SpaceX

[raklian]

[raklian]

[raklian]

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX May Test Propellant Transfer During the Next Starship Launch
December 7, 2023 by Brian Wang

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/12/s ... aunch.html
Lakiesha Hawkins, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Moon to Mars program office, one of her slides (at a Congressional Committee presentation) said SpaceX is moving quickly toward the third Super Heavy/Starship launch and that this flight will include a propellant transfer demonstration.

SpaceX Has a $52 million cryogenic fluid management NASA Tipping point award.

This test would involve transferring super-cold propellant from one tank to another inside a Starship spacecraft. It’s a precursor to future, more complex demonstrations involving two giant Starships docked together in Earth orbit. Then SpaceX will be ready to send a Starship toward the Moon for a test landing without astronauts onboard.

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX Close to 100 Launches in 2023
December 9, 2023 by Brian Wang

IF SpaceX can launch all of the planned Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 launches planned in December, then they can hit their goal of 100 launches in 2023. This would include two failed Starship Super Heavy orbital launch attempts.

It will go down to the wire to see if the SpaceX can reach 100 launches this year.

In 2024, SpaceX is targeting 144 launches or more.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/12/s ... -2023.html

[weatheriscool]

Third SpaceX Starship Orbital Launch in Q1 2024
December 15, 2023 by Brian Wang

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/12/t ... -2024.html
Kathy Lueders , SpaceX Starbase General Manager, indicated the third SpaceX Starship orbital launch should be in Q1 2024. This will most likely be February or March. However, the SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy could be on the pad for tests by the end of this year.

Kathy Lueders confirmed a second tower at Starbase.

[weatheriscool]

[raklian]

First ever post in social media by Gwynne Shotwell, the President and COO of SpaceX.

[weatheriscool]

Musk Says Propellant Dump Caused Second Starship Explosion
The lack of cargo meant Starship had excess fuel, and purging it is what caused the rapid unscheduled disassembly.
By Ryan Whitwam January 18, 2024

https://www.extremetech.com/science/mus ... -explosion
The SpaceX Starship rocket is the future of the company, but it's also integral to NASA's plans for the Moon. The private spaceflight firm has been working on Starship since 2012 when CEO Elon Musk announced the vehicle as the Mars Colonial Transporter. Starship might go to Mars someday, but for now, SpaceX is focused closer to home. Starship has blown up during its first two test flights, the most recent one in November 2023. Musk has now revealed the cause of Starship's "rapid unscheduled disassembly" during the last test. He places the blame on a propellant dump, which was triggered because Starship was too light.

The second Starship launch prototype flew for about eight minutes, and it successfully freed itself of the Super Heavy booster. The first flight didn't even make it that far. Unfortunately, Super Heavy exploded almost immediately after being released. A few minutes later, Starship also detonated just before cutting its engines.

Musk addressed the fate of the last Starship prototype during an all-hands meeting at the company's Boca Chica launch facility. "Flight 2 actually almost made it to orbit," Musk said. "The reason that it actually didn’t quite make it to orbit was we vented the liquid oxygen." This procedure is not unheard of in rocket launches, but it doesn't usually cause vehicles to blow up immediately after. Musk didn't explain how venting unneeded fuel led the rocket itself to explode. You can see this part of the talk at the 449-minute mark in the video below.

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX Starfactory Will Make Hundreds of Starships by 2026
January 17, 2024 by Brian Wang

Joe Tegtmeyer spoke with Ellie in space about the SpaceX factory ramp. Joe has been a professional large project manager who has managed detailed management of large projects. He has been closely monitoring the construction and expansion of the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin.

Joe gives his projection of how he expects the SpaceX Starfactory to complete in 2025 and expand from there.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/01/s ... -2026.html


SpaceX Starship Version 3 Will Be 150 Meters Tall

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/01/s ... -tall.html
January 16, 2024 by Brian Wang

Nextbigfuture has covered Elon mentioning that a future SpaceX Starship could be 20% longer BUT now it is reported that SpaceX is designing a 150 meter longer Starship. Felix Schlang at What about It? describes the new version 3 Starship work.

This would be up to 95 feet longer than the current 120 meters.

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX Could Double the Size of Starbase
January 23, 2024 by Brian Wang

If SpaceX is able to trade a large 477 acre piece of land beside a Texas widelife refuge for 44 acres beside the existing SpaceX Starbase, then SpaceX will nearly double the size of the SpaceX Starbase.

The land would be swapped with Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/01/s ... rbase.html

[raklian]

Starship selected to launch Starlab.

[weatheriscool]

US DOD Wants to Fully Own and Operate SpaceX Starships and Boosters for Military Missions
February 2, 2024 by Brian Wang

The Pentagon wants to make some of the Starship upper stage and the two-stage super heavy booster and Starship into government-owned, government-operated assets instead of contracting the company every time the rocket is needed according to Aviation Week.

The Pentagon has funded a project to develop the capability and have a proof of concept demo for the single upper stage fully reusable SpaceX Starship to deliver cargo anywhere on Earth in under one hour. There were two fundings for total of about $150 million.

The new discussions are for an expanded effort. The first effort is like contracting a Boeing to prove it could use one 787 to make one delivery.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/02/u ... sions.html

[weatheriscool]