On 2024-12-13 12:49 a.m., Snidely wrote:

Watch this space, where Snidely advised that...

NSF reorts on a letter from NASA to the FAA for allowing a NASA
Gulfstream an exception while it is calibrating imaging equipment to
prepare for a reentry event over the Indian Ocean, NET Jan 11 2025.

And we have had booster spin prime and static fire complete, as of Dec
07 and Dec 09 respectively.

Yes. But what I think is most interesting is not the preparations and
the date for the launch of flight 7. It is the pace they are planing for
2025. SpaceX wants to launch 25 Starships in 2025.

They should be ready for the next, Nov-Dec 2026, Mars launch window. I
don't know if they will have a payload ready for Mars by then. Maybe
they will just do a demo flight. Even if they just put a Tesla Roadster
on Mars (let's hope they don't forget to put a copy of "The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy" and a towel in the glove compartment) it would
signal that others can build stuff for Mars and know that they can
easily find a ride for it.


Alain Fournier

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On 2024-12-14 7:01 a.m., Snidely wrote:

Remember  Friday, when  Alain Fournier asked plaintively:

On 2024-12-13 12:49 a.m., Snidely wrote:

Watch this space, where Snidely advised that...

NSF reorts on a letter from NASA to the FAA for allowing a NASA
Gulfstream an exception while it is calibrating imaging equipment to
prepare for a reentry event over the Indian Ocean, NET Jan 11 2025.

And we have had booster spin prime and static fire complete, as of
Dec 07 and Dec 09 respectively.

Yes. But what I think is most interesting is not the preparations and
the date for the launch of flight 7. It is the pace they are planing
for 2025. SpaceX wants to launch 25 Starships in 2025.

They should be ready for the next, Nov-Dec 2026, Mars launch window. I
don't know if they will have a payload ready for Mars by then. Maybe
they will just do a demo flight. Even if they just put a Tesla
Roadster on Mars (let's hope they don't forget to put a copy of "The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and a towel in the glove
compartment) it would signal that others can build stuff for Mars and
know that they can easily find a ride for it.


Alain Fournier

Do you believe 25 launches next year?  I'm hearing 8-12 from some pretty close followers.

It is just a number I saw somewhere on the internet. I don't know how
likely it is to come true. But I do expect them to be reusing at least
some Super Heavy boosters next year. Once they are reusing, filling up
the tanks for a new launch isn't all that long.


Alain Fournier

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 2024-12-14 2:45 p.m., Snidely wrote:

On Saturday or thereabouts, Alain Fournier declared ...

On 2024-12-14 7:01 a.m., Snidely wrote:

Remember  Friday, when  Alain Fournier asked plaintively:

On 2024-12-13 12:49 a.m., Snidely wrote:

Watch this space, where Snidely advised that...

NSF reorts on a letter from NASA to the FAA for allowing a NASA
Gulfstream an exception while it is calibrating imaging equipment
to prepare for a reentry event over the Indian Ocean, NET Jan 11
2025.

And we have had booster spin prime and static fire complete, as of
Dec 07 and Dec 09 respectively.

Yes. But what I think is most interesting is not the preparations
and the date for the launch of flight 7. It is the pace they are
planing for 2025. SpaceX wants to launch 25 Starships in 2025.

They should be ready for the next, Nov-Dec 2026, Mars launch window.
I don't know if they will have a payload ready for Mars by then.
Maybe they will just do a demo flight. Even if they just put a Tesla
Roadster on Mars (let's hope they don't forget to put a copy of "The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and a towel in the glove
compartment) it would signal that others can build stuff for Mars
and know that they can easily find a ride for it.


Alain Fournier

Do you believe 25 launches next year?  I'm hearing 8-12 from some
pretty close followers.

It is just a number I saw somewhere on the internet.

It's from a quote from Gwen, who usually doesn't go too far into Elon
time.  But still ....

I don't know how likely it is to come true. But I do expect them to be
reusing at least some Super Heavy boosters next year. Once they are
reusing, filling up the tanks for a new launch isn't all that long.


Alain Fournier

Reusing  boosters will help, but it's still taking about 2 months
between ships.  Block 2 may get to 1 a month, but still ....

I think it is not unlikely that by the end of 2025 they will be reusing
both the booster and the ship. Not a sure thing but a real possibility.
At that point, they might be able to launch multiple times per week.


Alain Fournier

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 17/01/2025 00:18 Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> wrote:

Wednesday, Snidely quipped:

Remember Tuesday, when Snidely asked plaintively:

NSF reorts on a letter from NASA to the FAA for allowing a NASA Gulfstream >>> an exception while it is calibrating imaging equipment to prepare for a
reentry event over the Indian Ocean, NET Jan 11 2025.

/dps

Currently NET Jan 16 2025 4pm CST, 1 hour window. Slipped from 15th for
weather.

/dps

37m shift of T0, full power first stage ascent, successful hot stage,
booster reentry and catch, but ship was shutting down prematurely when contact was lost, and debris descending around the Caribbean east of
Florida.

At least they demonstrated that the catch wasn't a fluke.

They'll need to quickly find out what went wrong and re-fly to expand
their envelope.

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