Science Space Exploration megathread - Page 387

**DaFace** · 07:17 AM

Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across.

Lists of Upcoming Missions

Spoiler!

How to Watch a Live Launch

Spoiler!

Where to Learn More

Spoiler!

Glossary

Spoiler!

Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.)

ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on.
Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans).
F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself.
FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version.
GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing.
HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad.
ISS - The International Space Station
JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches.
LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship.
LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches).
NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed.
OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches.
RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1.
Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.)
Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space.

**DaFace** · 01-16-2025, 05:14 PM

Starship Flight 7 breaking up and re-entering over Turks and Caicos pic.twitter.com/iuQ0YAy17O
— Alex D. (@adavenport354) January 16, 2025

**Donger** · 01-16-2025, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Starship Flight 7 breaking up and re-entering over Turks and Caicos pic.twitter.com/iuQ0YAy17O
— Alex D. (@adavenport354) January 16, 2025

Obviously a major malfunction.

**DaFace** · 01-16-2025, 05:16 PM

And another:

Just saw the most insane #spacedebris #meteorshower right now in Turks and Caicos ⁦@elonmusk⁩ what is it?? pic.twitter.com/a7f4MbEB8Q
— Dean Olson (@deankolson87) January 16, 2025

**DaFace** · 01-16-2025, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger

Obviously a major malfunction.

Perhaps. Could be as simple as veering off course and triggering FTS, though.

**Donger** · 01-16-2025, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Perhaps. Could be as simple as veering off course and triggering FTS, though.

Just NASA speak.

**ChiefGator** · 01-16-2025, 06:18 PM

Starship experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

At least the booster was caught. Starship burning up is no big deal... that's not where.. you know.. people would be sitting, is it?

EDIT: It's going to be billed as a successful test of the “flight termination system”

**DaFace** · 01-16-2025, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiefGator

Starship experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

At least the booster was caught. Starship burning up is no big deal... that's not where.. you know.. people would be sitting, is it?

EDIT: It's going to be billed as a successful test of the “flight termination system”

It's not a big deal in terms of development - they have more right behind it. However, while it doesn't sound like there have been any reported incidents with debris, this definitely splattered chunks all over the place. They had to reroute flights around the area for a while.

I'm guessing the FAA is going to be pretty cranky about this which could delay the next flight until they figure out how to prevent another similar incident.

**Donger** · 01-18-2025, 09:59 AM

"Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity. Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase vent area. Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month," Musk said via X, the social media platform he owns, about 2.5 hours after Flight 7 launched. (Starship's Raptor engines are powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane.)

That pressure overload apparently led to a fire "in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly," SpaceX wrote in a blog post about Flight 7 yesterday evening, stressing that this interpretation is based on initial data analyses. ("Rapid unscheduled disassembly" is a term of art for a spacecraft explosion.)

"We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests," the company added, referring to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

"Starship flew within its designated launch corridor — as all U.S. launches do to safeguard the public both on the ground, on water and in the air," SpaceX continued in the blog post. "Any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area."

**HemiEd** · 01-23-2025, 09:12 PM

I am curious, but not curious enough to read this whole thread. Have any of you been seeing the videos of Mars from Curiosity?

So interesting and I have never really been into that stuff. I googled it and it is cold as heck up there, -80.

Maybe it had life up there quadrillions of years ago when the sun was hotter?

displacedinMN · 02-18-2025, 08:43 PM

****----Just as I am getting ready to retire

JUST IN: NASA says there's now a 3.1% chance an asteroid will hit Earth in 2032, up from 2.6% yesterday.

This is the highest risk assessment an asteroid has ever received, surpassing 2.7% in 2004 pic.twitter.com/Ui4IuYbHX1
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) February 18, 2025

**DaFace** · 02-18-2025, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by displacedinMN

****----Just as I am getting ready to retire

JUST IN: NASA says there's now a 3.1% chance an asteroid will hit Earth in 2032, up from 2.6% yesterday.

This is the highest risk assessment an asteroid has ever received, surpassing 2.7% in 2004 pic.twitter.com/Ui4IuYbHX1
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) February 18, 2025

It obviously would be a hugely shitty thing if it happened, but I'm kind of excited to see how we work this problem. They're planning to turn JWST on it in March, so we'll see what the probabilities look like at that point. We do technically have the technology to try and divert it in 2028, but that has risks of making things worse, so ideally we just rule out the possibility before then.

**HemiEd** · 02-18-2025, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

It obviously would be a hugely shitty thing if it happened, but I'm kind of excited to see how we work this problem. They're planning to turn JWST on it in March, so we'll see what the probabilities look like at that point. We do technically have the technology to try and divert it in 2028, but that has risks of making things worse, so ideally we just rule out the possibility before then.

Maybe we can send Bruce Willis if he still remembers how?

LagunaSWana · 02-24-2025, 01:16 PM

Launch on Friday
pic.twitter.com/GaLdsH3day
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 24, 2025

displacedinMN · 02-24-2025, 01:19 PM

Make time to head outside tonight after the sun sets and study the sky. Five of the brightest planets — Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn — and even the faint Neptune and Uranus will align in a rare arc, appearing like a planetary line dance.

One or two planets, maybe three, often line up in the skies, but seven? You’ll have to wait until October 2028 to see anything similar.

Planetary parades happen relatively often when planets align on the same side of the sun, making them visible on earth across the night sky. While six of the planets have been out at the same time this winter, the seventh, Mercury, is joining them now.

“Mercury has always been the missing party in the evening,” said night sky watcher and author “Astro” Bob King, of Duluth.

The best chance of seeing the phenomenon in Minnesota is tonight, Monday, Feb. 24, though tomorrow night is also a possibility, King has said.

Seeing all seven planets aligned will be a challenge, King said, “but with the right conditions and a nice farmland horizon, it can be done.”

Five of the planets should be visible to the naked eye if you’re away from light pollution on a clear night, while distant Neptune and Uranus require binoculars or maybe a telescope.

If you do not have the App Stellarium....get it.

**Donger** · 02-24-2025, 04:49 PM

https://www.spacex.com/launches/miss...rship-flight-8

The eighth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Friday, February 28, pending regulatory approval.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 40 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the X TV app. The launch window will open 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 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, as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon entry. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.

The flight test includes several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site. A significant number of tiles have been removed from Starship to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle. Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry. On the sides of the vehicle, non-structural versions of Starship’s catch fittings are installed to test the fittings’ thermal performance, along with a section of the tile line receiving a smoothed and tapered edge to address hot spots observed during reentry on Starship’s sixth flight test. Starship’s reentry profile is designed to intentionally stress the structural limits of the upper stage’s rear flaps while at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure. Finally, several radar sensors will once again be tested on the launch and catch tower’s chopsticks with the goal of increasing the accuracy when measuring distances between the chopsticks and a returning vehicle.

The Super Heavy booster for this flight features upgraded avionics, including a more powerful flight computer, improved power and network distribution, and integrated smart batteries.

Distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to the return and catch of the Super Heavy booster, requiring healthy systems on the booster and tower and a final manual command from the mission’s Flight Director. If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of America. We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and booster return will only take place if conditions are right.

The returning booster will slow down from supersonic speeds, resulting in audible sonic booms in the area around the landing zone. Generally, the only impact to those in the surrounding area of a sonic boom is the brief thunder-like noise with variables like weather and distance from the return site determining the magnitude experienced by observers.

Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable. But by putting flight hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we’re able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle.

06-01-2014, 09:40 AM
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-1613101	Space Exploration megathread Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across. Lists of Upcoming Missions Spoiler! General lists: https://nextspaceflight.com/ http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ SpaceX specific list: https://spacexnow.com/upcoming.php How to Watch a Live Launch Spoiler! SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/launches/ ULA: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnitedLaunchAlliance RocketLab: https://www.youtube.com/user/RocketLabNZ NASATV will also cover some launches (primarily ISS resupply missions): https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision Where to Learn More Spoiler! Some cool pics... https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/ https://www.instagram.com/spacex/?hl=en Twitter feed is usually interesing... https://twitter.com/SpaceX https://twitter.com/elonmusk The SpaceX sub is a great source of info... https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/index And for a more forum-style discussion board... http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php#c17 And there are plenty of YouTube channels with great content... Joe Scott - Lost of "future" discussion. Some about rockets and space. Much that goes beyond. Scott Manley - Super smart dude (engineer) who reviews a lot of major events in space exploration. Frazer Cain (Universe Today) - Podcast-style videos that go in-depth into space topics. Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut) - A "random dude" who got really into space (particularly SpaceX). He's a great resource for simple explanations of this stuff, as well as live hosting launches. USLaunchReport - Lost of videos of the more mundane stuff (e.g., booster recovery operations). Not a ton of commentary. NASASpaceFlight - Live hosting of most launches including a ton of video of Starlink operations. Glossary Spoiler! Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.) ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on. Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans). F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself. FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version. GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing. HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad. ISS - The International Space Station JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches. LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship. LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches). NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed. OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches. RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1. Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.) Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space. Last edited by DaFace; 10-13-2024 at 07:17 AM..
Posts: 53,112	1 0

01-16-2025, 05:14 PM	#5791
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-1613101	Starship Flight 7 breaking up and re-entering over Turks and Caicos pic.twitter.com/iuQ0YAy17O — Alex D. (@adavenport354) January 16, 2025
Posts: 53,112	1 0

01-16-2025, 05:16 PM	#5793
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-1613101	And another: Just saw the most insane #spacedebris #meteorshower right now in Turks and Caicos ⁦@elonmusk⁩ what is it?? pic.twitter.com/a7f4MbEB8Q — Dean Olson (@deankolson87) January 16, 2025
Posts: 53,112

01-16-2025, 06:18 PM	#5796
ChiefGator Can these boys not play? Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Northcentral Florida Casino cash: $6512956	Starship experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” At least the booster was caught. Starship burning up is no big deal... that's not where.. you know.. people would be sitting, is it? EDIT: It's going to be billed as a successful test of the “flight termination system” __________________ - Mark
Posts: 4,700

01-18-2025, 09:59 AM	#5798
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $6989900 VARSITY	"Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity. Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase vent area. Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month," Musk said via X, the social media platform he owns, about 2.5 hours after Flight 7 launched. (Starship's Raptor engines are powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane.) That pressure overload apparently led to a fire "in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly," SpaceX wrote in a blog post about Flight 7 yesterday evening, stressing that this interpretation is based on initial data analyses. ("Rapid unscheduled disassembly" is a term of art for a spacecraft explosion.) "We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests," the company added, referring to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. "Starship flew within its designated launch corridor — as all U.S. launches do to safeguard the public both on the ground, on water and in the air," SpaceX continued in the blog post. "Any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area." __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 190,635

01-23-2025, 09:12 PM	#5799
HemiEd Supporter Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ozarks Casino cash: $-239436	I am curious, but not curious enough to read this whole thread. Have any of you been seeing the videos of Mars from Curiosity? So interesting and I have never really been into that stuff. I googled it and it is cold as heck up there, -80. Maybe it had life up there quadrillions of years ago when the sun was hotter?
Posts: 34,791

02-18-2025, 08:43 PM	#5800
displacedinMN In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Correcting papers Casino cash: $-540000	****----Just as I am getting ready to retire JUST IN: NASA says there's now a 3.1% chance an asteroid will hit Earth in 2032, up from 2.6% yesterday. This is the highest risk assessment an asteroid has ever received, surpassing 2.7% in 2004 pic.twitter.com/Ui4IuYbHX1 — BNO News Live (@BNODesk) February 18, 2025 __________________ #investigatecarlcheffers
Posts: 40,856

02-24-2025, 01:16 PM	#5803
LagunaSWana Starter Join Date: Mar 2023 Location: Laguna Niguel, CA Casino cash: $-5279500	Launch on Friday pic.twitter.com/GaLdsH3day — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 24, 2025
Posts: 575	1 0

02-24-2025, 01:19 PM	#5804
displacedinMN In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Correcting papers Casino cash: $-540000	Make time to head outside tonight after the sun sets and study the sky. Five of the brightest planets — Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn — and even the faint Neptune and Uranus will align in a rare arc, appearing like a planetary line dance. One or two planets, maybe three, often line up in the skies, but seven? You’ll have to wait until October 2028 to see anything similar. Planetary parades happen relatively often when planets align on the same side of the sun, making them visible on earth across the night sky. While six of the planets have been out at the same time this winter, the seventh, Mercury, is joining them now. “Mercury has always been the missing party in the evening,” said night sky watcher and author “Astro” Bob King, of Duluth. The best chance of seeing the phenomenon in Minnesota is tonight, Monday, Feb. 24, though tomorrow night is also a possibility, King has said. Seeing all seven planets aligned will be a challenge, King said, “but with the right conditions and a nice farmland horizon, it can be done.” Five of the planets should be visible to the naked eye if you’re away from light pollution on a clear night, while distant Neptune and Uranus require binoculars or maybe a telescope. If you do not have the App Stellarium....get it. __________________ #investigatecarlcheffers
Posts: 40,856	2 0

02-24-2025, 04:49 PM	#5805
Donger "Think BOOM!" Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W Casino cash: $6989900 VARSITY	https://www.spacex.com/launches/miss...rship-flight-8 The eighth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Friday, February 28, pending regulatory approval. A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 40 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the X TV app. The launch window will open 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 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, as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon entry. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned. The flight test includes several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site. A significant number of tiles have been removed from Starship to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle. Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry. On the sides of the vehicle, non-structural versions of Starship’s catch fittings are installed to test the fittings’ thermal performance, along with a section of the tile line receiving a smoothed and tapered edge to address hot spots observed during reentry on Starship’s sixth flight test. Starship’s reentry profile is designed to intentionally stress the structural limits of the upper stage’s rear flaps while at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure. Finally, several radar sensors will once again be tested on the launch and catch tower’s chopsticks with the goal of increasing the accuracy when measuring distances between the chopsticks and a returning vehicle. The Super Heavy booster for this flight features upgraded avionics, including a more powerful flight computer, improved power and network distribution, and integrated smart batteries. Distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to the return and catch of the Super Heavy booster, requiring healthy systems on the booster and tower and a final manual command from the mission’s Flight Director. If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of America. We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and booster return will only take place if conditions are right. The returning booster will slow down from supersonic speeds, resulting in audible sonic booms in the area around the landing zone. Generally, the only impact to those in the surrounding area of a sonic boom is the brief thunder-like noise with variables like weather and distance from the return site determining the magnitude experienced by observers. Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable. But by putting flight hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we’re able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle. __________________ I think the young people enjoy it when I "get down," verbally, don't you?
Posts: 190,635