SpaceX stacks their Starship and super heavy booster

[Suff]

For the first time.

It will still take a month or two before they get to blast it off into orbit and even then neither rocket part will be landed, they will both splash down in the sea for safety. But it is the first time, since the end of the Saturn V era, that a rocket of this size has even been attempted.

After a fit check they took it down again, high winds and the main tower is not yet fully operational.

[Workingman]

Technologically it is brilliant, no doubt about that so don't get me wrong, but I have concerns.

For years now, I have been worried by a few things.

Firstly, the amount of stuff we are putting up there without even pretending to bring it back. It comes to end of life and then it floats. Sometimes gravity takes over and it burns up most of it on reentry, but not all. That's another problem.

Secondly the number of outward punctures of the atmosphere. The Earth is very used to incoming - 4 billion year's worth - but outgoing is new, certainly the number is. It could be harmless, but we don't really know.

[Suff]

True, there are a lot of unknowns.

Spacex operations are pretty benign in the space junk stuff though. There Falcon 9 second stage drops back to earth on every launch, the boosters almost all land.

Their Starlink satellites have a 5 year life span with a deorbit program built in and thrust gas allocated to deorbit.

Starship is even less wasteful in the launch business as both parts will land and be reused.

I remember the space shuttle and how it was to completely change the way we manage space tavel. In the end it was simply too expensive.

By contrast, Starship is on a shoestring. Yet the developments have been extraordinary. The engines are the most powerful, for their size, that have ever been made. The booster and orbit vehicles are made out of inexpensive, but very durable, stainless steel.

The pace of delivery is a testament to agile manufacturing. It still has a long way to go, but for pure LEO launch, it is more than half way already.

This first full stack launch could be an utter catastrophe. But my bet woud be somewhere in the top end of delivery. As opposed to abject failure.

We are at a defining moment for our access to space. The transition from extremely expensive government launches to private enterprise.

I expect the spin off to be a cleaning up of our local orbit as it increases the risk and cost of space operations.

Time will tell.

[Workingman]

For sure we are getting there re orbit and deorbit, bur for me it should be a part of the licence - go up, bring it back, al of it, every nut and bolt. Today there are 10s of thousands of 'bits' just floating about in all levels with the potential to hit future launches,

We are currently trialling space 'hoovers' to clean things up. They should never have been needed.

[Suff]

Agreed, they should never have been needed.

Interesting side discussion going on right now about whether they use a Starship to bring the Hubble back to earth intact or not... Musk says "yeah we can do it". Whether anyone wants to pay for it or not? Another matter.

[Suff]

From reddit.

52 years of progress.

Musk says the mission parameters are simple. If it doesn't blow up on take-off and take down the tower and orbital launch mount, it will be a success

[Workingman]

After a while it seems a bit like riding a bike.

You fall off, get up, get on again and fall off again. You keep doing it till one day you don't fall off - job done. Then you go for skid turns, wheelies and 360 back flips....

The wheelies are almost sorted....

[Suff]

The wheelies are almost sorted....

And the 360 backflip failures wind up on YouTube.......

If you are interested in this stuff, the Everyday astronaut was given a tour of SpaceX, the video's are on Youtube but video 3 is still pending, that's the one where they go to the launch pad after touring the 3 buildings at the construction site.

One of the really funny parts of the whole thing are where Elon says "anyone can copy the Raptor1 design if they like, Raptor2 is Way better".

He also talks about running a space development program right next to a main road and the consequences of everything being visible to a large lens and, consequently, winding up on youtube.

[Workingman]

Keep it hidden in plain sight, an old trick.

R1 is old hat, R2 is so far ahead it would take Grumman, Boeing or Lockheed-Martin years to catch up. Show them how good you are at wheelies, but keep your progress on the 360s under wraps... with a few leaks. I bet Spacex is already on R3 and that it's in a bunker somewhere.

[Suff]

Musk said it would probably take R4 or R5 before they got to where they needed to be for their long distance version.

SLS is still working with the spare engines from the space shuttle. Except this time they won't come home, they'll be dumped in the sea...