# Continuing discussion of SpaceX launches \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 22, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048 "2015-12-22T00:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 48
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/941 "2019-08-26T02:06:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Musk is still holding to his claim that he believes Starship will be capable of Single-Stage-To-Orbit, without its booster. I wouldn’t say that’s too hard to believe. It’s with the caveat of no payload and no reentry or landing hardware. A stripped-down Falcon Heavy booster could likely also make orbit–run the rocket equation on the engines and probable mass fraction, and it can just make it. Still, it is impressive because even a stripped-down Starship is a more capable vehicle than a FH booster. It carries its own fairing and can naturally survive a more energetic reentry (not orbital, but more than a typical booster reentry). Tomorrow will indeed be fun if they launch on time. Boca Chica residents (like four of them) are warned to stay away from windows since they may break as a result of an [“overpressure event”](https://twitter.com/BocaChicaGal/status/1165405382925332481) (nice euphemism). ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/942 "2019-08-26T04:15:57Z")
The limiting factor on an SSTO using chemical rockets is that they just can’t have any useful payload. The rocket equation is a cruel mistress. To get your 9.4km/s delta V using engines with an Isp of 350 or so your mass fraction is just minuscule. I’m pretty confident that SpaceX has neither found a way around the rocket equation nor dramatically increased the Isp of the Raptor engine, so I’m equally confident that Starship isn’t going to be useful in any theoretically possible SSTO configuration. For those interested, Youtube channel Everyday Astronaut is going to be livestreaming the test tomorrow. SpaceX may also, I guess - they streamed the aborted test the day before the previous hop, but didn’t stream the following day when they actually did hop. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/943 "2019-08-26T06:08:18Z")
Yeah, if SSTO can only be achieved with almost no payload and by expending the vehicle, there’s really no point to it. To be fair to Musk, it didn’t sound so much like it was a planned use of the vehicle rather than just an offhand comment. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/944 "2019-08-27T21:17:18Z")
StarHopper will be trying to fly today (in maybe 45 minutes). Everyday Astronaut’s livestream is available here: [SpaceX StarHopper 150 meter hop test HD (LOUD)(LIVE 1.5 miles away) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0MTtqzzf-U) ETA: some venting is visible from near the top of the craft ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/945 "2019-08-27T22:06:18Z")
[It hopped!](https://youtu.be/bYb3bfA6_sQ?t=1847) ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/946 "2019-08-27T22:20:11Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > [It hopped!](https://youtu.be/bYb3bfA6_sQ?t=1847) With a cool translation over to a landing pad too. That was cool! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/947 "2019-08-27T22:31:32Z")
Very cool! That engine was certainly doing a lot of gymbaling. I noticed that the Starhopper was sitting at a bit of an angle after landing. I’m guess one of the crushable pads crushed. Maybe it landed on one leg first. But still, that’s got to be considered a successful test. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/948 "2019-08-27T23:58:52Z")
I can just imagine the reaction from the ULA boardroom. Gastric distress, or violent reverse peristalsis comes to mind… ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/949 "2019-08-29T05:44:53Z")
Turns out that slight angle after landing was more significant than we thought. It sounds like something may have gone wrong with the engine just before landing. The exhaust suddenly changed color, some kind of fire appeared under the rocket, and we didn’t see the rest because of dust, but you can see a composite pressure vessel come flying out of the dust cloud at one point, and then you see the hopper sitting at an angle. Closeup views show that one of the feet was completely missing and another one crushed. So maybe an early shutdown and a hard landing. Hopefully it was a Starhopper plumbing problem, and not a design problem in the engine. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/950 "2019-08-29T06:11:31Z")
There seems to be a lot of speculation about the change in color. I think it’s just dust, and it gets entrained into stream close to the nozzle due to circulation effects (imagine a circulating toroid of air and dust). Regardless, I doubt it’s a big deal. The craft probably landed a bit hard because they’re still working the kinks out of their engine throttling and control systems, and because there’s not a lot of play in their damping system). [This](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1166860032052539392) is interesting: > [@](#): > > Aiming for 20km flight in Oct & orbit attempt shortly thereafter. Starship update will be on Sept 28th, anniversary of SpaceX reaching orbit. Starship Mk 1 will be fully assembled by that time. There’s no way the Superheavy is ready in that time, so they must have an SSTO flight in mind. It’s going to be pretty much a stunt IMO, though maybe they’ll capture enough data that it’s still worth it even though it won’t land. Clearly, the construction costs of the rocket itself are pretty damn cheap. The engines are the only expensive part, but they’ll need a decent production setup anyway, so maybe it won’t be so bad. [Also](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1166856662336102401) (referring to diameter here): > [@](#): > > Probably 18m for next gen system That’s twice the diameter of the current system. For a given number of stages and propellant combination, rockets have a maximum height, so I don’t expect the height to go up much here, but that’s still 4x the cross-section. I said earlier (maybe in another thread) that I expect to see 1000 ton rockets eventually, but if this is even on the drawing board, then we’ll hit that point faster than expected (the 18m design should hit 500 tons to orbit, so only a half-step past that gets to 1000 t). ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/951 "2019-08-30T19:01:42Z")
Apologies if already posted, but a good Scott Manley analysis video of this recent Star Hopper flight is here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T29ybqjv8-U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T29ybqjv8-U) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/952 "2020-01-19T15:03:56Z")
Falcon 9, Dragon capsule abort test is streaming live on YouTube right now. Just under a half hour till launch. This is the last major test before sending astronauts up in Dragon. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/953 "2020-01-19T15:11:21Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JmTVn_pKeTQ/maxresdefault.jpg "SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test Live Jan 19 2020") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmTVn_pKeTQ) ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/954 "2020-01-19T15:39:58Z")
Splashdown. Everything appeared to go by the book, up to and including the guaranteed explosion of the first stage. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/955 "2020-01-19T23:00:57Z")
Fantastic operation! SpaceX is now likely to beat Boeing in ferrying astronauts to the ISS. It’s also a nice move forward for Starship, because I’m willing to bet that at least initially, Starship wil be launched unmanned, and the crew will be sent up on Falcon 9 rockets. Man-rating Starship launches is going to be a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/956 "2020-01-20T01:54:44Z")
It’s not often you see a rocket undergo a rapid _planned_ disassembly. In civilian applications, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/957 "2020-01-21T06:53:00Z")
I was out snowshoeing this long weekend, but I managed to just catch the launch from the hotel WiFi just before we left. Amazing! [This pic](https://twitter.com/jdmillerphoto/status/1218952049188057089/photo/1) has to be my favorite. I love the symmetry of the explosion, and how it looks like it somehow fired the capsule out in the process. Surprisingly, the trunk landed [mostly in one piece](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1219340904407977984?s=20). It’s pretty lightweight, but still–it landed without chutes, and must have tumbled in the ocean for a while. [A neat video of the separation event](https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/er3kxu/closeup_of_separation_from_booster/). Looks kinda slow, but the capsule is accelerating at 3.5 gees. The rocket is just that big. I was disappointed to see the New York Times report the event as _SpaceX rocket explodes during safety test_. I think they changed the headline later, but that was a mind-bogglingly deceptive headline. I don’t know whether to ascribe it to malice or stupidity. Most sites were better, but many didn’t really emphasize enough that the exploding rocket was fully expected. Speaking of explosions, apparently the second stage separated somewhat intact, making it to the ocean [before itself exploding](https://www.johnkrausphotos.com/Launch-Galleries/Falcon-9-In-Flight-Abort/i-MG24RG8/A). At any rate, another huge success for SpaceX. Although I’m sure NASA has to finalize some more paperwork, and the actual crew launch is still upcoming, I think we can say now that the US has finally regained manned spaceflight capabilities. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_from\_CB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alex\_from\_CB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_from_CB)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/958 "2020-03-06T22:28:18Z")
Launch scheduled tonight at 11:50 head for The Space Station. Rocket due back at LZ1 8 minutes later. I should be in position to view both. Weather people think there is a decent chance of a scrub due to high winds. However, right now I’m seeing just 4 MPH winds a few miles south of the launch pad, SLC 40. Of course upper atmosphere wind might be different. So…light the candle. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/959 "2020-03-06T23:12:03Z")
I’d love to see that launch! We traveled to Titusville to watch the STS-31 launch on our honeymoon. That was the shuttle that took up the Hubble Space Telescope. But the launch was scrubbed with just four minutes to go, and didn’t launch for 14 days after, and we were long gone. That was a huge disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048/960 "2020-03-07T02:52:54Z")
Interesting [tweet](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1236116600245256192) from Musk: > [@Elon Musk](#): > > Rocket will land in highest winds ever at Cape Canaveral tonight. This is intentional envelope expansion. [Also](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1236117435905785856): > [@Elon Musk](#): > > Recent missed landing (at sea) was due to incorrect wind data. If this (land) landing fails, it will most likely be for a different reason. So, there may be some excitement! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/continuing-discussion-of-spacex-launches-edited-title/741048.md?page=49)