posted 08-05-2020 08:04 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by ManInSpace:
no other space program provides the quantity and quality of video coverage (usually live) that we get from SpaceX.

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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.

posted 09-03-2020 06:44 PM               

Starship SN6 flew a similar hop to SN5, but it was a much smoother and faster operation.

posted 09-04-2020 02:11 PM               

Turns out you can make anything fly haha

posted 09-04-2020 08:02 PM               

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.

posted 09-14-2020 08:39 AM               

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.

posted 10-02-2020 10:00 AM               

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.

posted 11-13-2020 08:22 AM               

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.

posted 11-24-2020 09:48 PM               

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.

posted 12-07-2020 01:43 PM               

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.

Out on the pad in South Texas.

posted 12-09-2020 06:00 PM               

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.

posted 12-09-2020 09:28 PM               

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!

posted 12-10-2020 10:25 AM            

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.

posted 12-10-2020 03:12 PM               

quote:

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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?"

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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:

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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.

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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.

posted 12-11-2020 03:53 PM               

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.

posted 12-23-2020 07:16 PM               

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.

posted 01-13-2021 02:18 PM               

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.

posted 01-16-2021 09:54 AM               

Two of the engines need slight repairs, so will be switched out.

posted 01-19-2021 03:47 PM               

The rigs are in the Port of Brownsville, near SpaceX’s Starship development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

The rigs have been renamed Deimos and Phobos, presumably in homage to the Martian moons.

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.

posted 01-29-2021 11:57 PM               

Starship SN9 and SN10.

posted 01-25-2021 04:33 PM               

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.

posted 01-30-2021 12:10 AM               

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."

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.

posted 01-30-2021 04:19 PM               

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.