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Old 12-10-2024, 09:55 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Starship ITF5 imminent

Over the past couple of months Space X have been trying to satisfy the FAA’s requirements to gain a launch licence for their next integrated test flight of Starship , ITF5 which will be the most ambitious test flight to date.
This next test flight will see Space X attempt to catch the returning booster in gigantic chopsticks on the Mechazilla tower. If successful this IMO will be one of the greatest feats of space flight engineering since landing on the moon in 1969.
Space X have a set of strict Go No Go parameters which must be met before committing the descending booster to a “catch” and with less than a minute or two to decide , otherwise the booster may fall aimlessly to crash into the Mechazilla tower or surrounding area which would be catastrophic.

Starship itself will complete a planned sub orbital flight ( at near orbital velocity) , a controlled re entry and soft landing in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia , similar to ITF4.

At this stage ITF5 is scheduled for the 13th October , time TBC ( local ) pending FAA approval of launch licence. After reading some recent news items on this proposed flight , NASA is supposedly putting pressure on the FAA to get their act together and approve the licence.

Can’t wait to see this flight and attempt something that has never been done before in the history of space flight.

Good luck Space X , your gonna need it !
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Old 13-10-2024, 07:22 AM
Startrek (Martin)
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FAA has issued a launch licence for flight 5
Launch window of 35mins is scheduled for Sunday 13th October commencing at 10.30pm Australian eastern daylight saving time
No follow up launch dates and times have been issued as yet

Launch can be viewed on X and a host of YouTube channels

Can’t wait to witness history
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Old 13-10-2024, 08:13 AM
PhilTas (Phil)
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Thank you for the heads up Martin.

Will watch the launch tonight.

Best of luck to them.....
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Old 13-10-2024, 09:10 PM
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astronobob (Bob)
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Agree, Thnx Martin, seen something on Ellie-in-space other day but thought maybe maybe not ?

X just place their Flight 5 page up, hopefully see some action 10pm'ish,

https://www.spacex.com/launches/miss...rship-flight-5
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Old 13-10-2024, 10:38 PM
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astronobob (Bob)
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Biggest adrenaline rush ever,,
Holy Smackin Canola

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Old 13-10-2024, 10:56 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Oh my goodness me , they caught the booster
This is insane , it was on the pad 10mins earlier launching Starship with 17.5 million pounds of thrust.
The remainder of the test flight , Starship re entry and soft landing will put the icing on the cake.
This is history !!
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Old 14-10-2024, 08:33 AM
Startrek (Martin)
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Starship landed precisely on target in the Indian Ocean with only some minor “burn through” on the edge of aft flap due to atmospheric re entry heating. This will be resolved for next test flight
Mission objectives accomplished
ITF6 should be only a few months away.
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Old 14-10-2024, 11:58 AM
Leo.G (Leo)
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I watched the video of the booster catch. It appeared as if there was a malfunction in the compartment just above the booster flame and a fire broke out, in the video someone mentioned a fuel coupling but I was waiting for the entire thing to go KA-BOOM (unless that's their camp stove).
Good on them, that's quite the accomplishment!
I NEVER say "good on Elon", he's just the money but I will say the team have done an impressive job.
If we didn't currently have a big thunderstorm under way locally (I can't believe someone got it wrong, it was due yesterday during the Repco 1000 at Bathurst (statistically speaking of course)) I'd run outside with an old fireworks rocket I may or may not have laying around and a butterfly net. LOL (Yes, I'm being facetious). I don't think I still have any illegal fireworks, I think my ex kept the last lot I bought in Canberra in 2000.



I must admit with the guidance it looked like they were going to miss for a short time, I'd have expected a slightly more controlled grab but it wouldn't take much of a wind to make it harder than picking fly excrement from pepper while wearing boxing gloves.


It took less heat to bring down the twin towers, I was happy for them the rocket propulsion exhaust didn't weaken the tower and have it collapse when the propulsion blast was directed at the tower. I've cut thicker steel with less heat with an oxy/acetylene torch and plasma cutter over the years.
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Old 14-10-2024, 01:06 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leo.G View Post
I watched the video of the booster catch. It appeared as if there was a malfunction in the compartment just above the booster flame and a fire broke out, in the video someone mentioned a fuel coupling but I was waiting for the entire thing to go KA-BOOM (unless that's their camp stove).
Good on them, that's quite the accomplishment!
I NEVER say "good on Elon", he's just the money but I will say the team have done an impressive job.
If we didn't currently have a big thunderstorm under way locally (I can't believe someone got it wrong, it was due yesterday during the Repco 1000 at Bathurst (statistically speaking of course)) I'd run outside with an old fireworks rocket I may or may not have laying around and a butterfly net. LOL (Yes, I'm being facetious). I don't think I still have any illegal fireworks, I think my ex kept the last lot I bought in Canberra in 2000.



I must admit with the guidance it looked like they were going to miss for a short time, I'd have expected a slightly more controlled grab but it wouldn't take much of a wind to make it harder than picking fly excrement from pepper while wearing boxing gloves.


It took less heat to bring down the twin towers, I was happy for them the rocket propulsion exhaust didn't weaken the tower and have it collapse when the propulsion blast was directed at the tower. I've cut thicker steel with less heat with an oxy/acetylene torch and plasma cutter over the years.
Hi Leo,
Thanks
I’d say there’s too much mass and energy for a gust of wind to push a descending skyscraper to be pushed off target, the engineering to precisely catch it is simply mind boggling.
Ask Elon any engineering or technical question about any component of Starship and he’ll give you an accurate answer , he’s not just the money, he’s the chief engineer of the Starship program, it’s creator and brain child.He is steering the ship alongside Gwynne and his incredible team at Space X.

He may stutter through his conversations but he’s a super intelligent person. I don’t agree with everything he says and does but I’m super excited about the Starship program in-fact just as excited as I was during the Apollo program over 50 years ago.
At least there’s something positive in the world amongst all the doom and gloom , the goal of returning to the Moon and eventually Mars.

Cheers
Martin
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Old 14-10-2024, 01:23 PM
Leo.G (Leo)
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Sadly Martin I don't think we'll be around for the Mars missions but yes, it would be nice to see us back on the moon.
Unless someone comes up with teleportation, I think I've been waiting for that for too long now (I loved the system in Earth: Final Conflict with a then stunning Kari Matchette playing a pilot).

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Old 14-10-2024, 07:57 PM
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It is an amazing accomplishment, many people, minds, time money etc, but when looked at from the physical side, sheeze what is the Risk-Factor if something goes wrong, I dont care how smart, powerful computation, Safety material and regulatory construction protocol, FAA etc etc etc is,, Something catastrophic one would think is eventually inevitable,,,

Considering a 70Meter tall 10Meter Diam booster hurtling down toward a friggen landing area that has massive amounts a fuel storage tanks (How full is this Tank Farm anyway after filling the booster and ship, 10% 25% or 50% using half for one Launch ?) what happens if the Raptor re-ignition fails, if two re-ignite or only one - yep excitement guaranteed.
You thought the Launch when all the Concrete from the Pad went skyward for hundreds of meters was something,
its just an insane risk, dont get me wrong, full credit for taking that risk necessary for the StarShip Programm, damn Gutsiest achievement by Mankind this century

Oh, maybe another ' smaller' water deluge system protecting the Tower and vital components during the Catch and another swiveling fire hose to aim up into the engine bay to put out any continuing hazardous flame offs..

Have to say when being caught i thought the booster was too fast and was going to hit, came dam close actually amazing
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Old 14-10-2024, 08:31 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Originally Posted by Leo.G View Post
Sadly Martin I don't think we'll be around for the Mars missions but yes, it would be nice to see us back on the moon.
Unless someone comes up with teleportation, I think I've been waiting for that for too long now (I loved the system in Earth: Final Conflict with a then stunning Kari Matchette playing a pilot).

Geez I hope to be around for at least an unmanned Starship mission to Mars before 2030 and hopefully a manned orbital mission by 2035 followed by a landing by 2040 or thereafter.
Starship has only been around for 18 months since IFT1 , a tiny amount of time but enormous progress. They just have sort out tanker re fuelling and we are well on our way to the red planet sooner than we think.
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Old 14-10-2024, 08:52 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Originally Posted by astronobob View Post
It is an amazing accomplishment, many people, minds, time money etc, but when looked at from the physical side, sheeze what is the Risk-Factor if something goes wrong, I dont care how smart, powerful computation, Safety material and regulatory construction protocol, FAA etc etc etc is,, Something catastrophic one would think is eventually inevitable,,,

Considering a 70Meter tall 10Meter Diam booster hurtling down toward a friggen landing area that has massive amounts a fuel storage tanks (How full is this Tank Farm anyway after filling the booster and ship, 10% 25% or 50% using half for one Launch ?) what happens if the Raptor re-ignition fails, if two re-ignite or only one - yep excitement guaranteed.
You thought the Launch when all the Concrete from the Pad went skyward for hundreds of meters was something,
its just an insane risk, dont get me wrong, full credit for taking that risk necessary for the StarShip Programm, damn Gutsiest achievement by Mankind this century

Oh, maybe another ' smaller' water deluge system protecting the Tower and vital components during the Catch and another swiveling fire hose to aim up into the engine bay to put out any continuing hazardous flame offs..

Have to say when being caught i thought the booster was too fast and was going to hit, came dam close actually amazing
Space flight is risky business and failure is part of accomplishing great things.
I don’t think they would have committed to a catch if the risk elements were beyond their extremely tight Go No Go parameters.
If a raptor failed or the guidance went into gimbal lock and wiped out the tower , launch pad and surrounding area , they would just rebuild it and start all over again ( no human life was at risk )
It’s when human life is at risk that error must be 100% mitigated or as close to perfection that humans can make it.
The catch attempt was worth the risk for success
As far as the catch goes , seeing the booster hurtling down to earth at phenomenal speeds I was holding my breath, but once the booster slowed down to about 100m above the tower with really precise movements , I knew in myself they’re going to bloody nail this catch , and they did.
Wow what a day in history for space flight and aeronautics.
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Old 15-10-2024, 03:43 PM
MattB_77 (Matt)
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In Awe

Amazing to see the level of control on the booster as it descended towards the tower. Curious to know whether it was under manual remote control or some sort of autopilot AI control?
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Old 15-10-2024, 05:23 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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Amazing to see the level of control on the booster as it descended towards the tower. Curious to know whether it was under manual remote control or some sort of autopilot AI control?
As far as I know Starship is similar to Falcon 9 , both are autonomous and are pre programmed before flight. Although I assume flight controllers have an override capability to abort if the internal abort mode fails.
Starship is an extremely complex machine but it’s still pre programmed. When astronauts eventually ride this monster in a couple of years no one knows yet as to the level of protocol of machine / pilot interaction and operation.
It may be similar to Dragon but Starship is a different beast with different capabilities for interplanetary missions.
Time will tell ……
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Old 16-10-2024, 03:56 PM
MattB_77 (Matt)
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Europa Clipper

Excited to see the fruits of all this testing in the next few years.
Also, the Europa Clipper launch must be a worth a mention? Wish we didn't have to wait 6 years to see the results!
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Old 16-10-2024, 05:57 PM
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Pretty cool, wish I was there to see it!
A YouTube link from the crowd is pretty awesome 😆
https://youtu.be/Vzyaud250Xo?si=csPhn3M4XpJtmDdY
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