Space - The Final Frontier

[Chuckanut]

Musk in the Twitter spaces said that the engines tripped the "abort" and were shut off prior to reaching full pre liftoff thrust.

The word 'pre' above is seems like the key word to me.

I sounds to me like they made a choice ahead of the launch that they would accept a certain number of failures as the 33 engines were started before the the rocket was released from the pad. The three engines that did not work right were below that number so they launched.

My guess is that they were more liberal in regards to tolerating some problems because this was a test launch, not one carrying a paid payload or a crew. My understanding is the SpaceX was at a point where they would learn a lot more about perfecting this rocket by actually launching it, rather than making minor improvements here and there in the hope it would be a huge success on it's first flight. According to Musk the goal for the next launch is to have the second stage successfully separate. SpaceX is still rather far away from expecting a successful launch, achieving orbit and then a safe return of both stages.

Apparently they already have a several more stripped-down to the basics Starship second stages waiting for their turn to be blown apart in future tests.

 

[joesxm3]

Musk said that 30 engines was the minimum. They tried the three engines that failed, but shut them off during the start up process.

They also said that some of the booster engines that later failed tried to restart several times. Musk said that only engines in the center were programmed to restart.

He also said that the booster never made it to the point of requesting separation and that they did not have enough "set cord" to blow it up in the thin atmosphere and only when it dropped lower did structural failure occur.

 

[Christine]

I'll wait for independent confirmation on anything coming from Musk.

Please don't pollute this fine thread with irrelevant personal opinions.

 

[CaptTom]

Watched the Falcon Heavy launch last night. It was kinda boring. Maybe I'm getting used to it. Or maybe the thrill has always been the landing. These boosters were not recovered, so not much of a climatic ending. I'm glad everything worked.

 

[Fermion]

Watched the Falcon Heavy launch last night. It was kinda boring. Maybe I'm getting used to it. Or maybe the thrill has always been the landing. These boosters were not recovered, so not much of a climatic ending. I'm glad everything worked.

I've been reading some Ray Bradbury. Evidently he was writing when people still thought there was a breathable atmosphere on Mars. He has rocket launches being as common as airplane takeoffs by 1999 or so. Maybe we are getting there.

 

[tulak]

There used to be a dead horse being beaten emoji somewhere on this site. Just assume I found and used it.

+1.

For some it’d probably be best to ignore this thread. They can even start their own if they’re so inclined.

 

[Chuckanut]

Falcon Heavy is still impressive to watch. IIRC, it is also the most powerful rocket in the world - that works. [emoji6]

 

[audreyh1]

I haven’t noticed any talk about why the second stage separation failed to happen, not that I’ve been looking for it.

 

[mpeirce]

Musk said

And it got pretty close to stage separation. So if we had maintained thrust vector control and throttled up, which we should have, because we needed to compensate. We'd lost too many engines, so we should have throttled up the remaining engines to make up for the missing ones. But if we'd throttled up the remaining engines and maintained thrust vector control, we would have made it to staging, which would be cool.

Basically, the ship just didn’t quite make it that far.

Next time...

 

[joesxm3]

There was also the issue of if it did separate it would not have reached the planned dropping spot near Hawaii and risk dropping somewhere it might cause damage.

 

[audreyh1]

Eric Berger article Ars Technica

Musk provides detailed review of starship’s first launch.

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...iew-of-starships-first-launch-and-whats-next/

 

[Chuckanut]

Falcon Heavy is still impressive to watch. IIRC, it is also the most powerful rocket in the world - that works. [emoji6]

Thinking about Falcon Heavy reminded me that it has 27 engines that all ignite before launch. So, igniting 33 engines on the Starship booster should not be a big leap for SpaceX. But, what do I know about building rockets? Not much.

The Russians at one point had a rocket called the N1 with 20 small engines in the first stage. It flew four times and blew-up four times.

 

[Chuckanut]

May 5, 1961 - Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel to space aboard Freedom 7. It was a 15 minute sub orbital flight.

 

[Gumby]

May 5, 1961 - Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel to space aboard Freedom 7. It was a 15 minute sub orbital flight.

U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1944. USNA is the college with the highest number of astronauts (54) among its graduates, including 3 of my classmates.

https://www.usnews.com/education/be...at-have-produced-the-most-astronauts?slide=14

 

[camfused]

On the AX-2 launch today, starting at T+05:44 (and especially at T+05:55), it seems like the 1st stage, traveling at over 3400kph, had some near misses with debris. Anyone else notice that?

 

[Gumby]

Yes, I saw that. It starts at T+5:43 (3:36:42 in the attached video). There were three separate pieces a few seconds apart.

 

[camfused]

It seems that at 3400kph, it might not be very good to hit something with your rocket bell. I assume it is debris from when the 1st stage was going up. I wonder if they have accounted for stuff like this in their flight path?

 

[Gumby]

It may have been going 3400 kph relative to earth, but not relative to the debris.

 

[camfused]

Good point, but still, it was wiping by at a decent clip.

 

[zoomie78]

I have witnessed the excitement shared by a new generation of space enthusiast. I have access to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and share the launch experience with young people every chance I get. Attached is a picture I took of the returning booster. The person I was able to share this experience with was a recent high school graduate from Michigan. She was being treated with a trip to the Space Center by her grandmother. This young woman will be going to college and studying aerospace engineering. The future is very bright. You can see more of my pictures on Instagram @SpaceCoastPictures

 

[Gumby]

I've been looking for reports about the debris near miss on Sunday's launch, but so far nothing.

 

[camfused]

What puzzles me is that I watched the NASASpaceFlight feed on YouTube, a bunch of space nerds, and they said nothing about it too.

 

[Yoheadden]

https://interestingengineering.com/...ate-in-interplanetary-a-sign-in-space-project

Here’s your chance to decipher an alien message.

 

[Chuckanut]

Unfortunately, the Boeing Starliner’s first manned space flight will be delayed and not take place in the July timeframe.

https://www.space.com/boeing-starliner-nasa-astronaut-launch-delayed-indefinitely

“ Boeing is standing down for the first-ever crewed launch of its Starliner astronaut capsule for NASA, possibly indefinitely, due to safety issues with the spacecraft's parachutes and wiring discovered last week.

The Starliner astronaut launch, already years behind schedule, was most recently targeted to launch two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on July 21. Now, it likely won't launch at all this summer, and may not get off the ground this year.”

 

[Yoheadden]

https://earthsky.org/space/mars-livestream-1st-ever-watch-at-earthsky/

1st ever Mars Live Stream- today