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Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

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Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#81
post #57

As noted by chat in EDA stream, Max Q is projected to be 10s later than previous tests: grep -i 'max q' ift* | sed -e 's;^; ;' ift2-timeline.csv:00:00:52 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) ift3-timeline.csv:00:00:52 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket) ift4-timeline.csv:00:01:02 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)

None of the past tests has reached orbit (IFT3 got to orbital altitude, but not orbital velocity), so I believe SpaceX is essentially a projection that they will reach orbit this time.

> IFT3 got to orbital altitude, but not orbital velocity

I don't think this is correct.

"Starship reached orbital velocity!" - https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1768271078999167379

"SpaceX's Starship mega rocket launched from Texas on its third test flight, reaching an altitude of 160 kilometers and achieving orbital velocity [...]" https://x.com/CBCNews/status/1768296197846884741

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#83
post #2

As per Elon Musk, > Streaming live exclusively on this platform! Broadcast link, https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWYzDXjWGQ --- edit: It looks like there is a YouTube link available (see comment below mine), and what Elon meant is that SpaceX themselves would be streaming exclusively on Twitter. Apologies for confusion.

Why the exclusivity? What does Spacex gain from streaming only on twitter?

The CEO of SpaceX owns Twitter.

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#84
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no comparison between starship and Boeing. The comparission would be a Crew Dragon and Boeing. When Crew Dragon first launched back in 2020 it was news -- i.e. it was literally NEW. They were the first people to launch into space from the US since the shuttle retired. Crew Dragon last launched in March, and I certainly didn't see anything about it, it's business as usual.

Not my point. Both are relevant to people and only one is considered "news".

People care less about whoever comes second - especially when they are 4 years too late.

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#85
post #2

As per Elon Musk, > Streaming live exclusively on this platform! Broadcast link, https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWYzDXjWGQ --- edit: It looks like there is a YouTube link available (see comment below mine), and what Elon meant is that SpaceX themselves would be streaming exclusively on Twitter. Apologies for confusion.

Its being restreamed to https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-... , no twitter account required =)

Very strange you can watch it here: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1798098040588480826 but not here: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWYzDXjWGQ without an account.

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the past tests has reached orbit (IFT3 got to orbital altitude, but not orbital velocity), so I believe SpaceX is essentially a projection that they will reach orbit this time.

> IFT3 got to orbital altitude, but not orbital velocity I don't think this is correct. "Starship reached orbital velocity!" - https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1768271078999167379 "SpaceX's Starship mega rocket launched from Texas on its third test flight, reaching an altitude of 160 kilometers and achieving orbital velocity [...]" https://x.com/CBCNews/status/1768296197846884741

If you look at the readings on the screen and do some basic physics instead of relying on the press releases of a biased party, you will realize that they were short of orbital velocity. At that altitude, orbital velocity is 27000 km/h, and IFT3 got to 21000-22000 km/h.

As we're speaking, IFT4 has reached orbit.

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the past tests has reached orbit (IFT3 got to orbital altitude, but not orbital velocity), so I believe SpaceX is essentially a projection that they will reach orbit this time.

> IFT3 got to orbital altitude, but not orbital velocity I don't think this is correct. "Starship reached orbital velocity!" - https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1768271078999167379 "SpaceX's Starship mega rocket launched from Texas on its third test flight, reaching an altitude of 160 kilometers and achieving orbital velocity [...]" https://x.com/CBCNews/status/1768296197846884741

They turned off the engines early specifically to not reach orbital velocity.

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#88

The stream has ended now. I'm editing the comment to provide guidance for the next time that someone wants to watch a SpaceX stream via VLC: Get the URL by going to the Twitter feed (e.g. via spacex.com/launches if you don't want to search for it) and extract the appropriate URL using the network traffic developer tools of your browser. It might be hosted on pscp.tv , the domain of the old Periscope live video stream…

V4 demonstrating steady confident progress.

The hard bit coming up in 25 minutes. Going forward getting to this point in the flight plan is now basically table stakes. What a marked difference from V1. Love to see it.

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#89
Curious - I was watching the live stream, and noticed as the ship's rockets were on, there were a bunch of these "floaters" in the view.

https://imgur.com/a/OrZTYxP

I know nearly nothing about rocketry, so ELI5 (or give me a wikipedia link!)... anyone know what those floaters are? Is it some byproduct of the fuel? An artifact of the cameras? An illusion coming through the haze of the burning rocket?

Re: Starship's Fourth Flight Test [video]

#90
post #2

As per Elon Musk, > Streaming live exclusively on this platform! Broadcast link, https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1OwxWYzDXjWGQ --- edit: It looks like there is a YouTube link available (see comment below mine), and what Elon meant is that SpaceX themselves would be streaming exclusively on Twitter. Apologies for confusion.

Does "something went wrong" mean you have to be logged in to view it, like you have to be logged in to do anything on the musk hellsite these days?

No logged in and am viewing it just fine.
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