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SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

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Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#182
post #34

I had an unpopular opinion amongst friends that this thing looked like a total piece of shit, like a movie prop. They were using rented lifts and cranes to assemble it in the field. Clock right twice a day or maybe there's a reason everything about Apollo spacecraft was meticulously assembled.

Because it is a movie prop... Amazing how easy it is to scam engineers and so-called "smart people" these days. "You can tell it's real because it looks so fake" -- Elon

They're opening mocking you all and you can't even tell!

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#183

I read this was a manufacturing pathfinder. Manufacturing and assembly of high strength hardened steel is near black art. Pathfinders do exactly what they say, they lead you through unknown territory to the outcome of the manufacturing journey you embarked on. Often things go boom, you find out why, add it to your corpus of black art knowledge, and keep pathfinding until you run out of budget / succeed / change missi…

Why would they be using hardened steel for a pressure vessel that has to deal with vibrations? Also, someone on twitter said a horizontal weld failed. If this is true I'm surprised they didn't do two things: - tune their welding procedure by destructive testing with the same type of steel - and X-ray (or use another non-destructive method) the welds after assembly. Welding (including more interesting metals) is my ho…

As far as I know the type of steel they are using increases in strength as it gets colder, so that should be ideal for the LOX.

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#184
post #172

I read this was a manufacturing pathfinder. Manufacturing and assembly of high strength hardened steel is near black art. Pathfinders do exactly what they say, they lead you through unknown territory to the outcome of the manufacturing journey you embarked on. Often things go boom, you find out why, add it to your corpus of black art knowledge, and keep pathfinding until you run out of budget / succeed / change missi…

I must admit that Elon has done some fairly impressive things, and I respect his hustle and innovation. With that said, the cult that surrounds his projects where people say things like "this is what success looks like" when a big metal thing blows up unexpectedly or robot car goes flying off an exit ramp is a never ending source of amusement.

You're saying this to a community with the mantra, "move fast and break things."

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#185
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must admit that Elon has done some fairly impressive things, and I respect his hustle and innovation. With that said, the cult that surrounds his projects where people say things like "this is what success looks like" when a big metal thing blows up unexpectedly or robot car goes flying off an exit ramp is a never ending source of amusement.

Way to misquote GP to confirm your preexisting bias. I think the quote you're looking for is: "So as manufacturing pathfinder, this is what success often looks like. " If blowing up a prototype enables changes to the manufacturing process that prevent the same thing happening later with a live crew on board, then it's considered a success. It doesn't matter who the CEO of the company happens to be.

On the other hand, perfection looks like nothing ever blowing up while job always getting done.

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#186
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must admit that Elon has done some fairly impressive things, and I respect his hustle and innovation. With that said, the cult that surrounds his projects where people say things like "this is what success looks like" when a big metal thing blows up unexpectedly or robot car goes flying off an exit ramp is a never ending source of amusement.

The cult is funny indeed, but do mind that the giant SpaceX booster rockets exploded in giant balls of fire a LOT before they eventually (and reliably) landed like in a sci-fi movie, on land and on a moving boat. SpaceX has earned some benefit of the doubt.

FWIW the “boat” is not moving. This is in contrast to Blue Origin’s reusable booster which will literally be landing on a moving boat.

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#187
post #184
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must admit that Elon has done some fairly impressive things, and I respect his hustle and innovation. With that said, the cult that surrounds his projects where people say things like "this is what success looks like" when a big metal thing blows up unexpectedly or robot car goes flying off an exit ramp is a never ending source of amusement.

You're saying this to a community with the mantra, "move fast and break things."

I prefer breakfast, move things.

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#188
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's basically been the conventional thinking about rocketry historically - scientists and engineers looked at the tyranny of the rocket equation and choose to maximize payload per launch because they were largely funded by government or quasi government "cost plus" types of contracts. The design philosophy of working close to margins comes from this thinking. SpaceX's greatest contribution has been to look at rock…

Doesn't matter. If you take the conservative assumptions that go into manufacturing, say, a car and apply those to a rocket, you'll get something that won't even lift off the ground, much less make orbit. Any rocket HAS to be very close to the limits of what materials used allow, and not the +50% margin of error you routinely seen in other fields. What you say about SpaceX is true, but only relative to the rocket ind…

The video is hilarious! Thanks for sharing!

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Way to misquote GP to confirm your preexisting bias. I think the quote you're looking for is: "So as manufacturing pathfinder, this is what success often looks like. " If blowing up a prototype enables changes to the manufacturing process that prevent the same thing happening later with a live crew on board, then it's considered a success. It doesn't matter who the CEO of the company happens to be.

On the other hand, perfection looks like nothing ever blowing up while job always getting done.

Unfortunately, for NASA and most other space companies before SpaceX came along, perfection looks more like almost nothing ever blowing up while almost nothing getting done...

Re: SpaceX's Starship Mk1 just blew off its bulkhead in a pressurization accident

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cult is funny indeed, but do mind that the giant SpaceX booster rockets exploded in giant balls of fire a LOT before they eventually (and reliably) landed like in a sci-fi movie, on land and on a moving boat. SpaceX has earned some benefit of the doubt.

FWIW the “boat” is not moving. This is in contrast to Blue Origin’s reusable booster which will literally be landing on a moving boat.

What do you mean by "not moving"? The platform sat on the surface of an ocean. It's always moving.
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