• Starship IFT-5 tomorrow

    From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to All on Sat Oct 12 20:34:04 2024
    https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/faa-approves-starship-ift-5-test-flight-tomorrow/

    SpaceX is supposed to launch tomorrow morning at 7 AM Central Time. But
    there is a catch. Or at least we hope the "chopsticks" will work and
    there will be one.


    Alain Fournier

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  • From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to Alain Fournier on Sun Oct 13 08:33:00 2024
    On 2024-10-12 8:34 p.m., Alain Fournier wrote:

    https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/faa-approves-starship-ift-5-test- flight-tomorrow/

    SpaceX is supposed to launch tomorrow morning at 7 AM Central Time. But
    there is a catch. Or at least we hope the "chopsticks" will work and
    there will be one.


    Wow, what a catch that was!


    Alain Fournier

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  • From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to Alain Fournier on Sun Oct 13 09:32:55 2024
    On 2024-10-13 8:33 a.m., Alain Fournier wrote:
    On 2024-10-12 8:34 p.m., Alain Fournier wrote:

    https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/faa-approves-starship-ift-5-test-
    flight-tomorrow/

    SpaceX is supposed to launch tomorrow morning at 7 AM Central Time.
    But there is a catch. Or at least we hope the "chopsticks" will work
    and there will be one.


    Wow, what a catch that was!

    Nice splash down.


    Alain Fournier

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  • From The Running Man@21:1/5 to alain245@videotron.ca on Sun Oct 13 15:42:24 2024
    On 13/10/2024 02:34 Alain Fournier <alain245@videotron.ca> wrote:

    https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/faa-approves-starship-ift-5-test-flight-tomorrow/

    SpaceX is supposed to launch tomorrow morning at 7 AM Central Time. But
    there is a catch. Or at least we hope the "chopsticks" will work and
    there will be one.


    Alain Fournier

    .

    They reached some more milestones but they still aren't there yet.

    The landing didn't seem to go entirely to plan and there was still some burn-through on the flap hinges.

    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things up once they've had a successful flight.

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  • From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to The Running Man on Sun Oct 13 12:51:11 2024
    On 2024-10-13 11:42 a.m., The Running Man wrote:
    On 13/10/2024 02:34 Alain Fournier <alain245@videotron.ca> wrote:

    https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/faa-approves-starship-ift-5-test-flight-tomorrow/

    SpaceX is supposed to launch tomorrow morning at 7 AM Central Time. But
    there is a catch. Or at least we hope the "chopsticks" will work and
    there will be one.


    Alain Fournier


    They reached some more milestones but they still aren't there yet.

    The landing didn't seem to go entirely to plan and there was still some burn-through on the flap hinges.

    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things up once they've had a successful flight.

    I agree. But on the other hand, if this was an ordinary launch company
    both stages would have been burnt up and completely destroyed and they
    would have called it a success. So yes, they still have a lot of testing
    to do, but I think that testing will soon be done while launching
    satellites. It's easier to pay for a testing program when the money
    comes from customers.


    Alain Fournier

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  • From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to Snidely on Tue Oct 15 20:08:20 2024
    On 2024-10-15 4:28 p.m., Snidely wrote:
    Snidely suggested that ...
    Alain Fournier in between]
    On 2024-10-13 11:42 a.m., The Running Man wrote:

    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things
    up once
    they've had a successful flight.

    I don't think that's needed.  SpaceX is showing signs of being eager
    to meet the NASA milestones, which is part of why this launch had a
    catch and there was a lot of noise about the FAA holdup.

    Flight 6 has a launch license; same end points, additional objectives allowed.  Do you think it will fly in December or January?

    The analysis of IFT-5 will probably call for modifications to Starship
    for IFT-6. It is hard to tell how much time those modifications will
    take. SpaceX seems to have made modifications after IFT-4 quite fast, so
    we know they can do it fast. But it's still hard to know how long it
    will take to do modifications without knowing what those modifications
    are. Nonetheless, I think December or January is a plausible timeline.


    Alain Fournier

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  • From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to Snidely on Wed Oct 16 22:06:19 2024
    On 2024-10-16 8:35 p.m., Snidely wrote:
    On Tuesday or thereabouts, Alain Fournier asked ...
    On 2024-10-15 4:28 p.m., Snidely wrote:
    Snidely suggested that ...
    Alain Fournier in between]
    On 2024-10-13 11:42 a.m., The Running Man wrote:

    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things >>>>>> up once
    they've had a successful flight.

    I don't think that's needed.  SpaceX is showing signs of being eager
    to meet the NASA milestones, which is part of why this launch had a
    catch and there was a lot of noise about the FAA holdup.

    Flight 6 has a launch license; same end points, additional objectives
    allowed.  Do you think it will fly in December or January?

    The analysis of IFT-5 will probably call for modifications to Starship
    for IFT-6. It is hard to tell how much time those modifications will
    take. SpaceX seems to have made modifications after IFT-4 quite fast,
    so we know they can do it fast. But it's still hard to know how long
    it will take to do modifications without knowing what those
    modifications are. Nonetheless, I think December or January is a
    plausible timeline.


    Alain Fournier

    I agree.  I suspect that most of the changes will happen in connection
    with the outer ring of RVac bells.  Will this be a shielding change, additional CO2, or a procedural change?  Will an entry burn happen after all?  TBD, but it will probably be a quick change.  We'll be well into
    V2 of the ship before V2 boosters roll out;  V1 boosters might get re-
    used, but it needn't be rapid yet ... and swapping engines might mean a
    mere couple weeks before 2nd liftoff.

    I am not sure, but I think that there was still some burn through in the
    Ships thermal protection system. Not nearly as bad as for IFT-4 for
    sure. But I think there were some problems. That is the modification I
    would be most worried about.


    Alain Fournier

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  • From The Running Man@21:1/5 to alain245@videotron.ca on Thu Oct 17 03:19:10 2024
    On 16/10/2024 02:08 Alain Fournier <alain245@videotron.ca> wrote:
    On 2024-10-15 4:28 p.m., Snidely wrote:
    Snidely suggested that ...
    Alain Fournier in between]
    On 2024-10-13 11:42 a.m., The Running Man wrote:

    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things
    up once
    they've had a successful flight.

    I don't think that's needed.  SpaceX is showing signs of being eager
    to meet the NASA milestones, which is part of why this launch had a
    catch and there was a lot of noise about the FAA holdup.

    Flight 6 has a launch license; same end points, additional objectives
    allowed.  Do you think it will fly in December or January?

    The analysis of IFT-5 will probably call for modifications to Starship
    for IFT-6. It is hard to tell how much time those modifications will
    take. SpaceX seems to have made modifications after IFT-4 quite fast, so
    we know they can do it fast. But it's still hard to know how long it
    will take to do modifications without knowing what those modifications
    are. Nonetheless, I think December or January is a plausible timeline.


    Alain Fournier

    .

    <https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-upper-stage-chopstick-catch-elon-musk>

    Elon now claims they will catch the Starship with the chopsticks too!! This wasn't
    in any of their original plans, was it?

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  • From Niklas Holsti@21:1/5 to Snidely on Thu Oct 17 12:14:48 2024
    On 2024-10-17 10:10, Snidely wrote:
    Remember when The Running Man bragged outrageously?  That was Wednesday:

    [ snip irrelevant ]

    <https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-upper-stage-chopstick-catch-elon-musk>

    Elon now claims they will catch the Starship with the chopsticks too!!
    This wasn't in any of their original plans, was it?

    Oh, yes, it has been around since 2020 or so.  V1 ships are uncatchable, because they have innies rather than outies, but we haven't seen a V2
    fab'd far enough to know what changes are occurring there.


    Perhaps they will be innies for launch and reentry, and move to be
    outies for catch and lift.

    [ Glossary: "they" = lift/catch points/nubs ]

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  • From Alain Fournier@21:1/5 to The Running Man on Thu Oct 17 07:42:23 2024
    On 2024-10-17 7:23 a.m., The Running Man wrote:
    On 17/10/2024 09:10 Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:
    Remember when The Running Man bragged outrageously? That was
    Wednesday:
    On 16/10/2024 02:08 Alain Fournier <alain245@videotron.ca> wrote:
    On 2024-10-15 4:28 p.m., Snidely wrote:
    Snidely suggested that ...
    Alain Fournier in between]
    On 2024-10-13 11:42 a.m., The Running Man wrote:
    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things >>>>>>>> up once
    they've had a successful flight.

    I don't think that's needed.  SpaceX is showing signs of being eager >>>>>> to meet the NASA milestones, which is part of why this launch had a >>>>>> catch and there was a lot of noise about the FAA holdup.

    Flight 6 has a launch license; same end points, additional objectives >>>>> allowed.  Do you think it will fly in December or January?

    The analysis of IFT-5 will probably call for modifications to Starship >>>> for IFT-6. It is hard to tell how much time those modifications will
    take. SpaceX seems to have made modifications after IFT-4 quite fast, so >>>> we know they can do it fast. But it's still hard to know how long it
    will take to do modifications without knowing what those modifications >>>> are. Nonetheless, I think December or January is a plausible timeline. >>>>

    Alain Fournier

    .

    <https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-upper-stage-chopstick-catch-elon-musk>

    Elon now claims they will catch the Starship with the chopsticks too!! This >>> wasn't in any of their original plans, was it?

    Oh, yes, it has been around since 2020 or so. V1 ships are
    uncatchable, because they have innies rather than outies, but we
    haven't seen a V2 fab'd far enough to know what changes are occurring
    there.


    So how's this gonna work on Mars? Or do they have a seperate model with landing
    legs in their inventory too?


    They will have a separate model for landing on the moon, the Starship
    Human Landing System (yes, with legs). I think it will be yet another
    version for Mars.


    Alain Fournier

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  • From The Running Man@21:1/5 to snidely.too@gmail.com on Thu Oct 17 11:23:00 2024
    On 17/10/2024 09:10 Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:
    Remember when The Running Man bragged outrageously? That was
    Wednesday:
    On 16/10/2024 02:08 Alain Fournier <alain245@videotron.ca> wrote:
    On 2024-10-15 4:28 p.m., Snidely wrote:
    Snidely suggested that ...
    Alain Fournier in between]
    On 2024-10-13 11:42 a.m., The Running Man wrote:
    Again: I predict NASA will verbally reprimand them to speed things >>>>>>> up once
    they've had a successful flight.

    I don't think that's needed.  SpaceX is showing signs of being eager >>>>> to meet the NASA milestones, which is part of why this launch had a
    catch and there was a lot of noise about the FAA holdup.

    Flight 6 has a launch license; same end points, additional objectives
    allowed.  Do you think it will fly in December or January?

    The analysis of IFT-5 will probably call for modifications to Starship
    for IFT-6. It is hard to tell how much time those modifications will
    take. SpaceX seems to have made modifications after IFT-4 quite fast, so >>> we know they can do it fast. But it's still hard to know how long it
    will take to do modifications without knowing what those modifications
    are. Nonetheless, I think December or January is a plausible timeline.


    Alain Fournier

    .

    <https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-upper-stage-chopstick-catch-elon-musk>

    Elon now claims they will catch the Starship with the chopsticks too!! This >> wasn't in any of their original plans, was it?

    Oh, yes, it has been around since 2020 or so. V1 ships are
    uncatchable, because they have innies rather than outies, but we
    haven't seen a V2 fab'd far enough to know what changes are occurring
    there.


    So how's this gonna work on Mars? Or do they have a seperate model with landing
    legs in their inventory too?

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