
40 sec left, doh.
They're saying minimum 48 hours to reset
I think they had a problem crop up at the 20 minute mark and just switched to a wet dress rehearsal. Which pretty much just means run everything down to the 40 second mark and stop.
Next attempt is probably going to be Thursday.
Laaame. If KSP has taught me anything, it's that the flight would've been fine if they went ahead with it, given enough quicksave/quickload.
SpaceX will be attempting the Starship launch again tomorrow, 4/20-blaze-it, between 9:28 and 10:30AM.
She launched!
Pretty awesome sight, and I'm sure they got a lot of excellent data
Yeah, it made for a nice firework.
How much did the rocket cost? How much mony was blown up in a few seconds?
It's estimated at $20M for the vehicle and $10M per launch. Compare to $4.1B per SLS launch...
Wow I hope they get some good .... data is the wrong word but some good information about how to make better rockets, etc. from this.
How much did the rocket cost? How much mony was blown up in a few seconds?
The cost of a lost vehicle in what is very much a developmental test where you're paying for valuable data with an explosion is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money that will be made once that rocket is carrying payloads.
Like this is how rocket development works - you're thinking about it wrong. That explosion was an investment.
Data is exactly the right word.
As they were saying, their only goal for this launch was to get off the launch pad and clear the tower. Anything beyond that would be a bonus for data collection purposes, to help for future launches.
I was kinda surprised they let the rocket spin for so long before detonating it. Maybe someone was having fanciful thoughts of trying to get it back under control, KSP-style?
"Well, we didn't poop in the toilet on this attempt, but we've gathered enough data to improve for next time."
"Well, we didn't poop in the toilet on this attempt, but we've gathered enough data to improve for next time."
I think I said those exact words while potty-training my kid
I was kinda surprised they let the rocket spin for so long before detonating it. Maybe someone was having fanciful thoughts of trying to get it back under control, KSP-style?
My guess is they were trying to get as much sensor data as possible before killing it.
Why did they flip it in the first place? I understood they did that with the early tests because they wanted to bring it back to the pad, but why flip the whole rocket? Were they supposed to have separated at that point?
Edit: I recently put more time into KSP1 and could not for the life of me launch a rocket that could get to orbit without doing a 360 at about 10km
Were they supposed to have separated at that point?
I think they were, yes.
Edit: I recently put more time into KSP1 and could not for the life of me launch a rocket that could get to orbit without doing a 360 at about 10km
Use fins to make sure your center of lift is just behind your center of mass.
So I believe Starship is locked onto the booster at 3 or 4 points and unlike Falcon 9, they don't have any device to push the ship away from the booster. When Starship is ready to separate they release the locks and flip the booster. That manoeuvre was supposed to be enough to separate the ship from the booster and have the booster set up to do it's boost back burn to return to the launch area. Obviously something went wrong. Maybe a lock or two failed to release and kept the ship from separating?
My guess is when that separation didn't happen everything went fubar, and they just let it play out for as long as they could to get data while the ship was still in the exclusion zone, and blew it all up when they were too close to the edge of that zone.
I was impressed the whole thing stayed intact while it was spinning end over end like that. That was a skyscraper sized object, tumbling up there at insane speed, and it didn't appear to break apart until they blew it up on purpose.
That was a pretty successful first launch attempt. Obviously a lot of stuff to work out but they already have another upgraded booster and ship ready to go for testing. I can't wait to see the next attempt!
That was a pretty successful first launch attempt. Obviously a lot of stuff to work out but they already have another upgraded booster and ship ready to go for testing. I can't wait to see the next attempt!
Agreed. I was also surprised to see that a handful of engines in the first stage didn't seem to ever actually light. I assume that wasn't intentional. I haven't watched any of the after-action reporting today (if there was any), so this may already have been covered.
I thought they all lit but 5 were quickly blown out, followed by a few more.
Looks like there is a lot of damage at the launch site too.
Maybe they need more berms?
Looks like there is a lot of damage at the launch site too.
Damn, Elon looked clueless in that video.
WizKid wrote:Looks like there is a lot of damage at the launch site too.
Tis but a scratch.
"we don't need a flame trench"
Scott Manley has a good analysis. His hypothesis is the debris from that crater caused the initial and later engine failures and the total thrust remaining wasnt enough to reach the desired trajectory. it was already over before it ever flipped and lost control. By the time it hit Apogee it was not where it was supposed to be, the mass of the fuel in the upper stage bent the rocket and SpaceX triggered termination.
My wife commented that it seemed to be taking off slowly.
I figured it was just so damn big. But maybe it was some of that immediate engine failure?
Looks like the rocket got them started on the hole for a flame trench. LOL
That being said I am not sure that the water suppression system was fully in place either. I know they were adding some new pipes and tanks for a bigger system. That may help avoid another hole like that in the future.
They should still probably add a trench though. Damn!
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