SpaceX Super Heavy and Starship updates

[Skiver Veteran]

 

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

Next up: prepping SN-08 for her 18km/60,000 ft flight

 

 

[bguy_1986]

I assume they are going to try and land this on land?  Or will they go for a water landing/hover first?

[DocM]

1 hour ago, bguy_1986 said:

I assume they are going to try and land this on land?  Or will they go for a water landing/hover first?

 

Land, but I'm assuming they'll do a divert like they do with RTLS Falcon 9 boosters.

 

In a divert the unpowered impact point is in the drink. If the engines fire it diverts to the landing pad, if not it takes a swim.

 

SN-07.1 blew the upper dome

 

[DocM]

Boca Chica road closures

 

Primary Date: September 27, 2020

Backup Dates: September 28 & 29, 2020

Time (all dates): 2200 - 0700 Eastern

[DocM]

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by DocM

[DocM]

You need to look close, but they're doing fin actuator tests on SN-08.

 

 

 

[DocM]

 

[Skiver Veteran]

 

[DocM]

Raptor Vacuum (RVac) breaths fire -  and as promised, RVac can also fire at sea level 🤪

 

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

Starship SN-08 cryo-testing

 

Primary date: Tuesday, September 29

Secondary date 1: Wednesday, September 30 

Secondary date 2: Thursday, October 1

Times:  2200 - 0700 Eastern

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

Starship SN-08 Rollout Day....

 

 

 

[DocM]

SN-08 w/fins before rollout

[DocM]

 

[IsItPluggedIn]

Will 15km be high enough to test the belly flop landing, or will it just be higher hop?

[DocM]

1 hour ago, IsItPluggedIn said:

Will 15km be high enough to test the belly flop landing, or will it just be higher hop?

 

It'll be a full-up test of the belly flop landing - aka skydiver.

 

Subsequent flights will go higher and eventually hypersonic to test the heat shields; high angle of attack re-entry, etc.

 

Best prepare some popcorn and a brew.

Edited September 27, 2020 by DocM

[Skiver Veteran]

Do they have a landing pad that isn't quite so close to where they've previously been doing tests? Given the high chance of a new crater in Boca Chica It scares the hell out of me that this thing could end up spiralling into one of the newly built high bays.

[DocM]

1 hour ago, Skiver said:

Do they have a landing pad that isn't quite so close to where they've previously been doing tests? Given the high chance of a new crater in Boca Chica It scares the hell out of me that this thing could end up spiralling into one of the newly built high bays.

Like Falcon 9 landings, they'll likely use a divert maneuver. The trajectory will nudge out over the water, so if the engines don't light it goes in the drink. If they do fire it'll steer back to the pad. They also have considerable property south of the launch site full of nothing but sand & wild grass. 

 

Edited September 28, 2020 by DocM

[Skiver Veteran]

13 minutes ago, DocM said:

Like Falcon 9 landings, they'll likely use a divert maneuver. The trajectory will nudge out over the water, so if the engines don't light it goes in the drink. If they do fire it'll steer back to the pad. 

I assumed that, but the pad they land Falcon 9s at seem to be in the open quite a bit, I've not seen anything at the BC site that is as open as those pads.

 

Although, just looking for some aerial photos I stumbled on the below, I forget just how far the high bays are compared to the launch pads (top of the picture) so I think this helps me understand. For some reason I had it in my head that the launch pad was to the bottom right of the site.

 

[DocM]

4 hours ago, Skiver said:

I assumed that, but the pad they land Falcon 9s at seem to be in the open quite a bit, I've not seen anything at the BC site that is as open as those pads.

 

Although, just looking for some aerial photos I stumbled on the below, I forget just how far the high bays are compared to the launch pads (top of the picture) so I think this helps me understand. For some reason I had it in my head that the launch pad was to the bottom right of the site.

 

 

Old photo. Looking East towords the Gulf, the red square is roughly where the landing pad and new launch table are.

 

[DocM]

Testing delayed due to winds...

 

[DocM]

Super Heavy parts (upper dome, fuel stack, ring stacks), new big crane assembly, launch table construction, etc.