Dear SpaceX: you guys are awesome.
Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
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Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#12The ocean landing is so cool. I believe they said that the next one they are going to try to land back at the tower? Seems plausible now.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#13Wait, did it land or not? Retrieved or sunk? Couldn’t tell from the video.
It did not land. The plan was not to attempt a landing. But it maintained a controlled descent into the ocean and splashed down upright.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#14I thought it was going to stay upright! that would have been very funny.
1 engine out on the way up, who would have thought getting 33 full flow combustion rocket engines to startup at the same time would be so hard.. /s
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#15The ocean landing is so cool. I believe they said that the next one they are going to try to land back at the tower? Seems plausible now.
I think that might be a second IFT away personally: I imagine they'd like to see no engine relight issues on descent for at least one more mission first, since slamming it into Starbase would be a shame.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#16I thought it was going to stay upright! that would have been very funny. 1 engine out on the way up, who would have thought getting 33 full flow combustion rocket engines to startup at the same time would be so hard.. /s
Honestly wondering if that's a Stage 0 issue: those outer engines get primed by the launch ring AFAIK.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#17Wait, did it land or not? Retrieved or sunk? Couldn’t tell from the video.
It simulated a landing over the ocean, but there was nothing there to actually catch it.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#18Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#19The rate of descent is absolutely astonishing, 8km -> 1km in 20 seconds, then just hovers above the water. Absolutely incredible work by the SpaceX team. Living in central Florida I cannot wait for the new launch facility to come online. We're going to have lines of spectators into the space coast like we did for the shuttle. If any of you are heading to Disney World you should stop by the NASA Kennedy Visitor Comple…
Yeah it’s hard to comprehend how powerful those engines are. The booster is relatively light without all the propellant and starship when it’s attempting to land, but it’s still 30 stories tall and I’m assuming it weighs dozens of tons.
iirc only 3 ignite for the landing burn, those engines are freaking monsters. I love how small they are, the latest Raptor revision is so slim and compact. The power density is just mind boggling.
Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico
#20Wait, did it land or not? Retrieved or sunk? Couldn’t tell from the video.
Plan never was to retrieve this one. It was to simulate a landing, but over the ocean and then sink. That looks like it happened successfully... of course we'll need to wait to hear if it actually did things like hover in the right spot, etc. But looked pretty good; despite what looked like some issues with engine lights.