SpaceX

[TheGreenGoblin]

Last week’s flight of SpaceX’s Starship SN11 ended literally with a bang after a successful ascent and trademark “belly flop” descent. Company CEO Elon Musk reported on Twitter yesterday, “Ascent phase, transition to horizontal & control during free fall were good. A (relatively) small CH4 leak led to fire on engine 2 & fried part of avionics, causing hard start attempting landing burn in CH4 turbopump. This is getting fixed 6 ways to Sunday.”

Decoding Musk: CH4 is methane, one of the two propellants used in the Raptor rocket motor; the other is liquid oxygen. “Hard start” refers to the condition when the rocket motor is ignited with too much propellant, which can lead to RUD, or rapid unscheduled disassembly, in the parlance of our times. Only one Starship has “stuck the landing” so far, though it exploded on the pad shortly after touchdown.

SpaceX has completed Starship SN15 (it is skipping a few numbers here) that is due to roll out to the launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, this week with a series of “unspecified” modifications. NASA Spaceflight reports that “one of the mostly unspecified modifications involves the engines, which are being aided by an increased test cadence at SpaceX’s McGregor test site. The center is currently constructing two additional vertical Raptor test stands to increase throughput.”

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/spa ... e-readied/

From AVWeb

[TheGreenGoblin]

In other news the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology said....

[Boac]

The latest F9 recovery - you have to admit, SpaceX have that hacked!

[TheGreenGoblin]

The latest F9 recovery - you have to admit, SpaceX have that hacked!

It is deeply impressive and I am fascinated by the engineering, but then all the same could be said for the V2 too and it was easy to lose sight of the overall aims of the organization underpinning such ground breaking strides. Of course SpaceX is a commercial operation and not an evil tyranny, yet! It's titular head does, however, show a remarkable insouciance to the environment, the rights of people in and around his companies' operations and the future of space flight in LEO. Short short sightedness and the evident hubris gives me pause for thought!

[Boac]

Aha! I see a new James Bond movie coming here.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Aha! I see a new James Bond movie coming here.

Maybe Musk should purchase a Persian cat! Or more appropriately hire a sidekick with a formidable pair of gnashers.

[Boac]

As long as we have big-busted and skimpily clad lovelies with lots of innuendo, I'll watch it even without the pussy.

[TheGreenGoblin]

As long as we have big-busted and skimpily clad lovelies with lots of innuendo, I'll watch it even without the pussy.

Amen to that.

[Boac]

Here we go again - SN15 expected to be wheeled to the slaughter pad today to begin testing tomorrow for possible explosion on Monday.............

[TheGreenGoblin]

Here we go again - SN15 expected to be wheeled to the slaughter pad today to begin testing tomorrow for possible explosion on Monday.............

Additional cocoa ordered!

[Boac]

Not sure whether it is safe to tell you this (don't want over-excitement in the TGG household..) but the Mars hecolpeter is expected to fly this weekend.

[TheGreenGoblin]

Not sure whether it is safe to tell you this (don't want over-excitement in the TGG household..) but the Mars hecolpeter is expected to fly this weekend.

Ooh! I am excited..

and I am going to be flying in one in our atmosphere on Saturday the 17th....

[Boac]

Huzzah! Great news.

[CharlieOneSix]

........and I am going to be flying in one in our atmosphere on Saturday the 17th....

Has a temporary Danger Area been notammed for this event?

[Boac]

More like a Royal Flight, I think!

[TheGreenGoblin]

........and I am going to be flying in one in our atmosphere on Saturday the 17th....

Has a temporary Danger Area been notammed for this event?

It will definitely be a danger area, I haven't been near a helicopter now since November last year.

Having a check out on the fixed wing side on Tuesday next week as well, not having flown since the beginning of the most recent lock down.

The news that the Mars heli will be flying over the weekend is the icing on a good cake.

[TheGreenGoblin]

More on that exciting Mars helicopter news...

Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter has unlocked its rotorblades ahead of a pioneering flight over the red planet’s surface.

The helicopter was dropped from the Perseverance rover in recent days and has successfully fended for itself on the Martian surface. Since then, engineers have been making preparations and ensuring that the helicopter is ready to fly.

It will begin its first test journey “no earlier” than 11 April, Nasa has said, and it hopes to conduct at least five flights before its month-long journey is over. After that it will be left on the surface, hopefully having successfully demonstrated the technology it was taken to Mars to test.

Before that happens, Nasa must ensure that the helicopter is ready to fly. The first of those jobs involved unlocking what it refers to as the “blades of glory”, taking them out of the position they were stored away in for the journey and ready to spin up into the air.

Now the space agency will begin with a slow-speed spin of the blades, without them getting fast enough to actually lift Ingenuity. That will mark the first time the helicopter has used them on the surface, and is another key step before taking it into the air.

It will then conduct its first lift-off, taking off and hovering in the thin Martian atmosphere, before flying and landing itself.

That will mark the first time that any craft from Earth has conducted a powered or controlled flight on another planet.

The following test flights will see the craft fly further and higher across the surface, providing extra information on the performance of the helicopter.

Nasa will not conduct science experiments using Ingenuity. Instead, it is seen as a technology demonstration, checking designs that should inform the exploring spacecraft of the future.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-styl ... 28663.html

[Boac]

SN15 on the pad.

[TheGreenGoblin]

What are the odds of a successful landing, 1 to 1 odds being offered by the bookies on the planet Tralfamadore...

[Boac]

I'll be fascinated to see how they can sustain even propellant pressure to the engines while the machine does that final 'flip' to the vertical.