Space and Science BS Thread

So, when I click to edit it, the post is still there. I just doesn’t show up in the post.
I’ve found this happens at times, just don’t know the workaround.

Maybe @tcBob can suggest something

 

@Pixeltim , I believe the tweet’s been removed.

Good catch.

There were all sorts of meltdowns and explosions for the entire flight. That was one janky plume.

 

https://youtu.be/iiDGb1CXw4I

 

Thanks. I heard him on CNN soon after the flight and he left the impression he didn’t understand Starship’s role in Artemis III. He must’ve gotten an update between these interviews.

 

Close up of the OLM:

 

Yeah, minor damage… it’s an iterative process down there!

 

Funny how the

No problem, a few more like that and we’ll have our flame trench. Is that muddy water next to the left foreground pillar? #watertable.

 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

I know this is a test of an iterative process but, damn, lotsa damage to Stage 0, uncontrolled burning almost from the get go, failure to separate, damage to houses and vehicles in the surrounding areas….

Wouldn’t surprise me if their new, shiny FAA license doesn’t get mothballed for awhile.

 

I see the rebar didn’t melt, neither did the stairs or the cladding on the pillars. That hole was blasted out in the seconds it took to light off, throttle up, and get at most a ship length off the OLM with the concrete cap taking very little of even that amount of time. There has to be something they can overlay that will repeatedly survive 10 seconds of full thrust while redirecting it sideways instead of having to absorb as much of it.

 

For some reason this picture makes me happy. I can imagine the meeting where they discussed potential problems. Every company has overly conservative safety nannies, and they'd be like "but a launch will ruin the pad." Elon, "send it." Nanny, "but the debris will damage the rocket." Elon, "send it." After the launch, Nanny "see I told you so." Elon, "not a problem. See we've already cleared the way for the flame trench." I heard one quote where Elon wanted to get this first one out of the way because the next one has so many improvements.

 

I heard that too, it's an interesting management style for sure. I just hope it doesn't bite him with FAA delaying things after seeing this.

 

A bit moot ATM.
They’ll need to separate the issues. Solve that pit problem and most if not all of the associated damage goes away. I expect the fire was also related. I’d think they’d thouroghly inspect the OLM to make sure it CAN be refurbished and that they want to without making changes. Still standing doesn’t guarantee that. Maybe they just backfill with compacted material for now to make it possible to bring the platform back in. I saw what looked like a lot of shredded plumbing scattered by the exhaust which came from somewhere. Some or all of the Raptor failures might also be a consequence of this extreme concrete carnage. They have a lot of unpacking to do to see which things were isolated and which were downstream consequences. Who knows what else they learned that wasn’t obvious or visible to us viewers.

 

I wonder if they have video of the ignition sequence. They were showing video before launch of the the craft from below.
I mean, it would be a short video, just right up until the camera was incinerated....

 

probably too short since the light off sequence is so fast. They have data via telemetry on which engines fail to light or shut down(or popped)and use it to create a graphic showing the engines that weren’t lit but that was suspect since at the same time you could count them onscreen and see the 2-center, 10- midring, and 15- outer ring instead of the 16 outer in the graphic so there was a glitch there too. We’ll just have to watch and wait to see what turns up and how they deal with it.

 

I have no experience with the FAA, but I have a lot working in big pharma with their sister organization the FDA. I'm betting they both, FAA and FDA, are cut out of the same cloth, and they will have something to say about everything that went wrong. My bet is the next launch will have a redesigned launch pad to A: stop damaging motors with flying debris and B: keep the FAA happy.

 

This was never an option at the site because of space limitations. How much taller could they make the OLM and tower to gain enough distance from the pad? One more tower segment? Compare the top of the mobile launcher to the bottom of the flame trench against the OLM alone and double the thrust.
Edit- What I find surprising is that they didn’t do something more like this at KSC where the space IS available.

 

I was looking at images from stacking and when they pivot Starship over Super Heavy there’s still ~ 30’ of leeway before the chopsticks pulley tops out on the tower so I suppose they could increase the height of the OLM somewhat. Even that would involve raising the Starship umbilical arm and lengthening the plumbing as well as increasing the pressure but raising the OLM might be enough to allow simply steel cladding the pad to endure the launch. They might elect to do this if the damage inside the OLM is significant enough or the footings themselves are no longer sound. Once the cap and soil were removed the exhaust plume bore directly on those footings.