SpaceX Starship missions 1

[thebard3]

Starting a dedicated thread here. After a pretty smooth flight test today, assuming no big anomalies occurred with the ground systems, it looks like SpaceX is back on track with testing and development. We should see more flights in the near future.
Both vehicles were lost before completing their full mission but a huge step forward today to see both executing the primary flight goals.

Brad Waybright

The more you know, the more you know you don't know.

 

[btrueblood]

"Perhaps we should be asking California and its NGO's why they're forcing Space X to launch from less ideal sites than Vandenberg? Sites that put low income humans at risk?"

SpaceX launches the Falcon boosters on a regular basis from both Canaveral and Vandenberg, not sure what you mean about being forced out. Can you supply a reference to NGOs limiting launches? I'm not aware of any NGO having authority, it's the FAA that controls such. Vandenberg was set up to launch polar and retrograde orbiting space-going rockets, but more importantly was a launch site for ICBM missile tests with targeting to Kwajalein atoll, it was never intended to be an east-bound launch site. Eastbound launches from Canaveral, as Wil points out, are fairly straightforward, as there is plenty of clear ocean downrange, no "threading the needle" required.

NASA did want SpaceX to upgrade the launch pad facilities at Canaveral in order to handle the higher thrust output of the Starship engines (it has higher total thrust, roughly 2x and possibly growing to 3x, than the Saturn V booster)...the deluge system and flame trenches would've needed to be increased in size/capacity to keep from needing major refurbishment after every launch. Rather than pay that bill up front, Mr. Rokit Expurt Musk decided to buy property in Texas and launch from there, with no developed facilities to speak of. Recall how well his first attempts, without any kind of deluge system or flame trench, went. The OP of this thread kept saying they weren't needed, and he and Musk were both proven wrong by flight after flight with engines failing at ignition or shortly after - rocket exhaust plumes are incredibly dynamic and were discovered by the Boring guy to be really good at excavating Texas caliche clay. I'd bet he spent a lot more fixing stupid problems (rearranging the propellant tanks from vertical to horizontal to minimize their debris impact cross section was certainly not cheap) than the NASA upgrade estimate would have been.

But, this whole scheme does seem to promote the stated goal of SpaceX - "Building a More Exciting Future" - since rocket explosions and misfires are certainly exciting.

 

[TugboatEng]

Sorry, the Coastal Commission is a rogue government agency, not a NGO. However, the NGO Sierra Club has a lot of influence over the CCC. Here is an example:

Aug 8 Coastal Commission Countown: Space X at Vandenberg and Chumash Nat'l Marine Sanctuary

The state Coastal Commission will hold a hearing on August 8th about the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS), giving the public an opportunity to weigh in on a new sanctuary to expand protections for one of the most biodiverse marine areas in the world. It will...

www.sierraclub.org

And if you don't believe that Sierra Club is a NGO, here they are being significantly funded by the government.

Sierra Club Celebrates Securement of $4.4 Billion in New ERA Funding for Clean Energy, Rural Development

Washington, DC – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the finalization of $4.37 billion in clean energy investments stemming from Empowering Rural America (New ERA) grants and loans at 10 large rural electric cooperatives. The New ERA program funds investments in renewable...

www.sierraclub.org

 

[thebard3]

The OP of this thread kept saying they weren't needed...

I did?

 

[thebard3]

Starship is destacked from the booster, with work already going on underneath.

 

[TugboatEng]

Looks like another one exploded. The width of the debris field re-entering is large. These must be very energetic explosions. Are there any other examples of spacecraft blowing apart so spectacularly while in or nearly in orbit?

 

[thebard3]

Looks like another one exploded. The width of the debris field re-entering is large. These must be very energetic explosions. Are there any other examples of spacecraft blowing apart so spectacularly while in or nearly in orbit?

Other than Columbia's breakup on re-entry, I can't think of another one that happened at great altitude.
Definitely not a good result. I don't see anything to suggest that this failure is very much different than the previous one.

 

[SWComposites]

I have vague memories of multiple Chinese and NorthK rockets exploding at altitude. Likely some Soviet ones. And definitely there were US ones in the '50s and '60s in the early days of rocketry.