Vocal Voices

Rocket ever launched to the launch pad for a full wet dress rehearsal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B_9wtpu8fcI

Well it might be the most powerful rocket ever launched if they can get it off the ground before the Spacex starship. Right now the SLS (space launch system), is scheduled to fly June or July.

Starship should already have flown but the FAA have delayed their environmental assessment twice. Just to be clear, Starship is both bigger and more powerful than this block1 rocket.

SLS will launch the Artemis module to moon orbit later this year and astronauts in 2024 to land on the moon. If their supplier gets their spacesuit done in time.

Meanwhile the spectre of Starship shadows the decade long journey of SLS to get to the launch site for its wet dress rehearsal.

It is probably no mistake that the fully stacked Starship and Booster4 are going through fully stacked cryo testing right now.

Technologically brilliant, but I do worry about how much space crap we are throwing up there.

Not a big fan.

SLS won't help much with space crap but Starship will. Because it puts the satellites up there in orbit and comes home. There is only one stage separation and it's almost within the atmosphere and the the first stage comes home. Tons of crap up there from second and third stage separations.

The starlink satellites are all in a low and decaying orbit. When they run out of fuel they deorbit on their own.

It is the stuff up there in Gosync which is the worst. It's up there forever. Musk even mulled bringing Hubble home with Starship. It is more than big enough, just needs a bit more fuel and as the system is designed to have "tanker" starships and are designed to do in flight refuelling, that is possible.

The problem with space operations is they have been stuck in the 1960's in the way they approach it. Now they're heading fully for the 21st century.