Space and Science BS Thread

The government has not come in and forced them to do anything that they did not agree to before Spacex moved in. They have not been forced to move, only given above market value offers if they choose to do so, and there is only unsubstantiated speculation that they will be forced out.

 

I'd be curious to see an agreement saying they were willing to leave home at essentially anytime SpaceX wanted. I'd be more likely to believe it's a government mandated safety aspect outside of their control.

 

There were 2 public scoping meetings in 2012 in which "The vast majority of those who spoke publicly were in favor of the project," said Bob Lancaster, president of the Texas Space Alliance.
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-...s-out-to-land-spaceport-deal-with-3586606.php
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...tement/media/SpaceX_Texas_Launch_Site_MOA.pdf

 

I see Musk is playing baseball. He took two swings and two strikes. Now it's time to hammer it or go back to the bench for a while lol.

 

The Wrong Stuff.

 

Funny thing is that if it weren't for SpaceX really establishing reusable rockets as a normal thing we'd be hailing the great success of two back to back successful test flights.

 

It took him 6 attempts to do what all the experts told him was impossible the first time. And here we are 5 years later and they are still the only commercial launch provider landing rockets. Now he's gone to an even crazier design, and it's just one of 2 new rockets he is going to have to learn to land... I have a feeling we are going to see a few more explosions.

 

Gonna hafta disagree with that statement. I'm pretty sure their aim is t land with a meter or so of accuracy on any arbitrary pad.

 

At a good latitude? Name 'em Consider the downrange hazard as well.

 

Best option would of been to buy some billionaires private cay in the Carribean. Preferably one owned ultimately by the British or French government to avoid any real political problems. Design a system to easily transport competed assemblies from Boca to said Island. Launch from that island. In a perfect situation Musk could even has the area resignated as completely private so he could launch whenever he feels like it, well, within IACO rules.

I mean, that's sort of what it sounds like SpaceX is going for anyways. They didn't buy those oil platforms in the Gulf for fun I'm sure. They're just a lot cheaper than private Islands.

Actually that brings up another option. There are a dozen or so abandoned US bases in the Pacific that are still US soil. Some of them were Coast Gaurd or Navy stations right up until the Cold War ended. You could, with a bit of political maneuvering, probably set up an entire assembly and launch facility out there. Component and living supplies wouldn't even be hard to move either. A couple of private cargo vessels and a knockoff Airbus Bulga is really all you would need. Again, with some wrangling, you could probably have the FAA designate the area as a special operations airspace and launch whenever you want to within ICAO guidelines for notification of airtraffic.

I mean, the possibilities are pretty much endless. I'm sure Texas was simply, at the time, the cheapest option even with the people considered. You also have to believe that the people living their now know Musk wants them gone and will eventually pay whatever it takes to make it happen. I mean, I'd want to live there knowing that lol.

 

My comment was completely in jest. I'm sure Musk doesn't even really care this didn't work out on the second try. I would be slightly concerned they didn't get proper ignition again. Getting multiple engines restarted off one set of tanks is a nightmare. As far as I know it's never been done before. That's a big part of the reason everything else that's existed has used a single larger engine if it needs to be restarted. Liquid propelants, especially ones that are in reduced or compromised G environments, don't obey Bernoli's Principle. Getting the fuel where it should go evenly for restart while things are sloshing around is no joke.

 

That is eventually. Eventually they also intend to refill in orbit and launch to any planet in our solar system. There is a long road to that goal and the possibility of explosions in space!! In the mean time they are stuck with a limited range, and limited landing opportunities. Rockets are hard, and usually have very little fuel left for landings. That's why they land falcon 9 on a drone ship 400 miles offshore so often instead of bringing them back to land which would be much cheaper.

 

I know it was in jest. And I honestly thought they might land this one. But I also know there WILL be more explosions. I keep seeing people say there was a failure to ignite both engines, but it looks as though both ignited, though one had a slight delay. I'm pretty sure they lost the camera, but it got good footage. 11:30 into their video.

https://youtu.be/_zZ7fIkpBgs?t=688

 

Ish. SpaceX is US and will remain so, so permits will still be via US authorities. Local airspace clearance and testing stuff might be a little easier getting through the authorities though (assuming compliant local ones). Definitely less downrange hazard as well.

minus transportation of goods to remote pacific islands. In the present 'rapid iteration' phase, it's really hard to beat a mainland site.

Besides every 3 engine reignite on a F9 reentry burn?

Barges at sea are pretty arbitrary, just sayin'...

Correcting for a few NM is way cheaper in dV than doing a boostback burn, which is why those only happen on really light payloads. But a slow moving (or non-moving) platform isn't any 'harder' than a barge or land. They have the ballistic corrections down pretty good right now - it's just a matter of engine relighting (IMO) .. whether that means lighting them higher so that you can do the flip on 1 engine, or getting more reliable relights, etc.. that's up to SpaceX.

 

Not sure those are an option. Rockets are classified as weapons according to the US government. In the end they're right. The only difference between a rocket and an ICBM is the payload. I've worked for several machine shops, and made parts for pretty much every rocket company. Every machine shop I have worked for is technically classified as a weapons manufacturer and has to follow ITAR regulations. Moving rocket launch facilities outside the US might not be a legal option, and I've read it's something that rocket lab struggled with to get into New Zealand. That's another thing I find odd about the news with Spacex not hiring US citizens. I've had to pass extensive background checks to get into the shops I've worked. It's also kind of odd that they allow so much filming of what's going on in Boca Chica. I've seen an employee be prosecuted for taking pictures.

 

In the end they will almost certainly launch and land Starship from Florida. In the meantime, with the high possibility of failure, it's not looking like there is a good place for an explosion to happen without significant risk to their and other's infrastructure.

 

I honestly don't think he is going to keep pressuring or attempt to force them out. I think he tried to buy out those he could in order to make the launch safety procedure simpler. Perfect example was today, when they put the rocket on hold because there were people inside the danger zone. Much easier to evacuate a few households rather than dozens. I know people are thinking they are going to hold out for more, but the letter that spacex sent them implied that was the one and only offer.

 

I was just rewatching SN8 and SN9. I think the delay between the 2 engines relighting is intentional as it happens on both rockets. SN8 however they kept both engines lit for pretty much the entire landing burn duration, where as SN9 they say they were intentionally relighting 2 and then transitioning to 1. My money on sn10 is back to a 2 engine landing burn.

 

Fair, but the F9 is also stabilized by the grid fins to be pointing straight down, which aligns the force on the tank similarly to 1G allowing for normal fluid dynamics to take over. The Starship is at angle compared to its start up routine and basically free falling with minimal deceleration at ignition, which is a tricky plumbing situation to put it mildly.