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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

#481

Post by mulmen »

HPsquared wrote: post #274
mulmen wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does New Shepard. If crossing the Karman line is your definition of re-entry then the Falcon 9 isn’t unique. What Starship is doing is completely different from what Falcon 9 is doing. Falcon 9 is not the only other sub-orbital booster to propulsively land. Starship isn’t the only other spacecraft to survive hypersonic re-entry. It’s not even unique in being reusable. Starship and Falcon 9 are incredible achieveme…

I guess the Space Shuttle did have main engines (and orbital maneuvering engines) but it's notable that they weren't expected to relight afterwards.

Why is that one implementation detail notable? Is it also notable that Starship's main engines are unused at launch?

I realize re-lighitng main engines is novel but it isn't unique and even if it was that doesn't make the up-thread claims any less inaccurate.

Shuttle was a reusable orbital vehicle with multi-day endurance capable of hypersonic reentry. Falcon 9 is not that.

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#482

Post by namlem »

jlangenauer wrote: post #235

A seriously incredible achievement, and I'm sure everyone at SpaceX is very happy with what they've done right now. I was absolutely certain it wasn't going to make it when I saw chunks breaking off the flap.

I'm sure NASA is thrilled as well, since this is great news for the Artemis program.

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#484

Post by thehappypm »

PaulHoule wrote: post #366
jtriangle wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to do slow star-trek style landings, you need star-trek level tech. Namely, propulsion tech that doesn't exist. That doesn't mean that it's impossible, just means that it'd require things that don't exist yet. Worth mentioning that, additionally, reentry heating isn't a huge problem, and you're not going to create new propulsion tech to counter it, you're just going to make better heat tiles. What you nee…

A positive way of framing it is that atmospheric recently is free. If the Earth didn’t have an atmosphere it would take just as big a velocity change to land as it does to get into orbit and getting to be orbit would be as hard as an interplanetary flight. It's worse than it sounds because the rocket equation has a logarithm in it... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation double the Δv means you sq…

No atmosphere would be much easier.

There's enough energy in a Tesla battery to for the Tesla to reach escape velocity. If you could simply drive at max acceleration (and the car didn't fall apart, and the tires continued to have grip, and a million other reasons why this is impossible) eventually you'd reach escape velocity and still have some percentage left.

In a more realistic sense, a long railgun type system would be very practical in a no-atmosphere environment, and then not being subject to the tyranny of the rocket equation, you could launch whatever you wanted. Enough fuel to decelerate is no problem.

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#485

Post by dole »

phkahler wrote: post #282
me_me_me wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's pretty trivial. Put mass in between you and space. Seems like you quite confident. So go on. Expand on that a bit... its trivial after all. You will teleport all that mass to ELO? Or use tracker beam to capture asteroid and space mine it to smelt shielding. I am super curious how you solve it trivially. edit: You downvote but dont explain this trivial solution. Am I asking too much? Calling someone out to expl…

We've had people in space for close to a year, so the trip to Mars shouldn't kill them. Once on mars they'll still need shielding. One option for shelter might be to bore some underground tunnels. A smallish electric tunnel boring machine that could fit in a starship might just be the ticket to building sheltered habitats on Mars. Funny that Elon already has another company that makes these.

Already there as long as they're not filled with squatters.

https://www.usgs.gov/news/caves-mars

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#487

Post by franzb »

tim333 wrote: post #371
somenameforme wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 'worst' thing about watching space launches on streams is that you simply cannot grasp how ridiculously huge these things are. Even if, like in the stream today, you see a water tower for some scale, the size discrepancies just make it so hard to intuit. Starship is 121 meters high. That's something taller than a football field, jetting off into space! I've only gotten to see a decommissioned Space Shuttle in per…

I've got the black and white arty photo as my lockscreen which gives you an idea https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/E46BxzjjUkpthVBNE6k8mn-192...

A striking picture! Thanks for sharing!

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#488

Post by PaulHoule »

thehappypm wrote: post #484
PaulHoule wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A positive way of framing it is that atmospheric recently is free. If the Earth didn’t have an atmosphere it would take just as big a velocity change to land as it does to get into orbit and getting to be orbit would be as hard as an interplanetary flight. It's worse than it sounds because the rocket equation has a logarithm in it... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation double the Δv means you sq…

No atmosphere would be much easier. There's enough energy in a Tesla battery to for the Tesla to reach escape velocity. If you could simply drive at max acceleration (and the car didn't fall apart, and the tires continued to have grip, and a million other reasons why this is impossible) eventually you'd reach escape velocity and still have some percentage left. In a more realistic sense, a long railgun type system wo…

Seems challenging to get decelerated by a rail gun, coil gun or such at the destination. You get one chance to get caught by it otherwise you crash and die.

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#489

Post by mlindner »

me_me_me wrote: post #156
kemotep wrote: post #36

I am one of the people skeptical about Elon’s specific claims of Starships abilities specifically about his Mars ambitions. Today’s test, if the Starship reentry is as successful as the booster soft landing will be absolutely a great achievement and a 100% mission success. This demonstration keeps SpaceX on schedule for their part of the Artemis 3 mission. Keeping the mission parameters simpler (no “refueuling” or do…

Anything Mars is pure BS. Just anything and everything. The one way trip to mars is orders of magnitude more complicated than moon. Keeping people from being riddled with cancer in 6months trip is not trivial. Landing and then what you plan a flag and die?

> Anything Mars is pure BS. Just anything and everything.

It is until it suddenly isn't. Just because it's very far out still and any timelines mentioned are wrong, doesn't make it 'pure BS'. It very much has been the goal of SpaceX from the day it was founded to encourage human travel to Mars, and we're getting closer every day.

Re: Super Heavy has splashed down in The Gulf of Mexico

#490

Post by m4rtink »

sixQuarks wrote: post #8
bearjaws wrote: post #3

The 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.

Its 200+ tons dry apparently when landing.
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