posted 05-13-2021 08:01 PM               

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, Starship serial number 15 (SN15) successfully completed SpaceX's fifth high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Texas. SN15 ascended, transitioned propellant, and reoriented itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent. The Raptor engines reignited to perform the landing flip maneuver before touching down for a nominal landing on the pad.

posted 05-13-2021 08:02 PM               

Starship Orbital First Flight FCC Exhibit

The Starship Orbital test flight will originate from Starbase, TX. The Booster stage will separate approximately 170 seconds into flight. The Booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 20 miles from the shore.

The Orbital Starship will continue on flying between the Florida Straits. It will achieve orbit until performing a powered, targeted landing approximately 100km (~62 miles) off the northwest coast of Kauai in a soft ocean landing.

Booster Stage Launch and Landing

Orbital Stage Launch

Orbital Stage Landing

Event Timelines

• Liftoff: T+0 seconds
  
• MECO: T+169
  
• Stage Separation: T+171
  
• SES: T+176
  
• Booster Touchdown: T+495
  
• SECO: T+521
  
• Ship Splashdown: T+5420

Objectives

SpaceX intends to collect as much data as possible during flight to quantify entry dynamics and better understand what the vehicle experiences in a flight regime that is extremely difficult to accurately predict or replicate computationally. This data will anchor any changes in vehicle design or CONOPs after the first flight and build better models for us to use in our internal simulations.

posted 06-02-2021 09:47 AM               

"The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity," the document [U.S. Air Force budget "justification book"] states.

Although this does not refer to Starship by name, this is the only vehicle under development in the world with this kind of capability. The Air Force does not intend to invest directly into the vehicle's development, the document says. However, it proposes to fund science and technology needed to interface with the Starship vehicle so that the Air Force might leverage its capabilities.

posted 06-04-2021 06:18 PM               

Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, said AFRL and the U.S Space Force will collaborate on the rocket cargo project. She said it could take several years of research and experimentation before rocket cargo can become operational. "This newest Vanguard has the support of the entire Department of the Air Force," Pringle said.

"We don't see SpaceX as being the only viable provider of this capability," he said, declining to name other companies. Spanjers suggested that any company developing lunar lander vehicles for NASA could adapt them so they could land in austere terrains on Earth and drop off cargo.

The vehicles would have to go into an orbital or a suborbital trajectory to bring the payload back down and land it, Spanjers said. "There are multiple companies that have that technological capability today, not just SpaceX."

posted 06-16-2021 10:29 AM               

SpaceX's security staff may have broken Texas laws against obstructing public roads and impersonating a public official — Class B misdemeanor and third-degree felony violations, respectively — Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz wrote in a letter to SpaceX, according to Mireles.

Saenz warned SpaceX that future violations could result in individual SpaceX employees or contractors being arrested as well as the company facing criminal prosecution, according to the letter.

posted 06-17-2021 01:19 PM               

SpaceX received a warning from a district attorney in Texas this week, warning that the company could be violating several state laws by shutting down public beaches for extended periods of time and using unlicensed security guards to ward people off public roads.

posted 07-01-2021 02:18 PM               

Super Heavy on road and 7th Tower segment added.

posted 07-19-2021 07:09 PM               

From Elon Musk (via Twitter):

Full test duration firing of 3 Raptors on Super Heavy Booster!

Depending on progress with Booster 4, we might try a 9 engine firing on Booster 3.

posted 07-31-2021 08:03 PM               

Starbase is moving at Warp 9.

posted 08-01-2021 10:05 PM               

Installing Starship booster engines for first orbital flight.

posted 08-02-2021 11:43 AM               

Raptors on Super Heavy.

posted 08-03-2021 12:33 PM               

Super Heavy Booster moving to orbital launch mount.

posted 08-04-2021 09:51 AM               

All six engines mounted to first orbital Starship.

posted 08-04-2021 05:16 PM               

Moving rocket to orbital launch pad.

posted 08-05-2021 01:47 PM               

Aiming to stack ship on booster today.

Update: Musk tweeted this afternoon (Aug. 5):

Winds are too high today. Looks like wind speed will be low enough to stack early tomorrow morning.

posted 08-06-2021 10:04 AM               

Starship Fully Stacked.

posted 08-06-2021 01:16 PM               

The orbital Starship requires thermal protection tiles (the black "wrapping") on one side due to reentry heating. The earlier hops didn't require the tiles, though some of the later tests did have sample tiles for evaluation.

Here is a video still showing the tile detail:

posted 10-09-2021 07:59 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Blackarrow:
I find it astounding that for the last two months not one comment has been made about the ongoing preparations by SpaceX to launch a rocket with twice the thrust of the Saturn V.

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posted 10-17-2021 10:09 PM               

If you are looking for more discussion about SpaceX's Starship development, I would point you to the Starship forum on NASA Spaceflight and the threads on /r/spacex on Reddit. Both forums are active with armchair and professional engineers commenting on everything that is seen on a handful of live webcams pointed at SpaceX's Boca Chica facilities.

posted 10-18-2021 11:27 AM               

SpaceX plans to execute its Starship/Super Heavy program over the next several years and may require a number of new or modified experimental permits or vehicle operator licenses issued from the FAA in order to execute the program. Thus, the FAA has drafted a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), which evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the activities associated with SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy program. The FAA is not licensing the entire Starship/Super Heavy program because SpaceX does not have the full details of all its planned operations at this time. The applicant, however, has provided the FAA with an initial mission profile that has been analyzed in this PEA.

posted 10-18-2021 09:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Blackarrow:
I suggest that it would actually be more productive...

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One issue with discussing this subject is that we don't know what unique problems they experience such as the issue of designing their thermal protection system around the moveable control surface joint, which we know is a design issue challenging SpaceX engineers. We can guess what may happen, but as can be seen in the above interview series, SpaceX tends to test ideas to see what does not work and go from there.

Then there is the landing system SpaceX is touting for the heavy-lift first stage with the mechanised structure, which may be a novel idea. Attenuating such a large mass by catching it moves the mass of a heavy-duty landing gear from the flight vehicle to the GSE, but as a stop-gap measure because for these systems to meet Musk's dream of rockets operating like passenger aircraft, they will have to be flexible about where they operate. I foresee most large cities won't want multiple such systems on their doorstep.

Most sites that cover the Boca Chica operations appear to be excited to see anything happen, and having such close access to the site, being able to leave remote cameras in the area, and make regular overflight of the site to photograph developments daily, feeds the public appetite for views that are generally restricted when it comes to NASA and military operations.