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SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

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Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#21

Post by TechPlasma »

Laremere wrote: post #15

Summary from my watch: - Launch roughly on time, after a scrub yesterday. (Sounds like the scrub was due to ground equipment, most notably the water system.) - Initial ascent was good, but then one engine on the booster went out. - Relight of the booster's engines after stage separation for the boost back burn failed. Engines did light again for a landing burn, but seems to have hit the water harder than expected and…

I think the ship really punted the booster during stage separation. And caused the boost back failure from sloshing.

Also I think Ship now has methane thrusters on it. They were operating with a clean blue flame in short purposeful bursts.

Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#23

Post by maxlin »

I wonder if the hot separation was supposed to be that hot. Going at mach 5 and doing a quick U turn while there was some weird orange color on the side of the Super Heavy, then (possibly?) losing most engines from it seemed extra chaotic

Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#25

Post by [deleted] »

p-e-w wrote: post #18
bbatha wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moreover the two lost shuttles included human lives. Better to blow stuff up with demo payloads now before sending up large contracted payloads or worse human beings!

I couldn’t believe my ears when I first heard that the second ever flight of SLS was going to be crewed. It worked out in the end, but I can’t imagine being so confident in a new system, no matter how much money and brainpower has been spent to make it safe.

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#26

Post by sbuttgereit »

xt00 wrote: post #22

The amount of data they must have at this point running so many of those raptor engines has got to be insane... at least 300+ engine launches now -- wow.

Sort of... this was version 3 of the engine, a fairly big redesign and for version 3 this was the first flight.

Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#27

Post by ajross »

redox99 wrote: post #13
ajross wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is true, but at the same time: this is Starship Flight 12. The whole point of Starship is that it's a reusable vehicle with easy turnaround and quick maintenance. And in particular it's supposed to be different than the other reusable vehicle with easy turnaround and quick maintenance, which turned out to be sort of a boondoggle. Yet, they've now hand-built and destroyed twelve of these things across multiple r…

If you can afford it, I'm sure anyone developing a rocket would prefer to do it this iterative way. I don't really understand the complain.

The point was more that there is a point where (to borrow the software terminology) "iterative design" becomes "death march". Trying a few times in the early days and being willing to throw stuff out and start over is a powerful tool.

I think blowing up a handful of rockets is a fine idea. But at some point you have to ask yourself if it will ever work? Why are we on a another engine redesign? Why is this the third iteration of the second stage? How many more?

And what number is that point? Six? Nine? I'm thinking thirteen may be getting into the danger zone.

Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#29

Post by allenrb »

Big takeaway for me is that the reentry and “landing” of Ship looked great. For the first time, it felt like they’re really on the path to achieving upper stage reuse. That was always the biggest “reach” of the entire program in my view, and today they took a major step forward.

Is it disappointing that they had a couple of engine outs, and also trouble with the booster relight? Sure. Do I have even a little doubt by now that they can fix these problems? None whatsoever.

The success of Ship 39 today was a big, big deal.

Re: SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

#30

Post by generuso »

TechPlasma wrote: post #21
Laremere wrote: post #15

Summary from my watch: - Launch roughly on time, after a scrub yesterday. (Sounds like the scrub was due to ground equipment, most notably the water system.) - Initial ascent was good, but then one engine on the booster went out. - Relight of the booster's engines after stage separation for the boost back burn failed. Engines did light again for a landing burn, but seems to have hit the water harder than expected and…

I think the ship really punted the booster during stage separation. And caused the boost back failure from sloshing. Also I think Ship now has methane thrusters on it. They were operating with a clean blue flame in short purposeful bursts.

If we look at the venting from the propellant tank (around T+16:15) it looks thick white closer to the vent, becoming more transparent and blue as it expands. That's just sunlight scattering on the particles and density fluctuations in the flow.

A good cold gas thruster produces a lower density, more expanded flow, which looks blue for the same the reason the sky looks blue.

One can compare this to the exhaust from various Falcon-9 engines and thrusters when it is illuminated by the sun on the backdrop of the night sky: https://youtu.be/JRzZl_nq6fk?t=193

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