SpaceX Super Heavy and Starship updates

[Louisifer]

Everything Musk is involved in is a by-product of SpaceX.

 

The Teslas that they use for human launches have life support in them which the astronauts connect into pre launch for oxygen/air conditioning, they are essentially mars ready. Cybertruck is the same thing but bigger and is designed to recharge itself and power a home, just add in the life support and it is also mars ready.

 

The pedestrian version of these vehicles will evolve to fit the needs of earth, but long term wise you dont need crumple zones when theres only 5 people on the planet, when you hit something on mars that thing best crumple not you.  

[DocM]

7 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

Respectfully,  a pedestrians head bouncing off the hood of a regular pickup at 10mph is probably not going to smash like a coconut. A head bouncing off a Cybertruck's hood at 10mph is very likely going to shatter like a coconut hit with a sledgehammer.

 

The most likely injuries would be what are know in medicine as bumper fractures - injuries to the the lower femurs, knees and tibias. With the sloped & smooth upper profile the pedestrian would likely then slide up & over, perhaps stopping in the bed.

 

7 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

I don't know about safety regs in the US, but many EU regulatory bodies have already commented the Cybertruck would be very unlikely to be allowed on their roads without some major redesign.  

 

One pedestrian safety item under   consideration has been a front external airbag, but inadvertent triggering and refurb costs are an issue.

 

Protecting pedestrian's melons the KISS way would be a helmet law. Otherwise the entire vehicle needs to be an airbag-in-waiting.

[FloatingFatMan]

3 minutes ago, DocM said:

Protecting pedestrian's melons the KISS way would be a helmet law. Otherwise the entire vehicle needs to be an airbag-in-waiting.

Or just, y'know, don't build it from armour steel?  No one needs that and you can get virtually the same (silly IMO) look in normal car aluminium.  In fact, why not just go with the far more normal pickup design? Far more practical and sellable around the world. He's literally just trying to go for the WOW factor.  It's a 'concept car' and I truly don't believe that thing will ever make general sales in much the same way almost 100% of other concept design cars don't.

[SALSN]

1 hour ago, FloatingFatMan said:

EDIT: As for the space debris problem, I too used to think it was a big issue, until I decided to actually learn a bit more about it.  Just a little knowledge of orbital mechanics and reading a few scientific papers, and I learned it's much less of a problem than people think.  The vast majority of it will just de-orbit from a combination atmospheric drag and gravity after a few years and most of it will burn up.  What doesn't is far more likely to hit the ocean than any people, in fact, the odds of getting hit by space debris are somewhat lower then me landing a date with Scarlett Johansson!

The problem with space debris is not that someone will get hit by it, that is like you say extremely unlikely , the problem is Kessler syndrome, where one collision in space leads to more debris, leading to more collisions and more debris and so on. This will not just make orbit dangerous for humans due to a greatly increased chance of your spacecraft getting struck, but also makes satellites in general a very risky business since they will get destroyed quickly and only adding to the debris problem.
Some of the debris from low orbiting satellites will de-orbit quickly, but a lot of it  in higher orbits will take much much longer, natural decay of a satellite in geo stationary orbit takes thousands of years if I'm not mistaking.

I never for a second read Elon's tweet as him claiming that there would be chewing going on when catching dead satellites.
I do however wonder if they have enough delta V to catch enough satellites to make a significant difference without launching these exclusively for a long time. But I guess they might as well chump up one or two when delivering something else anyway.

[FloatingFatMan]

3 minutes ago, SALSN said:

I do however wonder if they have enough delta V to catch enough satellites to make a significant difference without launching these exclusively for a long time. But I guess they might as well chump up one or two when delivering something else anyway.

The fuel costs alone (not in money but in consumption), needed to chase down space debris make the whole idea unviable with current propulsive methods.

 

Geosynchronous orbits do have a decay time in thousands of years that is true, however FCC regulatory authorities require that decommissioned satellites decay to a lower orbit, a disposal orbit, where the satellite orbital altitude would decay due to atmospheric drag and then naturally re-enter the atmosphere and burn up within one year of end-of-life.  This takes care of such networks as Starlink etc and any future launches.  As for the rest of the junk, most of it is well within geosynchronous and will in most cases have de-orbited by the time practical interception technology is available. 

 

Sure it's important to still develop the tech, to take care of the stuff farther out, but turning your ship into Pacman isn't the answer...  The fuel use and high risk of a disaster are just too big.

[DocM]

Starship as a space telescope platform?

 

Saul Perlmutter = Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory astrophysicist. 2011 Nobel in Physics, National Academy, etc. etc.

 

 

 

 

 

[IsItPluggedIn]

4 hours ago, FloatingFatMan said:

The fuel costs alone (not in money but in consumption), needed to chase down space debris make the whole idea unviable with current propulsive methods.

 

Geosynchronous orbits do have a decay time in thousands of years that is true, however FCC regulatory authorities require that decommissioned satellites decay to a lower orbit, a disposal orbit, where the satellite orbital altitude would decay due to atmospheric drag and then naturally re-enter the atmosphere and burn up within one year of end-of-life.  This takes care of such networks as Starlink etc and any future launches.  As for the rest of the junk, most of it is well within geosynchronous and will in most cases have de-orbited by the time practical interception technology is available. 

 

Sure it's important to still develop the tech, to take care of the stuff farther out, but turning your ship into Pacman isn't the answer...  The fuel use and high risk of a disaster are just too big.

FCC regulation only work for countries who follow them and satellites that are working correctly.

 

Kessler syndrome affects all satellites, the more that is put up, the more failed satellites and rocket bodies are available to crash into.

 

The cleanup of space debris is something that is currently not regulated. Its currently not economical to do as there is no financial incentive. This is easily fixed with FCC regulations requiring satellite owners/rocket vendors be responsible financially for cleaning up their mess. This would mean companies like Astroscale/SpaceX etc could charge for cleanup up space debris. The hardest part is collecting the object, not getting to them. (ie current propulsive methods are fine)

[DocM]

22 hours ago, IsItPluggedIn said:

FCC regulation only work for countries who follow them and satellites that are working correctly.

 

Kessler syndrome affects all satellites, the more that is put up, the more failed satellites and rocket bodies are available to crash into.

 

The cleanup of space debris is something that is currently not regulated. Its currently not economical to do as there is no financial incentive. This is easily fixed with FCC regulations requiring satellite owners/rocket vendors be responsible financially for cleaning up their mess. This would mean companies like Astroscale/SpaceX etc could charge for cleanup up space debris. The hardest part is collecting the object, not getting to them. (ie current propulsive methods are fine)

FCC regulation only impact US companies, not foreign actors like OneWeb, Russia, China, etc. 

 

Another issue is national  ownership; a US launches satellite or stage is fair game for a US based recovery but a European, Japanese, Russian, Chinese etc. stage or satellite is considered their responsibility and property. This is mostly addressed in the Outer Space Treaty and  Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Liability_Convention

[DocM]

 

New Raptor factory at McGregor

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DocM]

Super Heavy Booster 3 static fire next week

 

No doubt, a partial engine set

 

 

 

[DocM]

Sounds like Orbital Integration  Tower #2 this year. 

 

 

 

[DocM]

For the 8 engine center cluster

 

 

 

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

Super Heavy engine count decided; 33 

Thirty. Three. 

Da ground's gonna rumble...

 

 

 

[DocM]

.

 

[DocM]

Super Heavy Booster 3 static fire next week

 

 

 

[DocM]

Super Heavy engine layout: 20-10-3 (33)

 

Thrust: 7,590 t-f (16,733,086 lb-f)

 

The first orbital vehicles; Booster 4 and Ship 20, are being stacked now. Ship 20 has conformal heat shield tiles.

 

 

 

[DocM]

Super Heavy Booster 3 static fire attempt Monday, July 19 between 1300-2300 Eastern. Only a couple engines, testing ground support equipment and the internal systems & plumbing.

 

https://twitter.com/bocachicagal/status/1416827089936867340

 

[DocM]

Starship Integration Tower section #8 stacked

 

 

 

 

[DocM]

There's a 9th section, shorter in height, being built. Perhaps the roof/lightning tower mount.

 

 

 

 

[DocM]

Static fire!

 

With audio

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by DocM

[DocM]

Beauty shots

 

 

[DocM]

 

 

[DocM]

Starship CHOMPER!! (the front section anyhow...)

 

They build the payload section in 2 halves; a lower cylinder and the "nose" which is this. Acording to the Starship User Guide there'll be 2 sizes of payload bay;  the "Standard" 17.24 meters long and the "Extended" 22 meters long.

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by DocM