Tonight's Flight test 11, the last flight of the 2nd generation Starship, sure seemed to be the most flawless flight of a Starship and SuperHeavy they've ever flown. Things we got used to seeing, like pieces of the flaps melting off or explosions in various places were conspicuous in their absence.
Perhaps the biggest "Wow!" factor for us was seeing Starship 38 after stage separation and while it was burning its six engines to reach the desired altitude. After yesterday's post, actually during the day today, some of us talked in the comments about the chances of seeing Starship. I was lucky enough to see it, and it was brighter and easier to see than expected. I went out on the front porch when the guys doing the coverage we were watching (NASASpaceflight.com ) started talking about the ship being reported for doing the Space Jellyfish phenomenon. I didn't note how long after launch that was, but it was in the vicinity of 6 minutes after launch.
Early in the day, it occurred to me that the launch was going to be after nightfall here, while not at the Boca Chica launch site, and with their typical flight profile being east out of Boca Chica, and passing over the Florida Straits, well south of us near the Cape, I figured that with burning six Raptor engines (three ground engines and three Raptor Vacuum engines) there should be a moving bright spot in the sky. There was simply nothing to compare its brightness to; Starship was the brightest thing in the sky by far.
A calibration of a sort was a neighbor (and fellow engineer) was out walking his dogs, saw us watching and said some version of "what's going on" and we talked for a few seconds. Like us, he's used to seeing all the things that fly out of the KSC/CCSFS and is anxious to see Starships start flying from "up the road."
Getting back to the main subject, we watched the YouTube video from NASASpaceflight.com for the full mission. Without exception everything they tested that we've seen before went better than ever before. That goes from relatively straightforward things like deploying the Starlink satellite mock-ups to the entire heat shield protection we can see.
It's too soon after launch to have learned more details to add, so more details as they show up and the story settles down some more.
Starship38 splashes down in the Indian Ocean ending the mission. Image credit: SpaceX from a video screen capture at The Launch Pad on YouTube.
Yet.
ReplyDeleteThe operative word is 'Yet.'
As in 'FT-11 as the best Starship flight yet.'
Watched it.
Wondered what all the venting in the engine area was while in space. Wondered when things looked weird as they flipped to toss the faux-satellites out.
But otherwise? Perfect. Best yet!!! Whooot!!!!
Beans, they launch with full tanks on the booster and the Starship, because they want maximum stress on the frames to test everything. Once the booster's job is done, they vent off excess because they don't want to decelerate extra (unnecessary) mass, in either the booster or the starship. Otherwise, they would hang on to it - think in-orbit refueling transfers..........
DeleteWhile the videos of a SuperHeavy being caught by the chopsticks are engraved in my mind and I can still watch the replays after all this time, I think the picture of the booster hovering over the water after the new engine test was really impressive. To see something that size hovering motionless is a vivid proof of mastering the technology.
DeleteIt was hard to see that flight from start to finish and NOT see something go wrong. Even with what they did to stress the airframe, it still held together like a Gen 7, on it's way home from Saturn, we do this 17 times a week happening. I'm curious to see the data as well to see the damage, or lack of, on the the areas with tiles removed on critical areas. IIRC, we didn't get to see inside during their high stress moves, so you really couldn't tell how the airframe held up. But, that it did everything nearly textbook on camera, I have a feeling only minor changes will need to be made to anything on Gen 3 frames and shielding. Pretty sure I saw some ablation (sp?) on the lifting lugs, and I kinda wonder about strength after the non-standard heat treatment. But, overall, "excitement guaranteed" definitely lived up to the hype.
ReplyDeleteEarly reports out of SpaceX are that it went like clockwork and they accomplished every goal they were shooting for. I expect more details and photos will follow.
ReplyDeleteIf you've ever watched orbiting satellites at night, you'll think of something about that looks to be the size of the background stars, and the same brightness, only moving with respect to the stars. What we saw was far brighter and bigger, moving far faster.
I found a video someone posted from south Florida that shows a view like we had.
https://youtu.be/omurr-t_Xy0?si=48vDxOPwTY1I_K72&t=60
I am looking forward to a night launch of Starship from Boca Chica. If you could see it from about 300 miles away, I might be able to see it from about 350 miles away. That video was neat.
DeleteI am waiting for posts on SpaceX's X account of more detailed pictures of the landing.