Latest SpaceX starship launch

[Suff]

Did anyone watch it?

It is very cool for anyone to watch. Just remember how BIG that thing is.

Here is a clip from the BBC of the booster landing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8xe7exjy1go

[Workingman]

I did. There was an element of 'squeaky bum' near the end but it was successful.

It's the future and it had to happen at some point. The fact is that private enterprises are nimble whereas National agencies are sluggish. Privateers break the rules and get on with things. Government agencies are hamstrung by red tape. It has always been that way.

TSR2 was decades ahead of its time but cancelled by government. Concord(e) would never have flown had it not been for Aérospatiale and BAC.

[Suff]

Yeah I heard about TSR2 a long time ago. I'm told that the workers went in and smashed all the jigs. If so they are doubly at fault because being so far ahead it would have generated its own market and ensured that UK prowess continued.

I don't have a verification on the workers so I can't say for definite.

There are some new video's on the landing including the one where you can see the lifting peg come in and land on top of the shock protected part of the arm. Before the launch Elon said that the last demo landed with 0.5cm accuracy in the virtual launch mount. There was a lot of derision, "0.5cm, no 0.5m is close enough, nobody can do 0.5cm it is impossible".

0.5cm it was! They lowered it down and reattached the booster quick disconnect to detank the remaining fuel. Which means not only did it come in with 0.5cm precision to the arms, it was correctly aligned and within the travel of the arms to adjust for the BQD connection.

It is totally brain frying.

Things will get faster now. They have three more boosters and three more ships in various stages of build. I believe the next booster is already static fired as is the ship but with the burn through again I guess the ship will need some more thermal protection upgrades. They may have to rethink it entirely or they may just keep bulking it up until it works.

It feels similar to the Apollo program right now. Europa clipper blasted off too. Another big milestone for NASA.

Very interesting time to be alive and in a good way.

[Workingman]

The TSR2 airframe and jigs were not destroyed in some sort of Luddite worker's move. They were ordered to be destroyed by the Royal Aviation Establishment and the Ministry of Technology - the Government.

If they had not been scrapped by those who built them, which must have hurt those people, others would have been brought in to do the job.

Don't blame the workers.

[Suff]

Don't blame the workers.

Hence why I said "I heard" and that I could not confirm.

Thanks for confirming. That was an even worse government decision then wasn't it. Nice of them to first of all fail to support British defence business then second to actively cripple it from using their prowess for other NATO nations.

In the Early 1980's I was working on main battle tank powerpacks in Germany. We were being ordered to remove bearings in the cooling system fan drives and replace them. There was nothing visibly wrong with them so we asked what it was all about.

Apparently they were ordered from and supplied by Russia. In a deal created by the Labour Government of the 70's. Right in the middle of the cold war.

So I am very willing to accept that the government of the day did that. However I may be wrong about their motives but that's my bias and I accept it is my bias.

[Workingman]

Fortunately not all TSR2 tech was lost. Elements of it evolved into the superb SEPECAT Jaguar and the excellent MRCA Tornado. We also had the Harrier, even the Yanks bought that. We now have the Rafale and Typhoon, maybe another spin-off?

Unfortunately Europe, or anywhere else except China, does not have the production facilities of the USA so the F14 (F15 / F/A18) and the F16 have become the mainstay of NATO's air fleets. It is not that they ere 'better' it's just that the US can produce more of them at a cheaper cost.

Stealth fighters and bombers are a bit 'niche' and are being overtaken - think hypersonic missiles. Also cheap swarms of drones and UAVs are now the 'thing' and anyone can produce them. They can fly high or low, fast or slow, and the defenders will not get them all. They can be 'fire-and-forget' or precision, and we do not know which is which. They can also carry tactical nukes.

The face of warfare from our days in the 70s and 80s has changed dramatically - certainly in the air.

[Suff]

The face of warfare from our days in the 70s and 80s has changed dramatically - certainly in the air.

Completely especially the weaponry and the ability to strike from a distance.

[Suff]

I thought I'd put in a couple of pictures for perspective on the rocket catch.

The booster coming in to land on the arms..



People on the arms.

[cromwell]

Just een this on another site.
It may help to explain the pile on against Musk.

‘When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.’ Jonathan Swift.

[Workingman]

St Elon, a true genius? Love it.