The NASASpaceflight folks had a live feed ready to start within minutes of when I sat down to write. Originally set to start at 8:00 PM EST,that has shifted later three times already. So far. While the expected run time isn't given they don't tend to do these live streams for more than "a couple" of hours. The goal? To stack the Starship on the booster to prepare for Monday's flight test 6 (IFT-6).
Starship 31 was rolled to the Orbital Launch Mount area on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Superheavy booster 13 was rolled to the pad earlier today, the 14th, and lifted onto the OLM yielding this view, posted to X earlier today.
Image credit: SpaceX
Unfortunately, the cropping in the photo removes this detail, which changed the ship's name in my mind from Ship 31 to Starship Banana
Image credit: SpaceX
A closeup picture I saw of the Cogent Banana holding a much smaller banana
shows the word "SCALE" on the smaller banana. I got the impression that means
it's painted to the size of some standardized banana, to enable quick comparisons
in videos. Not that I can see how that could be useful. But I also
concluded that Cogent Banana would be a good name for rock band. Standardized Banana would be a lower level choice.
IFT-6 is currently scheduled for a 30 minute launch window opening at 5:00 PM EST on Monday, November 18 and will look much like previous Flight Test 5.
The next Starship flight test aims to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online. Objectives include the booster once again returning to the launch site for catch, reigniting a ship Raptor engine while in space, and testing a suite of heatshield experiments and maneuvering changes for ship reentry and descent over the Indian Ocean.
...
Several thermal protection experiments and operational changes will test the limits of Starship’s capabilities and generate flight data to inform plans for ship catch and reuse. The flight test will assess new secondary thermal protection materials and will have entire sections of heat shield tiles removed on either side of the ship in locations being studied for catch-enabling hardware on future vehicles. The ship also will intentionally fly at a higher angle of attack in the final phase of descent, purposefully stressing the limits of flap control to gain data on future landing profiles. Finally, adjusting the flight’s launch window to the late afternoon at Starbase will enable the ship to reenter over the Indian Ocean in daylight, providing better conditions for visual observations.
Future ships, starting with the vehicle planned for seventh flight test, will fly with significant upgrades including redesigned forward flaps, larger propellant tanks, and the latest generation tiles and secondary thermal protection layers as we continue to iterate towards a fully reusable heat shield. Learnings from this and subsequent flight tests will continue to make the entire Starship system more reliable as we close in on full and rapid reusability.
Is the banana a humorous jab at journalists using silly things as references for measurements?
ReplyDeleteEx: the new vehicle weighs as much as 17 refrigerators and is as wide as a three car garage.
I found out tonight that multiple NSF cameras at Bolsa can be viewed 24/7. On X and YT, probably.
Have you checked Lab Padre?
DeleteI never heard an explanation for the banana but I haven't spent a second looking for one. SpaceX seems to allow or even encourage silly and that's a good thing.
DeleteA 1.2% scale model of the ship was tested at NASA Ames in September. I suppose this flight is to further confirm the results of that wind tunnel testing.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Didja see the FAA has convened a Part 450 committee? Part 450 is about streamlining launch licensing. Already, because of Space X, the part needs updating. FAA struggles to keep up with launch cadence.
I do wonder if Trump's plan for government efficiency has had an influence.
I hadn't heard of either of those two, so thanks for passing it on. I read somewhere something like the FAA has changed its stance to, "yes sir, Mr. Musk! Whatever you say." Doubtful, agencies like those tend to say, "who do you think you are to question us?" But we can hope.
DeleteIn regards to the heat shield tiles, SpaceX has apparently looked at all the collected video and realized it doesn't/might not need the 8-10 rows on either side, thus making the overall heat shield smaller, saving weight and time and all that.
ReplyDeleteInteresting experiment on exactly how much protection is protection.
It's going to be a very interesting launch/recovery/screwup depending on what happens.
You know what they say about, "only excitement is guaranteed"...
DeleteA banana is used as a size scale on a variety of social media platforms...at least it used to be.
ReplyDeleteIt's marvelous they bring nose art to their vehicles, I hope they use it going forward, adds a kind of down to earth human aspect to what is this stainless steel metal hypersonic flying leviathan.
ReplyDelete