during the landing burn, "causing touchdown velocity to be high and RUD [Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly]."
oly Member
Posts: 1484 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 12-09-2020 07:33 PM
A far as the first flight of a new system using new flight profiles and techniques, SpaceX exceeded the expectations of many during this test. The system corrected for engine out events and the transitions from vertical to horizontal, and back again went as previously described. (The vehicle looked to be far more stable in freefall than the Boeing CST-100 capsule used for parachute testing a few days ago.)
Onboard images were a great gift from SpaceX, and getting the vehicle back to the landing site was a bonus. Well done SpaceX.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-09-2020 08:23 PM
Musk seems to be saying that the engine cutoffs were to plan and were not engine out events.
Mike Dixon Member
Posts: 1625 From: Kew, Victoria, Australia Registered: May 2003
posted 12-09-2020 08:49 PM
Cause for pause?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-09-2020 09:28 PM
SpaceX's post-flight statement says the company is marching on:
On Wednesday, December 9, Starship serial number 8 (SN8) lifted off from our Cameron County launch pad and successfully ascended, transitioned propellant, and performed its landing flip maneuver with precise flap control to reach its landing point. Low pressure in the fuel header tank during the landing burn led to high touchdown velocity resulting in a hard (and exciting!) landing.
Thank you to all the locals supporting our efforts in Cameron County and beyond. Congratulations to the entire Starship and SpaceX teams on today's test! Serial number 9 (SN9) is up next – Mars, here we come!
issman1 Member
Posts: 1143 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
posted 12-10-2020 03:00 AM
Others might pause but Musk got this far and must go on.
328KF Member
Posts: 1391 From: Registered: Apr 2008
posted 12-10-2020 10:25 AM
In retrospect, I think it's interesting to note that we've come to change our expectations when watching SpaceX perform these tests. I KNEW the rocket was going to explode. I was saying it all during the pre-launch countdown. I even said to my daughter, "Hey do you want to watch this rocket blow up with me?" 😂
Expecting a test vehicle to successfully perform all of the things SpaceX set out to have it do on the first try seemed impossible, and it was. The only question in my mind was at what point was it going to fail, and how much could they learn in the process? I will say that I was surprised it flew as long as it did, and once it pivoted upright, I thought they had it made. Vertically landing rockets was familiar territory for SpaceX. But it was not to be.
We were laughing and cheering the whole time, and even when it hit hard and exploded, it was like watching your baseball team robbed of a home run in a game when they were already up 9-2.
Musk is going to be back with SN-9, and SN-10 in no time, and if those are lost, he'll just build more. It is really fun to watch knowing that. I wonder how that thing is going to do re-entering supersonically?
denali414 Member
Posts: 866 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 12-10-2020 12:27 PM
I like that Musk put a "42" on one of the engines. So he did have the answer.
thisismills Member
Posts: 570 From: Michigan Registered: Mar 2012
posted 12-10-2020 03:12 PM
quote:Originally posted by 328KF: I KNEW the rocket was going to explode. I was saying it all during the pre-launch countdown. I even said to my daughter, "Hey do you want to watch this rocket blow up with me?"
My pre-flight thoughts exactly. I called my family in and said, almost the same thing: "hey, want to watch a cool explosion?" My four-year-old was pumped up.
quote:Originally posted by 328KF: The only question in my mind was at what point was it going to fail, and how much could they learn in the process? I will say that I was surprised it flew as long as it did, and once it pivoted upright, I thought they had it made.
Same here, when I saw that the landing legs didn't deploy combined with the green-ish plume coming out of the last raptor, I knew it was toast and said "coming in hot, way too fast!" and then the triumphant kaboom! I then thought, "wow, that sure is a lot of FOD to spread around your launch site, have fun picking all that up."
The whole experience made me feel like I was back watching the newsreel footage of tests from the 50's and 60's. Test and learn. I'm grateful that we get to experience an event like this, live with cameras on the rocket itself. A real treat.
I was impressed seeing that the one raptor engine "42" fired continuously for almost 5 minutes from launch to start of belly-flop.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5403 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-11-2020 03:53 PM
SN9 stand has collapsed.
12.11.2020 Captured from our Sentinel Cam this morning at 9:07 AM local time Starship SN9 suffered a mishap and tipped over and rested against the north wall of the high bay at SpaceX Boca Chica Shipyard. Speculation indicates that there may have been a stand collapse that was the cause.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 12-23-2020 07:16 PM
SpaceX video
On December 9, 2020, Starship serial number 8 (SN8) completed a high-altitude flight test as it successfully ascended, transitioned propellant, and demonstrated a first-of-its-kind controlled aerodynamic descent and landing flip maneuver – which will enable landing where prepared surfaces or runways do not exist, including the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-06-2021 07:57 PM
SpaceX conducted a static fire test with its Starship SN9 prototype today (Jan. 6), ahead of an upcoming high-altitude hop.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-13-2021 02:18 PM
SpaceX's Starship SN9 is several steps closer to a test flight after a series of static fires today (Jan. 13). From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Today at SpaceX is about practicing Starship engine starts. Ship is held down by massive pins while engines are fired. Two starts completed, about to try a third.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-16-2021 09:54 AM
The SN9 flight has been delayed. From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Two of the engines need slight repairs, so will be switched out.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-19-2021 03:47 PM
SpaceX bought two deepwater oil rigs last year and is converting them into floating launchpads for Starship, CNBC reports.
The rigs are in the Port of Brownsville, near SpaceX’s Starship development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Public records show that Valaris’ “ultra-deepwater semi-submersible” oil rigs 8500 and 8501 were sold for $3.5 million each. Valaris, headquartered in Houston, Texas, and the world’s largest owner of offshore oil rigs, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August as it sought to lighten a heavy debt load.
The pair of rigs was purchased in July 2020 by limited liability corporation Lone Star Mineral Development, according to public records. Lone Star Mineral Development was incorporated in June 2020 and registered in the name of SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-22-2021 12:55 PM
SpaceX conducted a hot fire test with SN9 on Friday (Jan. 22). Photo from Elon Musk, via Twitter:
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-29-2021 11:57 PM
From Elon Musk (via Twitter):
Starship SN9 and SN10.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5403 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-25-2021 04:33 PM
SpaceX intends to drill wells close to the company's Boca Chica launchpad, it was revealed during a hearing before the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state's energy regulator.
Production has yet to start because of a legal dispute between the SpaceX subsidiary Lone Star Mineral Development and another energy company. Tim George, an attorney representing Lone Star, said at the hearing that SpaceX plans to use the methane it extracts from the ground "in connection with their rocket facility operations."
While it's unclear what exactly the gas would be used for, SpaceX plans to utilize super-chilled liquid methane and liquid oxygen as fuel for its Raptor engines.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 53426 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 01-30-2021 12:10 AM
On Thursday and Friday (Jan. 28 and 29), SpaceX prepared to launch its SN9 Starship on a high-altitude hop. Roads were closed and area residents were evacuated from their homes, but ultimately nothing happened because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not give its final approval to launch, Ars Technica reports.
SpaceX, which officially said it was targeting a launch attempt on Thursday, has not publicly commented on what happened. Nor has the FAA provided specifics on what transpired other than offering a generic statement: "We will continue working with SpaceX to resolve outstanding safety issues before we approve the next test flight."
According to The Verge, the delay is because SpaceX violated the launch license it was issued for the previous test of the SN8 prototype in December.
SpaceX's first high-altitude test flight of its Starship rocket, which launched successfully but exploded in a botched landing attempt in December, violated the terms of its Federal Aviation Administration test license, according to two people familiar with the incident. Both the landing explosion and license violation prompted a formal investigation by the FAA...
The so-called mishap investigation was opened that week, focusing not only on the explosive landing but on SpaceX's refusal to stick to the terms of what the FAA authorized, the two people said. It was unclear what part of the test flight violated the FAA license, and an FAA spokesman declined to specify in a statement to The Verge.
SkyMan1958 Member
Posts: 1399 From: CA. Registered: Jan 2011
posted 01-30-2021 04:19 PM
If SpaceX violated the terms of it's FAA agreement, which I assume was a pre-registered flight profile, then it's good for the FAA to pull on SpaceX's leash for a bit. After all the FAA is responsible for people's lives in both the air and the underlying ground track.
On the other hand, the FAA complaining about an explosion at the end of the flight sounds very ticky, tacky to me. I can't imagine that SpaceX wouldn't point out that it was a test flight with a high likelihood of a RUD, and the FAA wouldn't know that.
So, if it's a deviation from the flight profile that's one thing, if it's about the explosion that's another. I might point out that a RUD during the scheduled flight profile, should also be acceptable as it was a test flight and RUDs are a reasonable possibility.