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Epic, hugely successful first high-altitude test of Starship.
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| 12/09/20
| Eric Berger
Posted on 12/09/2020 3:19:25 PM PST by Moonman62
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95% successful. Hit the pad a little hard due to engine problems during landing.
1
posted on
12/09/2020 3:19:25 PM PST
by
Moonman62
To: All
watched in real time, great job elon and spacex team!
2
posted on
12/09/2020 3:20:33 PM PST
by
SteveH
To: Moonman62
3
posted on
12/09/2020 3:24:51 PM PST
by
dynoman
(Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
To: Moonman62
4
posted on
12/09/2020 3:25:43 PM PST
by
dynoman
(Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
To: Moonman62
Hit the pad a little hard due to engine problems during landing.
***************************************
Looked to my untrained eye that they transitioned back out of the “belly flop” maneuver just a bit too late.
To: House Atreides
I watched the engines video upon landing. One of the 3 Raptors didn't ignite, and one other was flaming green, perhaps running lean or low on fuel?.. Were all 3 supposed to ignite upon landing?
6
posted on
12/09/2020 3:27:53 PM PST
by
CivilWarBrewing
(Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
To: Moonman62
Watched live. Engine s/n 32 shut down at ~ 1min. 42secs. Engine s/n 36 shut down after more than 3 mins. Engine s/n 42 performed well the entire flight. The flaps worked perfectly and guided the prototype to a dead center landing. Engine s/n 36 did reignite during the lang but it was sputtering and not much help. With only one engine (s/n 42) working there wasn’t enough thrust to keep it from a hard landing and a subsequent Rapid Unplanned Disassembly.
Prototype number 9 is fully assembled and ready for the next high altitude test. It is outfitted with more mature engines. If they all stay lit and all reignite number 9 should perform as intended.
7
posted on
12/09/2020 3:29:27 PM PST
by
ocrp1982
To: SteveH
Other than the Saturn V Apollo, that had to be one of the most fascinating test flights of a launch vehicle that I’ve ever seen. AMAZING stuff, especially the horizontal drift..
8
posted on
12/09/2020 3:30:51 PM PST
by
CivilWarBrewing
(Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
To: Moonman62
Also hearing and seeing it positioned perfectly centered on the pad upon landing attempt.
9
posted on
12/09/2020 3:32:57 PM PST
by
CivilWarBrewing
(Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
To: Moonman62
Other than making it back in one piece, it was a success!
To: ocrp1982
Nice detailed summary of engine performance, thanks.
We definitely can't have this happen on Mars, lol.
11
posted on
12/09/2020 3:34:27 PM PST
by
CivilWarBrewing
(Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
To: dynoman
Amazing that they already know the problem. The next Starship is already built, and more are almost finished.
12
posted on
12/09/2020 3:37:47 PM PST
by
Moonman62
(http://www.freerepublic.com/~moonman62/)
To: ocrp1982
What about landing arms or struts? Do the fins serve as the struts? I didn’t see any landing arms deploy!!!
13
posted on
12/09/2020 3:38:54 PM PST
by
CivilWarBrewing
(Get off my back for my usage of CAPS, especially you snowflake males! MAN UP!)
To: SteveH
14
posted on
12/09/2020 3:41:34 PM PST
by
billorites
(freepo ergo sum)
To: Moonman62
Very cool. Will be something to see the full stack on the super heavy booster.
To: LouieFisk
It was much more successful than I expected.
16
posted on
12/09/2020 3:44:07 PM PST
by
Moonman62
(http://www.freerepublic.com/~moonman62/)
To: Moonman62
Looked like they needed about 3-4 more seconds of burst to land safely.
17
posted on
12/09/2020 3:46:47 PM PST
by
Mashood
To: Moonman62
Mars is starting to look a lot more important to me.
To: ocrp1982
Thanks for that good info! Were the flaps the primary test? Maybe the more mature engines weren’t risked due to flap uncertainties?
19
posted on
12/09/2020 3:47:26 PM PST
by
polymuser
(A socialist is a communist without the power to take everything from their citizens...yet.)
To: House Atreides
I watched Scott Manley explain it a few days ago and he wanted to pull up early, too.
By the explosion size, it looks like there was plenty of fuel left.
Not sure how the Astronuts are supposed to survive that.
20
posted on
12/09/2020 4:06:24 PM PST
by
UNGN
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