SpaceX Starship

Here's a good primer on the changes between the flights: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-7?submit

Basically SpaceX redesigned the upper stage to experiment with the avionics and materials and such. They were also going to test a way of launching satellites from the Starship on this flight. They're working on suborbital flights now and the goal is to move to orbital capacity soon.

 

"Seems like not much progress "
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I think most progress was with "Ship"; essentially a new model with larger "fuel" tanks, electronics, etc. and they removed tiles to create max stress. IIRC, Elon's philosophy is you gotta blow s*** up to make progress.

 

Here's the big bada boom

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Musk probably considers that a successful test launch. Identify problems early. I'm not sure how many more ship versions there are planned over how many years before mass production begins. I don't think he has outlinesd his Mars schedule but perhaps 2030 for first major hardware delivery. I initially didn't understand his goal of manufacturing a "ship" every eight hours and a main booster turnaround of 1-2 hours, until I read that the Mars launch window is two months every two years. Musk's plan is for 1000 starship launches during that "window".

 

Elon's comment on the "Ship" disintegration"

"Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!"

 

It's been stated that these launches are expected to fail. They learn and move forward with each launch. Hence why they continue to be successful in each iteration.

 

I agree 100% with this approach. However I was disappointed to hear that this may have the result of a leak, which is different than iterative testing of design/materials/flight profile/etc.

 

Just for a second, consider how amazing technology has become when we almost immediately have video of 1) the reentry over remote islands 2) the explosion, filmed from a cruise ship 3) fire on the spaceship itself, filmed in space 4) footage of the reentry from an airliner. Yet we all simply accept this as commonplace. The information acquisition and distribution network on this planet is astounding.

 

No. They expect them to not fail. But they say that publicly. Can't say I blame them. Its a risky business. One of the most challenging engineering jobs on Earth.

I knew an engineer who worked in Huntsville during Mercury. He told me this story.

One day they were test firing a new rocket motor. They used to test these horizontally in a rig on the side of a mountain. They invited the press. The rocket started and ran but it blew up. All the fuel and whatever ran down the hill and created a huge fireball. The engineers were shocked. It was a massive failure.

He ran up to the program director and asked what he was going to tell the media. He said "nothing".

The next day the press wrote stories about what an amazing sight they saw and how fantastic the program is going.

I'm pretty sure not much has changed.....

 

Pilot's eye view

 

Reminds me of the images of shuttle Columbia coming apart.....

 

Reisman called the Starship test flight a hallmark of a SpaceX strategy that sets Musk's company apart from traditional aerospace companies and even NASA by "this embracing of failure when the consequences of failure are low."
"This is a classical SpaceX successful failure," said Garrett Reisman, an astronautical engineering professor at the University of Southern California who is a former NASA astronaut and is also a senior adviser to SpaceX.
Older launch but they discuss the science of failure and how it helps SpaceX be successful.
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4021083-spacex-and-the-science-of-failure/

 

Who knows if they'll ever determine what failed, but Elon's "we'll obviously be double-checking for leaks" is a surprising admission that maybe not enough testing/QC was done prior to launch.
Bummer because they were planning to test the heat-resistance of landing lugs which didn't happen quite like they'd hoped.
Will likely push back the first attempt at a Starship catch attempt by at least one flight.

 

Unfortunately, Elon's focus has been 'elsewhere' lately. Just a fact. Not ideal for SpaceX and Tesla. ........... NO politics, please.

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Granted, but it's not like Elon is hanging from the Starship with a wrench tightening fuel lines. There's obviously someone else (a team of someone elses) that should be triple checking the systems.

 

Elon owns Space-X, but Gwynne runs it.

 

Pretty good explanation of what makes the Raptor engine so special.

 

Rocket technology and construction is some of the most difficult engineering challenges in the world. You learn from failure.

 

Very difficult environment to simulate, either by computer or ground testing. So the only way to see what the limits are is by actually flying. Technology has changed quite a bit since the 1950's, but the means to validate it have not.

 

I swear Space X has done more in metallurgy research than mechanical.

 

FAA grounds SpaceX Starship launches after breakup in Texas

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2025/01/18/Texas-FAA-grounds-SpaceX-Starship/4041737213283/