Space and Science BS Thread

They definitely need to do work on tiles, but we already knew that.

The fact that you could see the Ship splashdown and a bit of the spray when the flap hit the water, despite the broken lens, was incredible!

 

How long till the next launch? 4 weeks?

 

https://x.com/spacesudoer/status/1798741775831769475?s=46

 

What about the reinforce carbon they had on the leading edge of the Shuttle wings? No chunks of foam to punch holes through them

Also, come on SpX, show us the flip! It’s been years!!!

 

Awesome launch. Starlink is amazing, getting signal all the way down, live.

Next step - relight in orbit, maybe starlinks, and ship landing practice. And maybe catching.

Also... SH demonstrating engine out capability both ways, lol.

Still watching.

OMG Also sprach Zarathustra .. love it. Just gotta slap a pan am logo on it.

 

I think it depends on whether they address the failure at the flap hinge. First is the OLM and how long that takes to be launch ready and replace the other chopsticks actuator so both are fast. If they do just go ahead again after those tasks are done I’m leaning towards 6-8 weeks and they play with reentry angle while they update the hinge area design for the next iteration. Maybe angle the trailing edges instead of square to reduce the concentration of heating where flap meets ship. Just wagging(wild ass guessing) but this is why getting data on this stage is so important.

 

So good to see!
https://x.com/boeingspace/status/1798804195681947719?s=46
https://x.com/boeingspace/status/1798809620762521824?s=46

 

Question: they didn’t execute one but would a deorbit burn slow them below the velocity they had on reentry this time thus reducing the time before and during max heating?

 

Insigificant amount of dV compared to the amount you get from a shallow reentry.

 

Best review yet

 

The real question is, if they recover it, both parts seemed to end up at survivable speeds at loss of signal.

 

“Views By Starlink”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1798846199635869945?s=46
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1798848426895200567?s=46
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1798838547333763150?s=46
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1798819636181713280?s=46
https://x.com/astrojordy/status/1798726142238871741?s=46
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1798703949714985032?s=46

 

Watching Scott Manley's video of it, I just processed that we watched live what Columbia did not survive.

 

Pretty much. If memory serves the tiles were damaged and burn through occurred near the land gear door and the wing root on Columbia.

 

All in all, it was a very successful day for space travel. Boeing and SpaceX both completed their mission objectives and nobody died.

 

Sobering.

 

I don’t think they are at a point where salvage is a viable option. It’s either fly back and catch it or sink it. Not sure how much they would reuse even if they could. Any value would be in close examination beyond what they got from telemetry. I’m sure they’ll be doing that once they can.

 

Are you sure? Velocity was under 10kph at alt zero on both stages.

 

At some point, if they keep dropping starship in the ocean, I’m sure some enterprising scrappers are going to start trying to salvage them, since ~100T of stainless steel ain’t nothing to sneeze at.

 

It's a non zero chance they didn't just tip over and kept floating.

CRS-16, for instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMIc4tZPBaA