3rd Starship Launch imminent

[sn1987a (Barry)]

Go Elon! Go SpaceX!

[astronobob (Bob)]

T - 2 minutes

[Startrek (Martin)]

Incredible test flight this morning

They almost nailed it with both booster and ship

IFT4 in a few months hopefully be the icing on the cake

On board 4K video is some of the best I’ve seen on any space flight , re entry views are insane.

https://www.spacex.com/launches/miss...rship-flight-3

Well done Space X. !!

[astronobob (Bob)]

Yeah, they're getting closer, I hope we see some 'possible' ground footage of the booster's landing burn and its demise.
The ships re-entry was awesome and looking forward to further flight updates over the coming days..

[Startrek (Martin)]

Space X advised they initiated a termination on the booster approx 500m above sea level , so I suppose it did return to earth without a landing burn

As far as the ship goes , they have a long way to go before they nail a re entry, this vehicle is enormous and requires precise control through the atmosphere at orbital velocity with heat shield tiles intact . I did see chunks of debris flying off just prior to see the plasma glow around the vehicle, maybe heat tiles , who knows ?

All in all, a phenomenal test flight with 4K Starlink video

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Standing a pencil on it's end with a high energy fire propellant under the end where it's going to sit. What could possibly go wrong?

Talk about adding to the already HUGE problem with space junk, the thing was peeling as it flew.
Not a fan of the so called "genius" or his projects.
Though it seems the thing got locked into a holding pattern at 65km (at 2500 kph), damn space traffic. I assume that's the point where it self destructed or they hit the kill switch?
I didn't watch the entire video and no sound.

[LonelySpoon (Neville)]

Originally Posted by Leo.G

Standing a pencil on it's end with a high energy fire propellant under the end where it's going to sit. What could possibly go wrong?

Talk about adding to the already HUGE problem with space junk, the thing was peeling as it flew.
Not a fan of the so called "genius" or his projects.
Though it seems the thing got locked into a holding pattern at 65km (at 2500 kph), damn space traffic. I assume that's the point where it self-destructed or they hit the kill switch?
I didn't watch the entire video and no sound.

Regarding the debris, the trajectory was sub orbital, all of that would have burnt up/come down, not contributed the very real space junk problem.

Apparently, the Starship wasn't 'destructed' but was broken up by re-entry.

It is a testament to the engineers and builders that it lasted a long as it did, coming in at the totally wrong angle, and delivering high quality video as it did!

Anyone (such as me) who was a kid during the early years of rocket launching knows that it sometimes took up to 10 launch attempts before being successful, so SpaceX is doing quite well in my books.

Cheers,

Neville
LSO

[Startrek (Martin)]

Further to Neville’s excellent comments, another important point to make is that the Starship program is not totally autonomous, it’s part of a bigger national effort both by government ( NASA ) and private industry to expand space technology and human space travel to the Moon , Mars and beyond. Both employ millions of people and develop new technologies along the way including areas in medicine , communications and a host of other industries.
It’s not about blowing up rockets and leaving space junk floating around which is not actually correct.
I’m not a fan of “Musk the person” but a big fan of “Musk the thinker and achiever”
I too was a 60’s Space Kid during Mercury , Gemini and Apollo to the Moon and the next 10 to 20 years will be even more exciting , something my kids and grandkids will experience just like I did 60 years ago.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Appears Flight 4 in 6-8 weeks , , Obviously nothing set in stone but better than 6 months , , , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V-1...hannel=TECHMAP

On the expectations of starship from here on, well, going out on a limb, it take a few more (3'ish) flight tests before landing burns over the water for either booster or ship to be qualified as successful,, and needs done before attempting a landing on something solid,,

[Startrek (Martin)]

Once they build the second launch tower and OLM , launches could occur on a monthly basis. Musk is anticipating daily launches in years to come which is inconceivable.
The FAA is their only hurdle , launch approvals especially for these early test flights have taken months due to corrective actions. Once the test flights achieve more success the FAA lead time for approval should reduce.
I think resolving the booster soft landing is much easier than resolving a controlled safe re entry of starship. This vehicle is 25% bigger than Shuttle and has virtually no aerodynamic stability ( except for tiny fins ) it relies on sophisticated micro control of attitude thrusters during the maximum heating phase of re entry.
If they nail re entry on ITF4 then this program will accelerate at a phenomenal rate.
My guess is a successful safe re entry on ITF5 or ITF6 ?

[Leo.G (Leo)]

One would think they'd have a wealth of knowledge to draw on from NASA themselves with both launch and controlled re-entry.