** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **
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Soldato
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Yeah its been a huge downgrade in footage quality since SpaceX moved to Twitter. A big part of what made SpaceX so interesting was the fantastic video they supplied which was pretty much the exact opposite of every other launch company. No one is paying for a subscription to Twitter to watch 4k footage, they certainly aren't doing it for 1080 footage. He should move the main feed back to YT and maybe offer some behind the scenes stuff for Twitter subscribers.
Caporegime
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It is funny as how time passes the Soviets were lambasted for their trial and error way of doing things with the N1 but everyone applauding this now as good business.
Soldato
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I guess the difference is SpaceX have become ridiculously successful through their philosophy to the point they lift more mass to orbit than the rest of World combined by several multiples and have done for several years.
The N1 had its first launch 60 years ago. The people who were lambasting the N1 probably aren't even alive to witness Starship.
Lets be honest, the people who "hate" the trial and error method aren't singing praises to blue origin for taking the slow steady methodical approach? (Probably because they have nothing to praise since it's all under wraps)
Caporegime
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I never said hate. I applaud the Soviets for going that way as they obviously couldn't keep up with US at that time financially. It is just funny how powerful media can be in instilling opinions.
Soldato
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It was a very different time though. The Soviets were amazing in their rocket and especially their rocket engine design but the N1 was probably just biting off more than anyone could chew at that time. Even with todays alloys, computer modelling and computer control its taken a huge amount of money and innovation to make this work.
There is an argument for Starship market wise. If they can make it work and full reusable then the price to orbit will drop a fair bit. Though is there really enough demand for such a heavy lift craft? Once Starlink constellation is up it will only need to be periodically updated as the satellites end their working lives and deorbit.
Launch from Space X drone view
Btw, Scott Manley is saying after reviewing the public telemetry data, the booster experienced rapid de-acceleration as soon as the hot staging started, much more than you see on booster separation of other SpaceX rockets and he believes the de-acceleration was enough to create negative G load on the fuel tanks resulting in fuel coming up from the floor of the tanks - perhaps that had some impact in the plumbing issues that led to the loss of engines at booster reignition. Perhaps they need to keep more engines on the booster up during hot staging.
Btw, Scott Manley is saying after reviewing the public telemetry data, the booster experienced rapid de-acceleration as soon as the hot staging started, much more than you see on booster separation of other SpaceX rockets and he believes the de-acceleration was enough to create negative G load on the fuel tanks resulting in fuel coming up from the floor of the tanks - perhaps that had some impact in the plumbing issues that led to the loss of engines at booster reignition. Perhaps they need to keep more engines on the booster up during hot staging.
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What a glorious sight that was to see all 33 burning nominally, no gaps, no hiccups in the initial burn phase. Just pure unadulterated power!!! Sill unsure on the hot stage separation. It was pretty spectacular, but seems like a lot of force and shock to put on the booster that will eventually be recovered.. But hey... I'm no rocket scientist. There are people with much greater knowledge, qualifications and pay scale that think this is the way to go. Just gotta trust the engineers and scientists on this one.
I'm not even sad that the starship didnt make it full phase for this launch. It was spectacular and to see what it did achieve and with Stage 0 still intact. It makes Starship feel that much closer to being a viable reality. It might take a few years. However it wont be long until Starship launches are as regular and mundane as the Falcon launches. Today was another milestone in the future of humankind.
I'm not even sad that the starship didnt make it full phase for this launch. It was spectacular and to see what it did achieve and with Stage 0 still intact. It makes Starship feel that much closer to being a viable reality. It might take a few years. However it wont be long until Starship launches are as regular and mundane as the Falcon launches. Today was another milestone in the future of humankind.
Caporegime
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Iss style holiday homes in space?
Soldato
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I get that for lifting the hardware into LEO it would be amazing. My problem with getting on board a Starship would be the complete lack of a in flight abort system. At least with Falcon 9 or any other human launch system if something goes wrong with the rocket you can be powered away in the capsule in an instant. If something goes wrong with the booster or Starship there is no escape, you are toast.
I'm glad they have built it, its incredible and maybe SpaceX feels a market will be created now there is such a vehicle, they might be right.
Soldato
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I believe that isn't Starship but a satellite burning up. Would make sense as Starship would be in lots of pieces from the FTS and wouldn't look like that video.
Hot staging from spacex tracking cam
Those images are amazing.
Soldato
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Scott Manley video out. Booster speed was dropping at and after staging so slosh would make sense.
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Good info from Scott. The 3 centre engines never turned off on the booster during hot staging so you can't blame them for any reignition issues and yet after the booster flip one of the center engines immediately dies. Its 100% a problem with the plumbing and fuel supply
Also the videos and telemetry seemed to indicate the reason for the 2nd stage failure was an oxygen leak, either the flight termination trigger because the rocket ran out of fuel before reaching it's destination or the leak caused a fire and it exploded. The videos also showed tiles falling off the 2nd stage so it would have burned up trying to come down again anyway
Either way there is a lot of stuff for SpaceX still to fix. We might not get a clean ocean landing for the full rocket until around attempt 5
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Soldato
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The forces associated with water hammer are pretty significant so very plausible about it wrecking the plumbing.
Soldato
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Yeah I can see them landing the booster gently in the sea at the next attempt. Getting Starship back through re-entry and a soft touch down could take another 2 or 3 attempts. That stainless will hold up far better than the aluminium of the Shuttle did if it loses a tile but I can't see it holding out, especially if it is in a high heating area.
BBC World Service - The Climate Question - Is space travel a problem for the climate?
Space launches are on the rise, but concerns are growing about their environmental impact.
A topic that personally annoys me a bit as a lot of people have very short sighted attitudes to it, not to say we should be reckless but space can answer a lot of the problems on this planet including climate, if that is what we aim for in the longer run with developments in our ability to utilise space, the short term damage may, should even, be out-weighed by the long term benefits.