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so, Artemis test flight AKA Should Launch Someday, 16-Nov-2022

DaveL59

By DaveL59
in The Astro Lounge

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malc-c

malc-c

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On 23/09/2022 at 22:23, Stu said:

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Falcon and Falcon Heavy are awesome, the technology and control systems involved are incredible. I won’t ever forget seeing the two ‘heavy’ boosters landing together after their twin sonic booms.

I just can’t help thinking that what they are attempting with the Starship is a whole other level of complexity. There may well be unforeseen issues with the 33 engines and managing the gimbling of the central engines (number?), and I don’t think they have managed the landing accuracy needed for the chopsticks to succeed with the Falcon boosters, let alone landing the huge StarShip booster accurately enough. I totally agree that it is likely to take out a whole load of infrastructure the first time they attempt a landing. Could make any previous explosions seem like small beans! 🚀🚀🔥🔥💥💥

I'm with you on the two synchronised landings of the falcon heavy boosters.... it was just perfect.  This year Space X is setting a lot of records,  as of today, 143 landings of the booster stage,  44 launches so far this year with most boosters being reused 4 or more times.  Its almost getting boring watching the live feeds as unlike other companies nothing goes wrong and Falcon 9 launches are so dialled in.

I agree with you that the complexity with Starship is such that its almost bound to fail at the start.  But if they manage to pull off the chopsticks plucking an almost hovering booster from the sky it's going to escalate the race to the moon to a new level as we can see, SpaceX has the next three revisions of Starship and booster in production, almost ready to fly weeks after the first orbital flight test. 

We'll soon find out as Musk has announced that the orbital test flight will occur before the end of November, possibly sooner.  In that time we should see all 33 Raptors lit in a test fire.  The last test fire of booster engines (7) included the three gimballed engines which according to Musk worked well.

I also agree with you on your last sentence.   Even with most of the fuel exhausted the booster would make a big explosion, if it failed at take off it would be horrendous, probably taking out the tank farm and some of the complex.  But it would make for some exceptional viewing !!  

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maw lod qan
maw lod qan

For what it's worth, I'm looking at Artemis about 7 or 8 miles away on the pad! Sitting in the same parking lot I used for the SpaceX 1st crew mission.  Best $30.00 I've ever spent.

Louis D
Louis D

Boeing is the Artemis prime contractor.  They are a legacy defense contractor (think B-29s and F-15s).  They build to a spec from the government on a cost-plus basis.  They were required to do things

Stu
Stu

I still find it confusing. People almost revel in the explosions which SpaceX went through, yet crucify NASA for these relatively minor hitches. Yes, the Falcon rockets are awesome and have compl

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DaveS

DaveS

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There's the energy of a small atomic bomb in a fully fueled Booster and Starship. If it went bang, chances are it would take the Tank Farm with it, and I would fear for Boca Chica. "Over Pressure" being the understatement of the century.

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malc-c

malc-c

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20 hours ago, Stu said:

Do we know where they will launch from? Boca Chica or the Kennedy Space Centre?

They will most probably launch from Boca whilst under development, but they have just topped out the tower at the Cape, and halfway through erecting a factory / assembly plant, so "regular" launches will probably move there.  Also there are less hoops for SpaceX to jump through to appease the bureaucrats and other organisations which slowed up progress at Boca.

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DaveL59

DaveL59

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9 minutes ago, Stu said:

Shame, but no choice I guess. I wonder how many trips on the crawler it is rated to put up with?

dunno but they were reluctant to do a return trip for the leak issue saying it adds a lot of stress to the vehicle, but then watching it blow over would be a lot more stress huh 😉

At least they can to a lot of checks and re-certify components and batteries etc while in the shed, they'll have to to get clearance to try for a launch anyway now. Pity they didn't just make the shed a RoRo would've been so much simpler 😄 

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Stu

Stu

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2 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

Pity they didn't just make the shed a RoRo would've been so much simpler 😄 

Very true! A bit like building a scope shed and still having to wheel your 24” dob 4 miles to the observing site 😜

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Louis D

Louis D

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On 26/09/2022 at 15:38, billhinge said:

They need something like the Thunderbird 1 launcher

 

On 26/09/2022 at 15:48, Mr Spock said:

It would be great to see it launch from under a retractable pool :biggrin:

Alright, as a Yank, I had to look up these references since even us oldies are only vaguely aware of the Thunderbirds shows.  I found the below clip to clarify your references:

If y'all do launch for the moon or Mars someday, we'll hold you to launching from beneath a retractable pool. 😁

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billhinge

billhinge

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1 hour ago, Louis D said:

 

Alright, as a Yank, I had to look up these references since even us oldies are only vaguely aware of the Thunderbirds shows.  I found the below clip to clarify your references:

If y'all do launch for the moon or Mars someday, we'll hold you to launching from beneath a retractable pool. 😁

Shows how far advanced our Brit design is compared to NASA  😜

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Mandy D

Mandy D

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I just had this in an email from Eventbrite for the Artemis I launch:

Rate your experience

 
Mandy, tell NASA about your event experience. Let them know what you loved and what they can do better next time.

Anyone care to make suggestions for what NASA can do better next time? 🤣

 

Artemis_1.png

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