Possible static fire of SN9 today...

8th to the 10th , they have temporary flight restrictions in place 👍
 
So , space x conducted not 1 but 3 static fires in rapid ( relatively ) succession today , assuming all is ok their is potential for a 12.5km flight tomorrow but more likely Friday , fingers crossed for a clean landing not an RUD like last time 😳
 
Yes , I watched it on nasa space flight and they were amazed at how quickly they managed to do it 👍
 
Love this, however I have one question about a major point which is confusing me.

It's the Raptor Engines.
Right now, they are, what............ About number 50 ish of the Raptors made, and after attempted static fires, they seem to have issues, and keep swapping them over, before being happy with the 3 that's installed before they attempt a launch.

Ok, fair enough.,

Now let's look at 'Super Heavy' which is the rocket base which Starship will be bolted to, for a real launch into space.
This SuperHeavy unit will have 28 of these Raptor engines.

Can you see where I'm going here?
If they need to keep swapping out one or two Raptors right now, before they get just Three that they regard as working ok. How on earth will they get 28 that they regard as all working perfect?

Now I'm sure the Raptors will get better as they make more of them, but still.
Having trouble getting three working fine to getting 28 working fine is a massive leap.
 
A very high chance of SN9 (sub-orbital obviously) launch tomorrow.
 
@Tempest - it seems to be their design / build / test /redesign philosophy - its all new - new engines, new ship, new tech. reading online about all this stuff looks like they will jump to SN15 - as the design is different (so sn10 will pop out, but then maybe goto 15).

The new raptors have a different paint colour, which people are speculating that it is a new coating that has been added as they have learnt about the tech and the testing.

Anyhow - im loving it - the chance to see real development take place.
 
@Tempest - it seems to be their design / build / test /redesign philosophy - its all new - new engines, new ship, new tech. reading online about all this stuff looks like they will jump to SN15 - as the design is different (so sn10 will pop out, but then maybe goto 15).

The new raptors have a different paint colour, which people are speculating that it is a new coating that has been added as they have learnt about the tech and the testing.

Anyhow - im loving it - the chance to see real development take place.

Oh yes, and for sure, they are learning and improving all the time
It's just the Raptor Engines don't really seem to be like that.
It's not like they are trying number 12 and it's a bit iffy so putting number 13 or 14 in instead.
It feels like they must be fitting the ones they think will be fine, trying them, and have issues so swapping them out for two different ones and then trying them.
Feels a bit more haphazard to me.

They'd not fit older ones onto SN9 then have to swap two of them out on purpose.
So they must have problems? As opposed to just not the latest version.
Which is fine if you are just needing 2, 3, 5 or so.
But when you getting up to needing 28 of them all to work, you need to go from pretty iffy right now, to almost 100% perfect, else you'd be spending all your time swapping over trying to find 28 good ones.
Not sure how long SuperHeavy is off, but they seem a long long way away from Raptors that are almost all perfect every time

Of course we're not being told about the swapouts so who knows why it's being done.

Either way I'm loving this, and accept we're going to have failures along the way.
And just because SN8 did everything right apart from the last bit, does not mean SN9 won't go poof along the way.
I'm totally glued to the screen whatever happens, and love watching reactions by others afterwards also :)
 
As we know these starship launches are not what's going to happen in the end as this is not how it's going to take off. It's going to be bolted on top of the superheavy base to actually get starship into space. All were doing now is testing the landing. Seeing the 1st superheavy launches will be amazing. Wonder if they will launch this 1st just on its own without a starship on top? Landing the superheavy is going to be a whole different kettle of fish given its size/weight. Hope we'll see this happen this year.
 
Yeah, it's hard to imagine SH with Starship on top all taking off from Boca Chica but can't wait.
 
Fingers crossed for today...
 
Hopefully the flight restrictions debacle will be sorted today , I liked the way they did a WDR yesterday to prove systems but not a static fire , that’s good proof they are ready to fly 😍
 
Boca Chica would be such a cool place to live. (Nice weather too!)
 
You won’t get a house in boca chica ☹️ , south padre island looks good though 🤣
 
No flight today. They’re rolling out SN10 instead.
 
It’s frustrating but I don’t want to join the FAA bashing coming from so many. They have to err on the side of caution and are responsible for the crowded airspace above America - launching something like Starship is a big deal with potentially disastrous results if it goes wrong.

However, it amazes me this wasn’t sorted out between SpaceX and the FAA well in advance instead of seeming like a last minute decision.
 

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