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Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

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Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#551
post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you might build a rocket that was less prone to blowing up, but it might not be as efficient. You might also not be able to build it with a room full of idealistic youths running on inspiration.

I guess if you're a Longtermist, killing a 100 people on a flight to Mars is nothing if you save the human race.

They don’t have people on the rocket now right? It’s just a bunch of money being vaporized.

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#552
post #310

What is the sudden change in the exhaust plume at occurs here [1] at 149km / 17650 kph? I believe that's squarely in the thermosphere, and there aren't any step changes in temperature/pressure at that point that I'm aware of. It would make sense if that were near the mesopause, but that's around 100km. Maybe it's something on SpaceX's side of things, a change in the burn profile? Perhaps it's related to losing the St…

According to Scott Manleys video, it seems like an oxygen leak. You can see below that from that point onwards, oxygen depletion rate increased.

Maybe this lack of oxygen led to the engines flaming out early, triggering the AFTS.

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#553
post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I know. I used to work at NASA. But I still think it's a delightful euphemism. (And yes, I'm being ironic.)

Is it a humoristic (sarcastic) style form, or just a very neutral, matter of fact, professional assessment? I can't tell, in part, I guess, due to esl.

It's in a similar category to FUBAR.

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#554
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why so long? Will they need to go through another round of FAA approval? Or?

6 months is very short in rocket time. just look at Ariane 6...

What does Ariane 6 has to do with it? It has not flown even once.

Starship is a hardware rich program, the next version are there and nearly ready. Unless a major redesign is required (unlikely) it can happen much faster.

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not totally sure Space X cares what the rest of the industry thinks. This is next-level space engineering compared to what's come before. Who's opinions are we concerned about? ULA? Arianespace? Those companies can't even blow up a space craft successfully because they can't launch them (see, SLS, Ariane 6).

"This is next-level space engineering compared to what's come before." What an odd thing to say. Are you suggesting that Starship is next-level when compared to Saturn V? Hehe. I guess people nowadays lack any sort of historical perspective.

That a very odd thing to say.

Starship is more then 2x as powerful as Saturn V. Starship is also designed for reusable.

So even if you consider it non-reusable its still much more powerful then Saturn V.

If 2x the size and major new features isn't 'next level' then what is?

It seems you are missing current perspective and glorifying the past.

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#557
post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Imagine explaining to the court that the passengers were blown up by your AI algorithm... Autonomous flight termination systems are not "AI". It uses an on-board GPS and INS to figure out where the rocket is. It applies a pre-defined set of rules to the state vector and if any one of the rules fail it terminates the flight. You can read more about them here: https://www.gps.gov/cgsic/meetings/2019/valencia.pdf

GOFAI is still AI in my books. *old man shouts at The Cloud*

It's not AI at all. It just has preset border conditions in terms of flight corridor and probably, predicted/calculated impact point if engines go out at that moment, and blows rocket up if they are violated. It's hard logic, comparison of some variables with set thresholds, not some "thinking".

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#558
post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's Weaver's own account: http://www.chuckyeager.org/news/sr-71-disintegrated-pilot-fr... I love the serendipitous detail of what happened on his next flight, though I'm sure it was not so amusing when it happened.

Well, his _next_ flight was to see the body of Jim. But yes, the next Habu flight started off interesting.

Lol! I up-voted you (seriously, I did) because this is close to the platonic ideal of a HN comment: egregious pedantry, plus a nerd-flex.

For those out of the loop on the nerd-flex, "Habu" was an unofficial, insidery nickname for the SR-71. It's the name of a venomous snake from somewhere with an SR-71 base (was it Okinawa? I think it was Okinawa), that the locals applied to the plane, because it (like the snake) was black and dangerous-looking.

Re: Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time

#559
post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess if you're a Longtermist, killing a 100 people on a flight to Mars is nothing if you save the human race.

They don’t have people on the rocket now right? It’s just a bunch of money being vaporized.

There were no crew on the first two Saturn V flights, yet the engineers considered it worthwhile to build them with sufficient care that they didn't vaporize anything except fuel and oxidizer.
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