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Starship Orbital Prototype - Florida Version
- Thread starter e-FTW
- Start date
That’s kind of what this equipment failure made the Mk1 test become. Went way beyond the planned test pressure until there was a rapid unplanned disassembly.Yeah, it's called a proof test....
SpaceX Cocoa site shut down and workers let go:
SpaceX closing down Cocoa construction site, will delay Mk4
It'll be months before activity starts up at the new Roberts Road facility.
It'll be months before activity starts up at the new Roberts Road facility.
Has there been any information released on what the design changes will be for mk3? They must be substantial to warrant cutting up mk2 for scrap rather than finish and use for the first full test flight they said would happen before end of year.
Were these design changes planned before or after the big "here is Starship, fully assembled" event?
The general consensus is that the non-single-weld SS was impractical (Mk1 blew apart!). Then the bands for Mk2 were irregular and couldn't be welded together, according to the video above, so there goes Mk2. Don't know of the timing of the decisions. I've also read reports of significant changes in the fins/flaps, etc. You can read all sorts of info and rumors in the nasaspaceflight.com forums.
I expect most of the first versions will blow up in some fashion because SpaceX is going too far, too fast.
Thanks for the insights. The next few years will show whether Elon Musk is right that in space hardware development, going too, far too fast is the right approach. At least until the iterations where crew safety concerns must become high priority.
Here's an NSF article on the closing of the FL "shipyard":
SpaceX expediting Mk3 construction in Texas, pausing Florida-based Starship builds - NASASpaceFlight.com
About crew safety. Just getting this system working reliably for cargo is going to be difficult enough. I don't see NASA letting any of their astronauts on it for at least a decade. They got severely burned by the Shuttle twice and SS is no better than Shuttle for crew safety (no abort on launch, a large reentry vehicle with numerous and critical failure points (winglets/flaps, engines), etc.). Capsules minimize the failure points. I wish SpaceX would focus on crew to LEO in simple capsules and cargo on large, dumb rockets.
