SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virigin Galactic and other Private Space Companies Thread

[Elderberry]

This is just the top stage, minus the core stage and/or boosters?

Yes, this is the upper stage. It is confusing because the upper stage is called the Starship, and both the upper stage And the booster are called the Starship.

The upper has 6 Raptor engines and has enough power to do launch tests and land and launch on the Moon and Mars. I believe for Moon landings there will be an additional engine for the Moon landing. Even using just one Raptor engine to land on the Moon will cause a crater while landing.  I believe the SN4 will have 3 Raptor engines mounted for the 150 meter test.

The booster is required to achieve orbit.

The booster has 31 of the same Raptor engines as the upper stage.

[Cyber Liberty]

I'd think the heaviest load on this Starship's engines would be achieving escape velocity to break Earth orbit?

[Elderberry]

I'd think the heaviest load on this Starship's engines would be achieving escape velocity to break Earth orbit?

Back when Man was going to the Moon, the Saturn V was not used to break orbit from the Earth. It didn't even achieve orbit. It was only used to propel objects into Low Earth Orbit.

I believe the heaviest loads on the rocket engines are due to atmospherics and not due to gravity.  During Shuttle launches they would always back down the engines  when they were approaching "Max Q".

Max q From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_q

The max q condition is the point when an aerospace vehicle's atmospheric flight reaches maximum dynamic pressure. This is a significant factor in the design of such vehicles because the aerodynamic structural load on them is proportional to dynamic pressure. This may impose limits on the vehicle's flight envelope.

Dynamic pressure, q, is defined mathematically as

    q = 1/2 ρv²

Rocket launch examples

During a normal Space Shuttle launch, for example, max q occurred at an altitude of approximately 11 km (35,000 ft).[1] The three Space Shuttle Main Engines were throttled back to about 60-70% of their rated thrust (depending on payload) as the dynamic pressure approached max q;[2] combined with the propellant grain design of the solid rocket boosters, which reduced the thrust at max q by one third after 50 seconds of burn, the total stresses on the vehicle were kept to a safe level.

During a typical Apollo mission, max q occurred between 13 and 14 km of altitude (43,000–46,000 ft);[3][4] approximately same values occur for the SpaceX Falcon 9.[5]

The point of max q is a key milestone during a rocket launch, as it is the point at which the airframe undergoes maximum mechanical stress.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Starship Updates – A History Of Starship Evolution

•May 14, 2020


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[Elderberry]

 spaceXcentric

SpaceX's Starship Fleet Is Growing

 SpaceX in the News Episode 93.

 Today we watch Boca Chica sprout Starships in south Texas; prepare ourselves for Crew Dragon's DEMO-2 launch; look into Starlink's upcoming flight; then finish with today's Honorable Mention.


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[Elderberry]

VOX Space Missions to Now Occur from Andersen AFB in Guam

SMALLSAT NEWS 5/8/2020

https://smallsatnews.com/2020/05/08/vox-space-missions-to-now-occur-from-andersen-afb-in-guam/

VOX Space, the Virgin Orbit subsidiary, has signed a new agreement with the Department of the Air Force, allowing the company’s LauncherOne system to conduct missions to space from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

VOX Space President Mandy Vaughn and U.S. Air Force 36thWing Commander Brig. Gen. Gentry Boswell, signed the Commercial Space Operations Support Agreement (COSOSA) Annex in early April, setting the stage for the STP-27VP mission, VOX Space’s first launch from Andersen Air Force Base.

Virgin Orbit and VOX Space first expressed interest in launching from the Pacific island of Guam in mid-2019. Due to Guam’s low latitude and clear launch trajectories in almost all directions, the company’s uniquely mobile LauncherOne system can effectively serve all orbital inclinations, such as delivering up to 450 kg to a 500 km equatorial orbit.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP) procured the STP-27VP launch with VOX Space under the Rapid Agile Launch Initiative (RALI), leveraging the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Other Transaction Agreement. One of the first missions to fly on LauncherOne, the STP-27VP manifest consists of several CubeSats from various government agencies performing experiments and technology demonstrations for the DoD.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

Rocket Crafters Prepares for Launch Following Successful Testing of the Comet Rocket Engine

SMALLSAT NEWS 5/13/2020

https://smallsatnews.com/2020/05/13/rocket-crafters-prepares-for-launch-following-successful-testing-of-the-comet-rocket-engine/

Rocket Crafters, the first space launch company to use additive manufacturing to 3D print rocket fuel, has concluded testing for their Comet engine, a large-scale, proof of concept test model of the company’s STAR-3D™ hybrid rocket engine.

The tests were designed to show that the patent-pending hybrid rocket engines could scale from the laboratory to a size more commercially relevant. With 49 successful laboratory tests under their belt ranging from 250 to 500 pounds of thrust, Rocket Crafters initiated testing of the Comet 5000-pound thrust engine in February of this year.

Comet was tested three times. The first two tests were successful, closely matching the performance models that Rocket Crafters created. While still considered successful in terms of research and development, the third test experienced an overpressure anomaly, resulting in damage to the test stand and test engine.

More at link.

[kevindavis007]

Check out this neat video:



The Path To Mars - SpaceX Starship 2020

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWQzRxiC7U

[Elderberry]

Starship SN4 Static Fire LIVE From SpaceX's Boca Chica Launch Site

SpaceX is expected to conduct a static fire test with the Starship SN4 prototype at their Boca Chica, Texas launch site. The test will help verify that Raptor SN20 is functioning properly on the launch vehicle ahead of a planned hop to 150 meters.


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[sneakypete]

Starship SN4 Static Fire LIVE From SpaceX's Boca Chica Launch Site

SpaceX is expected to conduct a static fire test with the Starship SN4 prototype at their Boca Chica, Texas launch site. The test will help verify that Raptor SN20 is functioning properly on the launch vehicle ahead of a planned hop to 150 meters.


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@Elderberry

I am so ignorant of engineering and technology at this level that I am in absolute awe of people who can say they are going to power something this heavy 150 meters into the air,and then have it sit down unharmed.

And they say it like it's as common as the sun rising in the east.

[Elderberry]

@Elderberry

I am so ignorant of engineering and technology at this level that I am in absolute awe of people who can say they are going to power something this heavy 150 meters into the air,and then have it sit down unharmed.

And they say it like it's as common as the sun rising in the east.

@sneakypete

They've been working on this at SpaceX since before 2011.

SpaceX reusable launch system development program From Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_reusable_launch_system_development_program

The SpaceX reusable launch system development program is a privately funded program to develop a set of new technologies for an orbital launch system that may be reused many times in a manner similar to the reusability of aircraft. SpaceX has been developing the technologies over several years to facilitate full and rapid reusability of space launch vehicles. The project's long-term objectives include returning a launch vehicle first stage to the launch site in minutes and to return a second stage to the launch pad following orbital realignment with the launch site and atmospheric reentry in up to 24 hours. SpaceX's long term goal is that both stages of their orbital launch vehicle will be designed to allow reuse a few hours after return.[1]

The program was publicly announced in 2011. SpaceX first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage in December 2015. The first re-flight of a landed first stage occurred in March 2017[2] with the second occurring in June 2017, that one only five months after the maiden flight of the booster.[3] The third attempt occurred in October 2017 with the SES-11/EchoStar-105 mission. Second flights of refurbished first stages then became routine, with boosters having powered up to five missions as of March 2020.

The reusable launch system technology was developed and initially used for the first stage of Falcon 9.[4] After stage separation, the booster flips around, an optional boostback burn is done to reverse its course, a reentry burn, controlling direction to arrive at the landing site and a landing burn to effect the final low-altitude deceleration and touchdown.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

They've been working on this at SpaceX since before 2011.

SpaceX reusable launch system development program From Wikipedia,

@Elderberry

I know all of that on the "information level",but am still in awe of it because knowing about something isn't the same thing as understanding it.

[Elderberry]

@Elderberry

I know all of that on the "information level",but am still in awe of it because knowing about something isn't the same thing as understanding it.

@sneakypete

Then understand it by getting your hands dirty in it. Well you really don't have to build one to understand it. But if you dwell in the design of one, you will gain understanding.

Build Your Own Thrust Vectored Rockets For Vertical Landings Like SpaceX

https://makezine.com/2019/10/25/build-your-own-thrust-vectored-rockets-for-vertical-landings-like-spacex/

If you love rockets, you can’t help but notice that real space launch vehicles lift off the pad slowly,but model rockets zip up like darts. That’s how I became obsessed with using thrust vector control (TVC) — gimbaling the rocket motor — instead of fins to keep model rockets upright, so they can launch, and land, far more realistically.

ZERO TO ROCKETEER

I started out from scratch in rocketry; I’m all self-taught. After graduating with a degree in audio engineering from Berklee College of Music in 2014, I saw what SpaceX and other aerospace companies were going for with propulsive landing technology and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to get into rocketry to get a job at one of these companies, and I wasn’t in a position to pay for another college degree. I figured instead I could demonstrate what I was teaching myself by propulsively landing a model rocket the same way SpaceX landed the Falcon 9. It was a literal “shower idea.”

I started BPS in 2015 with the goal of achieving vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) of a scale model Falcon 9 rocket. This would require me to solve two tough problems — thrust-vectored flight and propulsive landings — using solid-fuel hobby rocket motors.

I picked up a few textbooks (I strongly recommend Rocket Propulsion Elements by George Sutton and Structures by J.E. Gordon), found a few good YouTube tutorials for coding and mechanical design, and got to work experimenting.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX aborted a static fire test with the Starship SN4 prototype at their Boca Chica, Texas launch site. The test was meant to help verify that Raptor SN20 is functioning properly on the launch vehicle ahead of a planned hop to 150 meters. It is unclear when another attempt will be made.

The static fire attempt was aborted, but there are still a few hours remaining in today's launch window which lasts until 6 pm central time. If the activity picks up again, we will start a new stream.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Starship prototype in limbo after engine test lights rocket on fire

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-prototype-limbo-test-fire/

The fate of SpaceX’s fourth full-scale Starship prototype appears to be in limbo after a third (seemingly successful) engine ignition test unintentionally caught the rocket on fire.

Now more than 12 hours after Starship SN4 fired up its new Raptor engine, the ~30m (~100 ft) tall, 9m (~30 ft) wide prototype is apparently trapped with one or both of its propellant tanks still partially filled with liquid (or gaseous) methane and/or oxygen. An initial road closure scheduled from noon to 6pm local quickly came and went and SpaceX and Cameron County Texas have since modified the paperwork, extending the closure a full 24 hours. In other words, SpaceX has reason to believe that Starship SN4 may continue to be unsafe (i.e. pressurized) as many as ~30 hours after it technically completed its third static fire test – extremely unusual, to say the least.

There’s only one obvious conclusion to draw. Whether it was something invisible to the public eye or damage related to the off-nominal fire that burned for some 15 minutes after Raptor shut down, SpaceX appears – to some extent – to have lost control of Starship SN4.

[sneakypete]

SpaceX Starship prototype in limbo after engine test lights rocket on fire

 

@Elderberry

Ya THINK?

Whoever wrote that headline is a master of understatement.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Starship rocket catches fire during third Raptor engine test

TESLARATI 5/20/2020 by Eric Ralph

SpaceX appears to have successfully fired up its fourth full-scale Starship prototype for the third time, although the Raptor engine test ended with the aft end of the ship catching fire and burning for quite some time.

Around May 7th, hours after Starship SN4 completed its second wet dress rehearsal and Raptor static fire in ~24 hours, SpaceX removed the SN18 Raptor engine it had used to support those tests, transporting it back to storage facilities a mile down the road. Three days later, SpaceX sent Raptor SN20 down the same same road and installed it on Starship SN4 – a swap made for unknown reasons.

Regardless, that swap meant that SpaceX would need to perform at least one more static fire test to prove that Starship and its new Raptor engine were getting along before the company could proceed to hop test preparations. After several days of at least 4 aborted Starship static fire attempts, SpaceX has finally managed to fuel Starship SN4 and ignite Raptor engine SN20 – but not before a new challenge cropped up.

More at link.

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                                                   Static Fire @ 1:30:18

[Elderberry]

Virgin Orbit to do something special with a rocket and a Boeing 747

Digital Trends by Trevor Mogg 5/20/2020

https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/virgin-orbit-to-fire-a-rocket-from-a-boeing-747-on-sunday/

Like SpaceX, Virgin Orbit wants to build a business sending small satellites into low-Earth orbit. But the two deployment methods couldn’t be more different.

While SpaceX went with conventional ground-based rocket launches, Virgin Orbit plans to release a rocket in mid-air from a modified Boeing 747. Yes, you read that right.

And in the coming days, the Virgin Galactic spinoff plans to test the entire system for the very first time.

If conditions permit when the launch window opens on Sunday, May 24, the California-based team will fly its Boeing 747 — named Cosmic Girl — from Mojave Air and Space Port over the Pacific Ocean before releasing its 70-foot long, two-stage LauncherOne orbital rocket from beneath the aircraft’s left wing. The booster will then ignite in mid-air for the first time, sending the rocket to space where it will deploy a dummy payload.

More at link.

[kevindavis007]

SpaceX's Starship Catches Fire, but Crew Dragon is GO for Launch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTHLzi_kzWs

[Elderberry]

The SpaceX Starship Could Fly This Summer!

Universe Today May 22, 2020 by Matt Williams

https://www.universetoday.com/146167/starship-could-fly-this-summer/

And, after being scrubbed three times since last Friday (May 15th), SpaceX conducted the third static fire test with the SN4 on Tuesday, May 19th. Unfortunately, an unexpected fire near the base of the rocket caused the prototype to get a bit scorched and caused some internal damage. However, the prototype survived and is back in working order, which means SpaceX is moving ahead with more tests in preparation for a full-scale launch.

The fire in question occurred immediately after ignition, apparently due to a methane line bursting because of the sudden change in pressure. The engine continued to burn for a few more seconds and shut down as planned, but the fire continued and managed to ignite insulation wrapped around the rocket’s launch mount. Luckily, the remotely-controlled water jets positioned around the pad managed to suppress the fire before long.

In addition to scoring the hull, the fire is believed to have caused damage to the prototype’s wiring, which resulted in the ground crews partially losing control of it. Fortunately, the electrical damage did not prevent ground crews from safely offloading its remaining propellant and vent the gases building up inside the cryogenic tanks, which preventing the SN4 from bursting like its predecessors.

More at link.

[kevindavis007]

First commercial space taxi a pit stop on Musk’s Mars quest


It all started with the dream of growing a rose on Mars.

That vision, Elon Musk’s vision, morphed into a shake-up of the old space industry, and a fleet of new private rockets. Now, those rockets will launch NASA astronauts from Florida to the International Space Station -- the first time a for-profit company will carry astronauts into the cosmos.

It’s a milestone in the effort to commercialize space. But for Musk’s company, SpaceX, it’s also the latest milestone in a wild ride that began with epic failures and the threat of bankruptcy.

If the company’s eccentric founder and CEO has his way, this is just the beginning: He’s planning to build a city on the red planet, and live there.

“What I really want to achieve here is to make Mars seem possible, make it seem as though it’s something that we can do in our lifetimes and that you can go,” Musk told a cheering congress of space professionals in Mexico in 2016.


Read More: https://www.isn-news.com/2020/05/first-commercial-space-taxi-pit-stop-on.html

Fingers crossed!

[kevindavis007]

Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket is loaded with pop-culture references
https://www.isn-news.com/2020/05/elon-musks-spacex-rocket-is-loaded-with.html

[kevindavis007]

Rocketman (and woman): Elon and Gwynne, the pair who made SpaceX
https://www.isn-news.com/2020/05/rocketman-and-woman-elon-and-gwynne.html

[Elderberry]

SpaceX’s Starship factory is churning out steel rockets faster than ever

TESLARATI  By Eric Ralph 5/26/2020

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-factory-mass-production-speed/

SpaceX’s South Texas Starship factory is churning out steel rocket hardware faster than ever before according to photos of yet another prototype already in the works.

At the same time as SpaceX works around the clock to test SN4 and prepare the ship for what will be the first flight of a full-scale Starship prototype, the company is building not one; not two; but three additional prototypes. A confirmation that a third Starship was being simultaneously manufactured in South Texas came on May 25th when local Boca Chica resident and observer Mary (bocachicagal) captured a photo of a pair of stacked steel rings rather conspicuously labeled “SN7”.

While it’s possible that “SN7” is just a coincidence, it’s far more likely that it refers to Starship serial number 7 (SN7), set to be the seventh full-scale prototype built by SpaceX. The apparent start of SN7’s steel ring assembly process some two weeks ago also suggests that no less than several other rings are likely being mated in one or more of SpaceX’s three main manufacturing tents or a much taller windbreak structure. In fact, SpaceX is building Starship prototypes so quickly that the company is actively assembling a second launch mount, suggesting that two Starships could soon be tested more or less simultaneously without stepping on each other’s steel toes.

The most impressive aspect of SN7’s appearance, however, is the fact that SpaceX is already in the late stages of stacking Starship SN5 and begun preparing to stack Starship SN6 directly beside it just a few days ago. Based on labels attached to the side of a new steel nosecone section rolled out of SpaceX’s tent factory a few days ago, Starship SN5 will likely become the first full-scale Starship to reach its full height in a permanent, functional fashion. Back in October 2019, SpaceX did technically stack Starship Mk1 to its full height for a few weeks, but the ship’s nose section was never permanently attached and really only served as a pathfinder and full-scale mockup.

More at link.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Elon Musk sure thinks big. IMO you can't help but admire the guy...