Mastodawn

Spaceflight 🚀Jul 10, 2024

“#SpaceX would modify, reuse, or demolish the existing #SLC37* infrastructure to support #Starship-Super Heavy launch and landing operations” https://spaceforcestarshipeis.com/proposed-action/

* 🗺️ https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=SLC-37&layer=Esri+Satellite

#CapeCanaveral #SpaceForce #Launchpad

Proposed Action – Space Force Starship EIS

Proposed Action Purpose of the Proposed Action The purpose of the Action is to advance U.S. space capabilities and provide launch and landing infrastructure in furtherance of U.S. policy to ensure capabilities necessary to launch and insert DAF payloads into space (10 U.S.C. Section 2273, “Policy regarding assured access to space: national security payloads”). Need […]

Spaceflight 🚀

Besides the request for up to 25 launches per year from #Starbase, #SpaceX is also planning for up to 44 Starship launches per year from #LC39A at the Kennedy Space Center as well as up to 76 launches per year from #SLC37B. This will total up to 145 launches of #Starship per year https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/07/booster-12-static-fires-pad-a-b-tower-stacking/

Starbase’s second launch tower 🗺️ https://graphhopper.com/maps/?point=Starbase+Integration+Tower+B&layer=OpenStreetMap

Booster 12 static fires at Pad A and Pad B tower stacking underway - NASASpaceFlight.com

After Hurricane Beryl passed the Brownsville area without seriously damaging Starbase, preparations for Starship Flight…

NASASpaceFlight.com

Spaceflight 🚀Jul 31, 2024

🇺🇸 ➡️ 🇦🇺 ⏱️ "the delivery time for rocket 🚀 based cargo 📦 around the planet - taking advantage of orbital velocity of 27,350 kph and a hypersonic reentry through Earth's atmosphere - would be a fraction of the roughly 12 to 24 hours typically needed for traditional aircraft ✈️ " https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/spacex-talks-land-recover-starship-rocket-off-australias-coast-2024-07-29/

#SpaceX #Starship #US #Australia

⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Jul 31, 2024

@spaceflight and only look exactly like a preemptive nuclear strike. Which would prompt a nuclear response.

Spaceflight 🚀Jul 31, 2024

@falken did you answer to the wrong post, or what's the relation to the above ?

⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Aug 1, 2024

@spaceflight right post. Orbital (even sub-) cargo delivery would be indistinguishable from a ICBM or theatre-local equivalent.
Remember when the US wanted a "anywhere in 2 hours" troup transport a decade or so ago? Same issue.

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 1, 2024

@falken I'd assume they are very easily distinguishable https://everydayastronaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Electron-vs-Starship-Size-1-1024x576.png when even "debris as small as 1 cm can be tracked" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris#Tracking_and_measurement

⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Aug 1, 2024

@spaceflight you trust north Korea to check their email for published delivery schedules before shooting down an unknown ballistic missile? What about the south?

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 1, 2024

@falken do you think conventional transport ✈️ would be better in north Korean airspace ? 🤔 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63637625

https://safeairspace.net/north-korea

MH17: Three guilty as court finds Russia-controlled group downed airliner

A Dutch trial finds a missile supplied by Russia killed 298 people on board MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️Aug 1, 2024

@spaceflight no, but let's not annoy the Russians either, k?
:-)

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 1, 2024

Impressive pace for the 2nd #BocaChica launch tower (and they try to improve reentry) https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/07/starship-7-30-24/

Successful Static Fire Leads to Final Preparation Before Full Stack - NASASpaceFlight.com

Activities at Starbase are on full throttle as Starship Flight 5 pulls ever closer. Major work has been completed on Launch Pad B altering the skyline, glimpses of the future have been witnessed with the first-ever Block 2 starship, and Ship 30 completed a second static fire with full-stack testing on the horizon.

NASASpaceFlight.com

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 4, 2024

On the next #Starship flight, #SpaceX plans to attempt to recover the #booster using catch arms 🦾. "We want to be really confident that the ship #HeatShield 🔥🛡️ is super robust and lands at the exact right location 🎯. So before we try to bring the #ship back to the launch site, we probably want to have at least three successful landings of the ship 🚀 [at sea 🌊]." https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/rocket-report-falcon-9-is-back-starship-could-be-recovered-off-australia/

Rocket Report: Falcon 9 is back; Starship could be recovered off Australia

Elon Musk doesn't expect the next Starship test flight to occur before late August.

Ars Technica

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 4, 2024

• #SpaceX plans to increase the size 📏 of the #Starship from 50 m to 70 m, and #SuperHeavy from 71 m to 80 m. The upgraded Starship will stand 150 m tall.
• More power 💪 : To get the larger spacecraft into #orbit, SpaceX will more than double 📈 the amount of thrust for Starship, and increase Super Heavy’s thrust by nearly 40%
https://payloadspace.com/spacex-inches-closer-to-increasing-starship-launches/

SpaceX Inches Closer to Increasing Starship Launches

While SpaceX’s proposal will significantly increase in the amount of rocket traffic above Boca Chica, the FAA found the impact to the environment should be minimal.

Payload

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 4, 2024

The #Falcon9 and #FalconHeavy share the same fairing with a total usable volume of 145 cubic meters. #Starship’s usable 📦 volume is around 1,000 cubic meters https://everydayastronaut.com/definitive-guide-to-starship/

The Definitive Guide To Starship: Starship vs Falcon 9, what's new and improved?

Starship poses the ultimate challenge in aerospace engineering: a fully and rapidly reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle, capable of taking 150 tonnes to low Earth orbit. That’s more payload than the Saturn V, and it’ll be fully reusable!

Everyday Astronaut

(moved)Galbinus Caeli 🌯Aug 4, 2024

@spaceflight Is the Starship fairing large enough to hold a Boeing Starliner?

Spaceflight 🚀Aug 4, 2024

@SkipHuffman several of them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Starliner

Boeing Starliner - Wikipedia

Michael Gemar Jul 16, 2024

@spaceflight Given that full in-space refuelling will take 8-12 additional tanker flights, that would make around 14 fully-fuelled Starships in orbit per year, which is pretty impressive. (I wonder how quickly in-orbit refuelling has to be done to avoid problems with boil-off — I doubt those refueling flights would be spread over months.)

Spaceflight 🚀Jul 16, 2024

@michaelgemar where's that "8-12" number from ? 🤔

Michael Gemar Jul 16, 2024

@spaceflight That’s been the ballpark of what SoaceX and NASA have said, e.g., “SpaceX's current estimate is approximately 10 refueling launches for one Artemis landing mission, but there are error bars on each side of this number.”

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/04/nasa-exploration-chief-lays-out-next-steps-for-starship-development/

NASA lays out how SpaceX will refuel Starships in low-Earth orbit

"The fundamental flow mechanism is the pressure delta across the umbilical."

Ars Technica

Spaceflight 🚀Jul 16, 2024

@michaelgemar the "ballpark" seems to be quite wide "The exact number of refueling launches has been the subject of controversy, with estimates going as high as nearly 20" https://spacenews.com/spacex-making-progress-on-starship-in-space-refueling-technologies/

SpaceX making progress on Starship in-space refueling technologies

NASA says SpaceX is on track to demonstrate in-space refueling of Starship next year, a critical technology for returning humans to the lunar surface using that vehicle.

SpaceNews

Michael Gemar Jul 16, 2024

@spaceflight Yep — whatever the number, it will take a *lot* of launches.