Starship IFT-4

Alain Fournier pounded on thar keyboard to tell us

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon as
early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for “portfolio of launches” rather than individual ones.
That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is planning six to
nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

Intriguing. Thanks for the link.

/dps

--
https://xkcd.com/2704

The Running Man

2024-03-20 06:58:37 UTC

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon
as early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for ?portfolio of launches? rather than individual
ones. That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is
planning six to nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

First they need to identify the issues they had on the last flight and rectify them. That alone could cost two months or more and I assume the FAA license will take at least that amount of time.

IMHO he roll control issue shouldn't have been there in any case.

Alain Fournier

2024-03-20 14:14:09 UTC

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon
as early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for ?portfolio of launches? rather than individual
ones. That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is
planning six to nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

First they need to identify the issues they had on the last flight and rectify them. That alone could cost two months or more and I assume the FAA license will take at least that amount of time.

The FAA is concerned about whether the launch is safe for the public.
Not about whether the rocket will be reusable. The boosters can impact
the ocean at high speed, that isn't a problem for the FAA, only for
SpaceX. The ship disintegrating over the Indian ocean is only slightly
more problematic. SpaceX only has to show that the next launch is not
likely to be worse than the previous one to get FAA approval.

That being said. Of course SpaceX would want to figure out the problems
and rectify them before the next launch. Gwynne Shotwell seems to think
that it can be done for a May launch. She likely knows better than you
and I.

Alain Fournier

Alain Fournier

2024-03-20 17:21:58 UTC

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon
as early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for ?portfolio of launches? rather than individual
ones. That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is
planning six to nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

First they need to identify the issues they had on the last flight and
rectify them. That alone could cost two months or more and I assume
the FAA license will take at least that amount of time.

The FAA is concerned about whether the launch is safe for the public.
Not about whether the rocket will be reusable. The boosters can impact
the ocean at high speed, that isn't a problem for the FAA, only for
SpaceX. The ship disintegrating over the Indian ocean is only slightly
more problematic. SpaceX only has to show that the next launch is not
likely to be worse than the previous one to get FAA approval.
That being said. Of course SpaceX would want to figure out the problems
and rectify them before the next launch. Gwynne Shotwell seems to think
that it can be done for a May launch. She likely knows better than you
and I.
Alain Fournier

Note that the above mentioned early May for IFT-4 was suggested by
Gwynne Shotwell. Shotwell time is not like Elon time, it matches much
more closely normal time.

Alain Fournier

Snidely

2024-04-06 10:22:40 UTC

Alain Fournier pounded on thar keyboard to tell us

Booster 11 static fired on April 5th. Appeared to be 33 engines for a
full duration of 6-8 seconds.

/dps

--
https://xkcd.com/2704

The Running Man

2024-04-07 11:04:26 UTC

Post by Snidely
Alain Fournier pounded on thar keyboard to tell us

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon as
early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for ?portfolio of launches? rather than individual ones.
That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is planning six to
nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

Booster 11 static fired on April 5th. Appeared to be 33 engines for a
full duration of 6-8 seconds.
/dps
--
https://xkcd.com/2704

Elon wants to attempt a catching of the Super Heavy on the fifth attempt. He's really pushing things now since NASA is breathing up his neck,

<https://spacenews.com/musk-outlines-plans-to-increase-starship-launch-rate-and-performance/>

Alain Fournier

2024-04-07 13:54:38 UTC

Post by Snidely
Alain Fournier pounded on thar keyboard to tell us

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon as
early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for ?portfolio of launches? rather than individual ones.
That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is planning six to
nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

Booster 11 static fired on April 5th. Appeared to be 33 engines for a
full duration of 6-8 seconds.
/dps
--
https://xkcd.com/2704

Elon wants to attempt a catching of the Super Heavy on the fifth attempt. He's really pushing things now since NASA is breathing up his neck,
<https://spacenews.com/musk-outlines-plans-to-increase-starship-launch-rate-and-performance/>

Thanks for the link. What Musk said is that he wants to attempt catching
Super Heavy on the first flight after it has splashed down in a
controlled manner at the right spot. He hopes this successful splash
down will be on the next flight, therefore, as you said, on fifth flight
he would attempt to catch Super Heavy.

Note that catching Super Heavy is not important for NASA. It only serves
to bring down costs, therefore increasing profits for SpaceX.

For those interested, in the link provided by The Running Man, Musk
talks a lot about becoming a multi-planet civilisation and eventually
multi-star system civilisation.

Alain Fournier

The Running Man

2024-04-07 17:35:07 UTC

Post by Snidely
Alain Fournier pounded on thar keyboard to tell us

Post by Alain Fournier
Here is an interesting article about future Starship flights.
spacenews.com/spacex-planning-rapid-turnaround-for-next-starship-flight/
"SpaceX hopes to conduct the next launch of its Starship vehicle as soon as
early May"
And
"However, Coleman said the agency wants to move to a process where the
license is valid for ?portfolio of launches? rather than individual ones.
That is particularly important, he added, because SpaceX is planning six to
nine more Starship launches this year."
That could accelerate Starship development.
Alain Fournier

Booster 11 static fired on April 5th. Appeared to be 33 engines for a
full duration of 6-8 seconds.
/dps
--
https://xkcd.com/2704

Elon wants to attempt a catching of the Super Heavy on the fifth attempt. He's really pushing things now since NASA is breathing up his neck,
<https://spacenews.com/musk-outlines-plans-to-increase-starship-launch-rate-and-performance/>

Thanks for the link. What Musk said is that he wants to attempt catching
Super Heavy on the first flight after it has splashed down in a
controlled manner at the right spot. He hopes this successful splash
down will be on the next flight, therefore, as you said, on fifth flight
he would attempt to catch Super Heavy.
Note that catching Super Heavy is not important for NASA. It only serves
to bring down costs, therefore increasing profits for SpaceX.
For those interested, in the link provided by The Running Man, Musk
talks a lot about becoming a multi-planet civilisation and eventually
multi-star system civilisation.
Alain Fournier

To me the catching of the Super Heavy could be a do or die proposition. If it fails SpaceX could be forced to rebuild the launch tower. And that could take months.

I didn't know he'd suggested doing this after the first successful suborbital flight. Seems risky to me.

Alain Fournier

2024-04-07 17:54:57 UTC

Post by The Running Man
To me the catching of the Super Heavy could be a do or die proposition. If it fails SpaceX could be forced to rebuild the launch tower. And that could take months.
I didn't know he'd suggested doing this after the first successful suborbital flight. Seems risky to me.

Yes it is risky. That's why SpaceX will wait until after they have hit
the ocean in a precise and controlled manner before risking a launch tower.

SpaceX plans on having several launch towers. Two in Boca Chica Texas,
two at Cape Canaveral, and later some on sea platforms. I suspect this
is because they want to be ready when an accident will happen.

Alain Fournier

Niklas Holsti

2024-04-07 19:04:41 UTC

Post by The Running Man
Elon wants to attempt a catching of the Super Heavy on the fifth
attempt. He's really pushing things now since NASA is breathing
up his neck,
<https://spacenews.com/musk-outlines-plans-to-increase-starship-launch-rate-and-performance/>

Thanks for the link. What Musk said is that he wants to attempt
catching Super Heavy on the first flight after it has splashed down
in a controlled manner at the right spot. He hopes this successful
splash down will be on the next flight, therefore, as you said, on
fifth flight he would attempt to catch Super Heavy.
Note that catching Super Heavy is not important for NASA. It only
serves to bring down costs, therefore increasing profits for
SpaceX.

To me the catching of the Super Heavy could be a do or die
proposition. If it fails SpaceX could be forced to rebuild the
launch tower. And that could take months.

The returning Super Heavy is mostly an empty shell, much lighter than
the propellant-filled launch stack, which the launch tower and launch
stand are designed to lift and support. It seems to me that the damage
that could be done by a botched catch is limited and not too difficult
to repair.

Perhaps the worst case would be a crash on the propellant farm with
perhaps also a methane-oxygen explosion.

Snidely

2024-04-08 00:02:01 UTC

Niklas Holsti suggested that ...

Thanks for the link. What Musk said is that he wants to attempt
catching Super Heavy on the first flight after it has splashed down
in a controlled manner at the right spot. He hopes this successful splash
down will be on the next flight, therefore, as you said, on fifth flight
he would attempt to catch Super Heavy.
Note that catching Super Heavy is not important for NASA. It only serves
to bring down costs, therefore increasing profits for SpaceX.

To me the catching of the Super Heavy could be a do or die proposition. If
it fails SpaceX could be forced to rebuild the launch tower. And that
could take months.

The returning Super Heavy is mostly an empty shell, much lighter than the
propellant-filled launch stack, which the launch tower and launch stand are
designed to lift and support. It seems to me that the damage that could be
done by a botched catch is limited and not too difficult to repair.
Perhaps the worst case would be a crash on the propellant farm with perhaps
also a methane-oxygen explosion.

Compare the size of a drone ship to the area around the launch pad.
Also note that Falcon 9 landings don't target the drone ship until
after a successful relight. There is plenty of sea near the launch
pad.

The soft water landings will confirm that Booster's guidance works as
expected. We already have seen Ships hit the mark, even though from a
low altitude. If a successful reentry has the ship in the right place
for the landing burn, than catch should be a piece of cake ... remember
Booster and Ship have some hover time, unlike the F9.

/dps

--
"First thing in the morning, before I have coffee, I read the obits, If
I'm not in it, I'll have breakfast." -- Carl Reiner, to CBS News in
2015.

Snidely

2024-04-09 17:51:04 UTC

Post by Snidely
Niklas Holsti suggested that ...