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

[Cyber Liberty]

SpaceX's Starship SN8 flight attempt to 50,000 feet "no earlier than Wednesday"

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1333123173815087111

Yeah, I saw the scrub notice about Monday.  Tuesday too, eh?  I guess it's a wind issue.

[kevindavis007]

Yeah, I saw the scrub notice about Monday.  Tuesday too, eh?  I guess it's a wind issue.

I think that is the case..

[Elderberry]

SpaceX sets dates for Starship static fire, high-altitude launch debut

TESLARATI by Eric Ralph 11/30/2020

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-sn8-static-fire-launch-debut-dates/

CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX is set to attempt one final Raptor engine static fire test before putting Starship through its high-altitude launch debut later this week.

Liable to begin as soon as November 30th per public road closure notices, Musk says that Starship serial number 8’s (SN8) launch debut – both Starship’s first fully-assembled flight test and first high-altitude launch attempt – is now scheduled no earlier than (NET) 8 am to 5 pm CST (UTC-6) on Wednesday, December 2nd.

November 30th will instead host what is believed to be a unique kind of static fire test for Starship SN8, hopefully proving that the rocket has a decent shot at surviving its risky launch debut.

As previously discussed on Teslarati, SpaceX’s Starship development strategy means that SN8’s survival is far less important than it may seem.

“On November 25th, Starship SN9 (featuring “small improvements”) was stacked to its full 50-meter (~165 ft) height. If SN8 is destroyed during testing, SN9 will likely be ready to roll to the launch site almost as soon as the dust settles.

Meanwhile, Starship SN10 is likely just 7-10 days away from a similar nosecone stacking milestone, and Starship SN11’s tank section is just one stack away from completion, likely putting it less than two weeks behind SN10. In other words, insofar as speed is a priority and each prototype is anywhere close to as cheap as Starship’s majority-steel bill of materials might suggest, SpaceX is building Starships so quickly that it almost doesn’t make sense to spend more than a few weeks working through bugs on any single suborbital ship.”

In fact, delaying SN8’s launch to try to refine the rocket in situ and better ensure success could actually be to the detriment of successive prototypes and the Starship program in general. If, for example, a fundamental design flaw is revealed in Starship SN8 only after the prototype’s first test flight, SpaceX could be forced to scrap a huge amount of work done on as many as six, seven, eight, or even more subsequent prototypes. In that since, while it may seem like caution maximizes the value any single Starship prototype can provide SpaceX, that’s only true as long as the Starship design is mature enough that new fundamental flaws are unlikely to arise.

Given how young SpaceX’s agile Starship development program is, it would make very little sense to hinge months of work and more than half a dozen rocket prototypes on the quality and success of a less mature prototype unless all the vehicles in question are more or less identical final products. SN8 through SN15+ are certainly not final products in the sense that Starship is meant to be the largest reusable orbital spacecraft ever built.

More at link.

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[kevindavis007]

Hoping that Starship SN8 launches and lands successfully today.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Starship 15-Kilometer Flight LIVE Stream with the WAI Family!!!

 What about it!?
121K subscribers

•Scheduled for Dec 3, 2020


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[kevindavis007]

To view the launch:

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[Elderberry]

SpaceX Boca Chica Links:

Live Needle Cam(1) Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5l9ZxsG9M

Live Lab Cam(2) Link:
https://youtu.be/G_u7HPZX_8A

Live Sapphire Cam(3) Link:
https://youtu.be/qNyEwBW0ZJA

Live Predator Cam(4) Link:
https://youtu.be/Ss_XUaLEp1Y

 Live Sentinel cam(5) Link:
https://youtu.be/n5ozYnVQahE

 Live SPI Pearl Beach Cam(7) Link
https://youtu.be/agmFDeP5u_w

Onsite Weather - http://weather.labpadre.com

 Boca Chica Operations - http://www.cameroncounty.us/space-x/

FAA Notices To Airmen - https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html

GIS Map link: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?even...

[Gefn]

Thank you @Elderberry and @kevindavis

[Idiot]

SpaceX Boca Chica Links:

Live Needle Cam(1) Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5l9ZxsG9M

Live Lab Cam(2) Link:
https://youtu.be/G_u7HPZX_8A

Live Sapphire Cam(3) Link:
https://youtu.be/qNyEwBW0ZJA

Live Predator Cam(4) Link:
https://youtu.be/Ss_XUaLEp1Y

 Live Sentinel cam(5) Link:
https://youtu.be/n5ozYnVQahE

 Live SPI Pearl Beach Cam(7) Link
https://youtu.be/agmFDeP5u_w

Onsite Weather - http://weather.labpadre.com

 Boca Chica Operations - http://www.cameroncounty.us/space-x/

FAA Notices To Airmen - https://tfr.faa.gov/tfr2/list.html

GIS Map link: https://www.youtube.com/redirect?even...

Kevin....don't view these links for your life will be ever changed.  At work you'll leave a screen on the live stream and never get any work done.  You'll end up being a paid subscriber and get involved with the ongoing conversation.  Your life will be consumed! 

Don't do it!  Just saying....   LOLOLOLOLOL

Kidding of course as it's watching history in the making.

[kevindavis007]

Kevin....don't view these links for your life will be ever changed.  At work you'll leave a screen on the live stream and never get any work done.  You'll end up being a paid subscriber and get involved with the ongoing conversation.  Your life will be consumed! 

Don't do it!  Just saying....   LOLOLOLOLOL

Kidding of course as it's watching history in the making.

@mrpotatohead


LOL!! No worries!! It is indeed history in the making.


I can imagine the spinoff technology from the Starship program (along with the New Glenn rocket and the SLS rocket) is going to be yuge. Also, I would have never have thought we could see a rocket more powerful than the Saturn 5.


Also, the fun is just begining as well.

[Cyber Liberty]

@mrpotatohead


LOL!! No worries!! It is indeed history in the making.


I can imagine the spinoff technology from the Starship program (along with the New Glenn rocket and the SLS rocket) is going to be yuge. Also, I would have never have thought we could see a rocket more powerful than the Saturn 5.


Also, the fun is just begining as well.

Speaking of spinoffs, I find the concept of in-orbit refueling intriguing.  So much fuel is consumed on getting into LEO that it leaves little to move on from there.  To be able to refill the tanks in orbit is a real game-changer, as great as when we started aerial refueling of bombers.

[Elderberry]

Possible Static Fire Today.

[kevindavis007]

Speaking of spinoffs, I find the concept of in-orbit refueling intriguing.  So much fuel is consumed on getting into LEO that it leaves little to move on from there.  To be able to refill the tanks in orbit is a real game-changer, as great as when we started aerial refueling of bombers.

@Cyber Liberty


I know you what mean. To refuel in space, is going to be huge.

[kevindavis007]

Confirmed Friday is the earliest day they are going to do the hop.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Starship SN8 Flight Imminent, But Spaceflight Opponents Are Rising Too

 2 THE FUTURE with Jixuan & Sebastian •Oct 26, 2020


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[kevindavis007]

Starship SN8 is tri-venting and header tank venting - and getting frosty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CRDNHqx98M

[Elderberry]

TESLARATI by Eric Ralph 12/3/2020

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-high-altitude-launch-debut-faa-approval/

SpaceX’s high-altitude Starship launch debut receives FAA approval

SpaceX has received FAA approval to attempt Starship’s high-altitude launch debut as early as Friday according to a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) filed on December 2nd.

SpaceX’s first high-altitude Starship TFR revealed that the crucial flight test is now scheduled sometime between 8 am and 5 pm CST (14:00-23:00 UTC) on Friday, December 4th, with identical backup windows available (and cleared with the FAA) on Saturday and Sunday. Originally scheduled as early as November 30th, the delays are less than surprising given the complexity and unprecedented nature of the flight test facing SpaceX.

Starship serial/ship number 8 (SN8) – the first functional full-height prototype – is tasked with launching from Boca Chica, Texas to an apogee of 15 kilometers (~9.5 miles) and dropping back to Earth to test an unproven approach to rocket recovery.

More at link.

[Elderberry]

Starship SN8-The Latest Adventures of Elon Musk | Science and Technology

Eminetra by Preeti Singh 12/3/2020

https://eminetra.com/starship-sn8-the-latest-adventures-of-elon-musk-science-and-technology/226113/

IF ALL GOES Now, Elon Musk’s plan to conquer space will soon take another step in the Starship flight. SN8, a rocket made by his company, SpaceX. SN8 is expected to rise from the launch pad in Bocachica, Texas, between December 4th and 6th. (SpaceX has not confirmed this, but during that period local flight restrictions are imposed on the area.) The idea is to fly to an altitude of 15 km, disconnect the engine, and be parallel to the surface of the Earth. Slowly tilt forward until. , And let gravity take that course. Then, just before landing on the ground, re-launch the thruster and readjust it vertically, slowly resting on a landing pad hundreds of meters away from where it took off.

SN8 is, as the name implies, the 8th of SpaceX’s current series of prototypes of Starship (SN Abbreviation for “serial number”). However, this is the first to have a nose cone and therefore will take on a unique atmospheric infiltration shape, usually sported by space rockets. It’s also more lively than its predecessor.Previous SNUses only one of SpaceX’s Raptor engines and, when launched (some used for ground testing), reached a height of less than 150 meters. SN8 contains 3 Raptors. This is half the number expected for a finished design.

Strictly speaking SN8 is the only second-stage prototype of Starship that SpaceX is proposing to build in the end. The successor is intended to sit on an unconstructed “super heavy” rocket that provides most of the firepower. This first stage vehicle will accommodate up to 37 Raptors. These double the thrust developed by the first stage of Saturn V, the rocket that the United States used for its crew’s lunar missions. And while the moon is certainly its intended destination, Kraft takes most of its bread and butter ferry goods and people into orbit near Earth. This is a task with a capacity of 100 tons.

More at link.

[kevindavis007]

FAA approves SpaceX’s Starship launch to 50,000 feet (15km). They have approval from Friday - Sunday to launch. So the launch will happen between those days.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-high-altitude-launch-debut-faa-approval/

[kevindavis007]

SN8 flight delayed until Monday.

[Elderberry]

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-high-altitude-launch-debut-faa-approval/

Update: SpaceX’s high-altitude Starship launch debut appears to have slipped to no earlier than (NET) Monday morning, December 7th.

FAA-approved flight restrictions filed on December 2nd were retracted on December 3rd for unknown reasons, ultimately giving SpaceX several more days to prepare Starship SN8 for an ambitious 15-kilometer (~9.5 mi) launch, freefall, and landing attempt.

    Some sort of testing remains possible on Friday. The road closure remains live. Unclear exactly what (perhaps a static fire), but certainly no flight without the TFR.

[kevindavis007]

I looked at it some more.. From what I saw it was due to the upper winds not good for rocket launches.

[Elderberry]

South Padre Island expected to be crowded for SpaceX Starship SN8 test launch

Click 2 Houston by Rose-Ann Aragon 12/3/2020

https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2020/12/04/south-padre-island-expected-to-be-crowded-for-spacex-starship-sn8-test-launch/

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas – The shores at Isla Blanca Park are expected to be the place where hundreds of space enthusiasts and islanders go to watch a test launch across the water at SpaceX’s Starship facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

With the Starship SN8 launch teasingly imminent, South Padre Island has found a lot more tourists walking the streets. The view of the SpaceX launch facility just a few miles across the water.

“Everybody wants to see it happening,” said James Baxter, a Houston native and South Padre Island transplant.

Tourists like Eric and Tammy Patton traveled from Maryland and have stayed for days in hopes to catch the SN8 prototype fly.

“When we heard about SpaceX and that awesome dude, Elon Musk, we absolutely loved it! He’s like, ‘I’m getting a rocket off in three years’ It took 1 year!” Eric Patton said.

“We were in California when [SpaceX] did the last one,” Tammy Patton said. “We were watching, and I was crying. I was so excited!”

They don’t think they will leave South Padre Island.

More at link.

[kevindavis007]

SN8 update:
Tomorrow: Possible static fire but NO 12.5km flight.
NET Monday: 12.5km flight!

[Elderberry]

Pennsylvania family travels more than 1,000 miles in hopes of watching SN8 launch

Valley Central by: Gabriela Moreno 12/3/2020

https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/pennsylvania-family-travels-more-than-1000-miles-in-hopes-of-watching-sn8-launch/

For those living in the city of Brownsville, a trip see to the SpaceX Boca Chica facility down Highway 4 would not take more than a half hour. For one Pennsylvanian family, however, the trip took 28 hours. 

The development of the Boca Chica SpaceX site has captivated the interests of technology and space-travel enthusiasts from all over the United States and world, some even willing to travel long distances to see the site in person. 

Abide Mararaure and his wife Khanyisa drove to the Rio Grande Valley with their year and a half old daughter from Pottstown, Pennsylvania to see the SpaceX launch. He says the 1,912-mile-long trip took 28 hours travel, and the family stopped in Tennessee and Louisiana to rest. 

He says they are fascinated with the advancement in technology being put forth by SpaceX. 

“I come from the African continent. We are way too far from Africa but seeing this now gives me hope that I’ll be able to tell my relatives that I’ll be there in 30 minutes,” said Masaraure. “It’s just captivating to know that there is some individuals out there who are creative and are going to do something which is going to benefit the world.”