It means producing more than vaporware (in the past, it was paper studies). Developing means spending money with the intent of cutting metal. (doing the actual design and not conceptual studies).Depends on how you define ‘develop.’ Vast, Gravitics, TransAstra, K2Space, and Virtus Solis are all either baselining Starship directly, or proposing payloads to take advantage of its (and New Glenn’s) volume. That runs the gamut from asteroid mining spacecraft and solar power satellites, to habitats and more general-purpose satellites.
Tina Deines wrote an infuriating article for Yahoo!Tech called:
"Experts slam SpaceX after company's second test flight results in damaging explosion that 'incinerated' a local area."
he even spoke of 18 meter diameter version, several years agoWhat's in the news ? 12 m diameter again ?
I hope Elon doesn't bite.What are the odds that SpaceX will sue her for defamation?
Vast has a billionaire supporting it, Gravitics is supported by something, enough to start cutting metal, TransAstra is nowhere near building Starship-sized payloads but has contracts, and the last two are wild cards.It means producing more than vaporware (in the past, it was paper studies). Developing means spending money with the intent of cutting metal. (doing the actual design and not conceptual studies).
And with what money?
not for Starship class payloadsVast has a billionaire supporting it, Gravitics is supported by something, enough to start cutting metal,
Just two months after Starship’s second test flight, SpaceX is already closing in on the next attempt. New insights from SpaceX along with the company’s progress suggest they are planning to receive a launch license next month. If so, they intend to attempt a third flight with improved hardware just days after.
Thanks to improvements on the pad among other upgrades, the time between the 2nd and third flight is setting up to be much shorter than the last attempt. In the time since the second flight, SpaceX has continued to investigate what went wrong and how to fix it. By now the company is confident in determining the anomaly on the last flight and working to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
If successful, this could be the first flight where the upper stage makes it across the globe before attempting to reenter the atmosphere. So far on each flight the company has made progress and gotten further than the prior attempt. Here I will go more in-depth into the new launch date reports, the final steps before a second flight, some of the changes made, and more.
Full article here - https://thespacebucket.com/spacex-is-...
Inside Starship Propellant Distribution System | SpaceX Is Launching Starship To Orbit In February
SpaceX is planning the third test flight of their Starship in February. According toSpaceNews, they've been hustling to get an updated launch license from theFederal Aviation Administration.
But SpaceX is not just sitting around waiting. They've been doing these static-firetests of both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage. Last time,the Super Heavy booster was doing fine until it suddenly exploded right afterseparating from the upper stage. The upper stage, realizing things were goingsouth, activated its flight termination system during the late burn.
But now things have been drastically modified.
Meanwhile, everyone's eyes then turned to Ship 28, the upper stage of the thirdStarship. It got lifted onto a transport stand, and workers started doing theirmagic – like removing squid attachment points and sealing stuff with heat tiles.This means Ship 28's only going up by the ports beneath its flaps. It won't hit thetest pad again. After all this, it zipped over to the high bay for more work.
As for the launch site, it's getting some final touches, like a new coat of paint onthe orbital launch mount. SpaceX's plans are a bit unpredictable, but the nextsteps usually involve stacking the vehicle, final pre-flight checks, and maybe awet dress rehearsal.
Slosh will be fixed. Just like it was for Jupiter and Redstone.The Boeing Space Freighter being glide-back would not have this problem?
Stage-and-a-half, burn-to-depletion likely would not this problem either.
I wouldn't mind losing SLS if Elon and Boeing were to work together on Space Freighter.
Thirty engines? Nice
Now do fifty.
SLS doesn't have to do the violent maneuvers...steady burn--then done.
It's not called the "Senate Launch System" for nothing. It's all about the votes.And another two billion dollars goes into the drink. Previous expansions of our capabilities and wealth were always accompanied by either better transport, cheaper transport, or both. The SLS offers no unique capabilities, and is much too expensive to serve as cheap transport, so companies like SpaceX will be far more valuable to the US than Boeing is capable of being.
Who cares? It is too damn expensive. And unneeded. There is no need for NASA to operate any launch vehicles.SLS doesn't have to do the violent maneuvers...steady burn--then done.
Nowaday SLS cost (at least) $2.5 billion a launch... a launch every single year or worse, kinda 18 months.
SLS is a political and budgetary obscenity.
Any cost comparison should be done with the same year dollars.
Very solid @PolarisProgram training week. In addition to the sims, we spent a lot of time pressurized in the EVA suits working contingencies. Lots to get done, but it feels like momentum is building. Very grateful to the engineers & training team @SpaceX
Good questions:
1. No airlock. Dragon will vent to vacuum and then cabin will repressurize post-EVA. As a result, all 4 crew members are technically performing an EVA.
2. Suit pics will be released before the mission.
3. Throughout development & training, we simulate microgravity through an offload system. Though, as a crew, we do love SCUBA.
4. Yes, there is a documentary. Same doc crew as Inspiration4. I am hoping its really captures the story of all the badass SpaceX engineers that are developing the capabilities to make these objectives possible (very high apogee, EVA suit & operations, Starlink laserlink, science & research, etc).
5. I am feeling more confident by the day on launch timing, but we will provide more updates soon.
How much can you feel the difference between the IVA and EVA suits?
Very noticeable. Heavier and bulkier than the IVA suits, but they serve a much different purpose.
Before launch there is a test done on the hatch seal. Sometimes it requires the hatch being opened and seal cleaned and retest. How is this not a problem if doing an EVA?
The forward hatch has been exercised extensively in space (ISS missions, Inspiration4 accessing the cupola). Standard hatch has redundant seals, for Polaris Dawn additional modifications were made for safety.
@rookisaacman What still needs to be done before a launch date is chosen?
We have a target date, but still a lot to get through with dev and training. Qualification & acceptance tests on hardware w/ probably the biggest milestone the EVA suit ATP's. We are getting much closer.
What's your justification for this kind of stipulation? Seems to me that you only look at nails because all you have is a hammer.Ground rules: no expendable launch vehicles, no spaceplanes.
Oh crap, this is even worse than I thought. I knew I had red somewhere one SLS launch could be $4 billion, but couldn't remember where: so thanks for that source.Adjusting both numbers to 2024 dollar figures would run, $2.05 billion per Shuttle launch and $4.3 billion per launch for SLS.
Why does it matter? Even with said stipulation it's an extremely broad starting point. I've read many of your posts, you're smart enough that you can think outside the launch box (though notice that I didn't stipulate launch as a whole, only certain kinds of launch). But if you insist, Musk doesn't like expendable vehicles, and practical spaceplanes really benefit from hydrogen, which would detract from SpaceX's focus on methane. Ergo, while it might be a fun thought experiment under other circumstances, it's extremely unlikely that he could be persuaded of either.What's your justification for this kind of stipulation? Seems to me that you only look at nails because all you have is a hammer.