Posted on 03/03/2025 2:38:18 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The eighth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch Monday, March 3. The 60-minute launch window opens at 5:30 p.m. CT...
As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and stay tuned to our X account for updates.
After completing the investigation into the loss of Starship early on its seventh flight test, several hardware and operational changes have been made to increase reliability of the upper stage. You can read the full summary of the mishap investigation here.
The upcoming flight will fly the same suborbital trajectory as previous missions and will target objectives not reached on the previous test, including Starship's first payload deployment and multiple reentry experiments geared towards returning the upper stage to the launch site for catch. The flight also includes the launch, return, and catch of the Super Heavy booster.
Extensive upgrades to Starship's upper stage debuted on the previous flight test, focused on adding reliability and performance across all phases of flight. Starship's forward flaps have been upgraded to significantly reduce their exposure to reentry heating while simplifying the underlying mechanisms and protective tiling. Redesigns to the propulsion system, including a 25 percent increase in propellant volume over previous generations, add additional vehicle performance and the ability to fly longer duration missions. And the vehicle's avionics underwent a complete redesign, adding additional capability and redundancy for increasingly complex missions like propellant transfer and ship return to the launch site.
During the flight test, Starship will deploy four Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink satellites... A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacex.com ...
Just checked:
Sunset · Brownsville, Texas · March 3
6:32 PM
Sunrise 6:51 AM · Twilight 6:55 PM
Hope they can chop stick catch the booster in the dark!
Spaceflight Now [YT channel]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw8Y4HU0du4
Giant Pez dispenser (Starship) to dispense mock satellites while in orbit to the Indian Ocean, yeah !!!!
I’m always in awe of one thing in particular with the F9 launches — there’s an altitude number on the feed as it descends, and that last km goes quickly. In the darkness I can not see anything until the engine lights and voila! there’s the droneship, waiting in exactly the right spot. :^)
LOL!
VideoFromSpace [YT channel]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dsTSWQ2MEA
Ellie in Space [YT channel]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHl5OPcOUcw
Everyday Astronaut [YT channel]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_4gAtrfi6w
JCristina [YT channel]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHG3k9tVDFg
What About It? [YT channel]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_q3Dua0D8
Alright, the SpaceX feed is live:
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-8
Looknerd is up live now.
It’s awesome! Ad Astra (Not the stupid movie)!
Thanks! Link?
What is that white gas all around the pad? Flame retardant?
Yes! To reiterate my guess, SpaceX will send a crewless vehicle *of some sort* to orbit the Moon and return to Earth landing. Then it will use probably the same vehicle to do the same thing and/or do a landing on the Moon, take off again, and return to Earth landing.
And this will precede NASA’s proposed and long-awaited lunar return missions. It won’t surprise me to see these result in the ultimate cancellation of Artemis.
It would not surprise me to see this happen during 2025.
Oooh, eight minutes.
Condensation, basically fog.
A few minutes ago they had some file vid of the Starlink factory and some nice info about it. 70,000 downlink units *per week*.
I love that, young adults, never heard a sonic boom before... in the 1960s military jets’ flyovers would deliver some nice ones, and as kids we looked forward to it. Ridiculous that Karenism got those banned.
I have to say watching the gantry catch the returning rocket the 1st time was surreal. It was like watching something in a modern science fiction movie.
Musk and his team gave me something I have not had for a very long time. Humanity does have a future.
T - 40 and hold.
Keep faithful. This is common.
Ditto — everything about this gives me hope. In an article some years ago it was recounted how he contacted an old-line aerospace company that had experience building the pumps they needed for the propellant and oxidizer, and was told they’d be glad to take five years and X-millions to do something that they’d done before. No go.
A few years went by. The overall gubmint biz for rocket / missile components was winding down because of the Space Shuttle having sucked up most of the cash and was itself heading to mothballs.
The company thought, what about that guy that tried to hire us? So they called back.
“We just did it ourselves.”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha...
The decision to switch from carbon fiber to stainless steel for the Starship led to locating a company with experience building cylindrical structures out of stainless. They wound up hiring a water tower maker. Oh, btw, “we’re building a reusable spacecraft to colonize Mars.” “Uh, uh-huh...”
30 seconds. Whoops, hold at 41.
I think a sensor’s bad, or flakey wiring. SOCK IT TO THE FIREWALL!!!
Then resumed, got to 32, then “psych!” Back to a hold at 40.
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