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Totally agree. My comment was 100% poking the bear. 😛

It’s much less about savings and basically all about securing launch capacity. It is what’s happening on the demands side of the industry already. Put another way why wouldn’t we all want the national security procurement strategy to evolve with the times rather than do the same thing they’ve...

It does make sense. As someone actively trying to buy rockets I can confirm that for many years to come the launch industry is going to be very production constrained, and remember that this is an industry where contracts are inked two years out at the latest. Any aspirational constellation is...

Congrats SLS! Sorry to everyone here that wanted to see it RUD. ;)

Possibly already in this thread somewhere: Harvest Thermal

From the land of "everyone has something to learn", Ariane launches can't be beat from a production value perspective. Ariane launches always provide a lot of payload context, launch vehicle detail, etc.

Right. So, again, you think this is a statistically relevant demographic: —Doesn’t have good terrestrial access —Doesn’t know about starlink —Can afford to pay for internet service —Is on Twitter Happy to move on here, but it's not at all clear with what you disagree.

Great, then you agree with me after all! ;)

So what you’re saying is that, in the context of SpaceX advertising on Twitter, there’s a statistically relevant demographic out there that: —Doesn’t have good terrestrial access —Doesn’t know about starlink —Can afford to pay for internet service —Is on Twitter

Based on what logic? Bad internet service is not a new thing.

People who have crappy internet and want better internet are aware of the alternatives. They’re already paying for satellite or suffering while waiting for better solutions, or both. The people who don’t know that Starlink exists are the people who a) already have better/cheaper terrestrial...

Yeah. For the US--which is always going to be by far the biggest revenue generating market for Starlink--any residential user who needs starlink already knows about starlink. And any upmarket user who might benefit from Starlink isn't going to learn about it through Twitter. Shifting money...

Won't be a huge impact for Gwynne to roll SS under her umbrella. Bill pretty much lives in Boca and owns a lot of the activities and Juncosa also got moved over to SS recently too. (That's not great for Starlink, but...you can't have a profitable starlink without starship, so...)

I don't get that re-reading, but either way, that's a bit of a pointless point. ;) Analogy: Your Tesla can't haul an 80,000lb load. It's probably also worth noting that you could certainly conceive of a solid that does deep and control-loop throttling, cut off, and shutdown/restart. Plenty...

As @mongo notes, it's done in advance of the final launch campaign. The propellant is basically mixed up as a ~liquid and then is poured into the stage casings to cure, then at some point the booster is transported to and installed on the vehicle during final assembly. In the US solid...

Nope. A). That’s not how NASA works. B). That’s not how hurricanes work.

H3 getting closer.

I’m talking launch anomalies, not delays. One launch anomaly that takes down the vehicle for months will ripple for a year or more. Delays also often get horse traded away—a customer might commit to another launch (because as an operator they need to buy more launches anyway) in exchange for...

Typical commercial launch campaigns have the prime show up at L-28 or L-30, though some try to compress by a few days. FH vs F9 is not a factor--it's the same exact thing to the customer. That gives the customer time to unpack, setup, test the satellite (and launch vehicle umbilical), fuel the...

There are contractural mechanisms that govern delays on both sides. That said, schedule is very much weighted on the customer side, with many many months of flexibility (and sometimes up to a year) before any financial hardship...at least for a commercial launch. (One of the reasons a...

Nope.

Anyone interested in 11.75% on Charlie?

It's largely an aerodynamic thing. The grid fins need a good bit of velocity to work, and while they do scrub energy through aerodynamic drag, the engine firings do the heavy lifting on energy. The fins are really (mostly) for steering. It's a great solution for something that hasn't left the...

...until it literally became a versus comparison? ;) Seriously, I can't make this up! I know it's an SX forum, and this is of course the versus thread after all, but folks here sure do take a seriously Trumparian approach to making any Blue news All About SpaceX. I guess I don't expect that to...

The same significance there is in repeatedly complaining about and dunking on non SX timelines.

Of course, I never said or in any way intimated that. ;) Bottom line, Raptor and BE 4 are orbital engines. Bottom line, Raptors timeline to orbit is going to be the ~same as BE4. I appreciate there are plenty of ways to dance around that. :cool:

So shoulda-coulda-woulda counts when its SX but not Blue? ;)

For all the *sugar* ya'll specifically throw at the BE-4 development schedule, the BE-4-to-orbit timeline sure looks a lot like the Raptor-to-orbit timeline... :p

And even more interesting, Comcast sent me a "so sorry about that last note about 200megs--we really meant to say 400!". No surprise, my speed tests didn't budge after the first "go faster" note let alone the second...

They don’t have to. Colliding with one satellite in a shell will massively disrupt activity in that shell for months, if not years. The whole thing doesn't even have to go Kessler either. A number of well placed debris clouds will send satellites scrambling; a bad actor simply needs to keep...

The internal demand to move bits around the world.

Sort of, yeah--there are certain restrictions on various operators, such as NGSO services not broadcasting on GEO shared frequencies at angles that could interfere with the GEO services. Importantly for Kuiper, as with Starlink, those restrictions are not an unknown, or at least in primary...

Not sure I understand. They have authorization to use certain frequencies at certain power levels, both in the US (via the FCC) and ROW (via ITU), just as SX and every other satellite operator.

It's difficult to overstate how good the actual Post interview is (linked in that article). Great questions, great responses. The launch-on-SX thing was probably the most throwaway comment in the whole half hour interview. Anyway, Kuiper exploring all launch options makes sense. They have...

While not your main point, it's worth noting that this doesn't quite hit the mark. Elon absolutely understands (and cares about) the importance of influencing perception/opinion--which ultimately is the goal of PR/Marketing/Comms. He just doesn't like the traditional implementation of that...

NASA pays more for launches than a commercial customer because NASA asks for more than a commercial customer with respect to things like oversight, insight, rights, etc. Goes for all launchers, not just falcon.

Which articles say “Spacex is being heavily subsidized by nasa”? It’s not like nasa funding of SX is a secret; it’s not like the nasa premium on SX services are a secret (or exorbitant).

Interesting development: Xfinity just bumped up my DL speed from 100 to 200 megs at no cost (I pay $76/month). While I acknowledge this is possibly just confirmation bias, it's hard to imagine Comcast's play is anything but an attempt to motivate me and presumably all of my neighbors--up in...

Where did you see that?

Very good news, hopefully the launch goes well. Hopefully they can get past the throwaway Terran-1 program and move on to Terran-R quickly (a la F1-->F9). As with any new rocket time will tell about their schedule aspirations (2024 for Terran-R...and FTR the same for Neutron...), but...

***Better service. There's quite a bit of GEO coverage in South America, specifically because (as you point out) its so hard to get terrestrial services beyond city limits. StarOne is the brazillian operator and they have like 6-8 satellites of their own [that serve more than just Brazil]...

We don't have a consolidated place to talk about what's inevitably going to be the next surge in Space, so here it is. I'll summarize/editorialize on state-ish of the union (I'm sure I'm leaving some out): --On Friday SN put out a generously titled article on Iridium's foray. For sure...

Looks like The Wonky Teeth Man is stuffing Viasat's $7B buyout of Inmarsat. Front and center is some weird concern that its going to impact in-flight services (of which both Viasat and Inmarsat are current player). Its a bit of a bummer, as Dankberg (head of Viasat) is reasonably progressive...

Interesting, if not high level insight into the grind required to deploy global services. In Japan--a country that has pretty solid residential deployment of terrestrial connectivity--Starlink is going with an intermediary to gain access to enterprise/government subscriptions. The intermediary...

Yes, from a very myopic, snapshot-in-time perspective, it is unlikely that other current starlink users around the world are benefitting directly from the specific "Keep The Reds Out Of Ukraine's Dishies" code lines that specifically target the methods Vlad's cronies are using. If that's the...

I realize this is a purposely isolated quote and has little to do with the thread subject (or the point you were making), and I also don't believe you meant to intimate there's no black on satellites, but as a fun fact [and a distraction to the thread] many communications satellites actually...

Of course, can you imagine how well this plays in Elon’s Court of Public Opinion?

When it comes to the specific notion of being paid for keeping starlink going in the Ukraine, I'd contest: 1A. Sending terminals to Ukraine was extremely generous. 2A. Providing support to keep them up and safe from attacks is equally generous. 1B. Sending terminals to Ukraine was a PR boon...

For sure Starlink/T-mobile has the leg up on AST. While the launch cost helps a bit, its worth noting that the piggyback is a bit of a double edge sword for SX since its drain on satellite resources (notably mass and power, and also like volume) necessarily slows down starlink fixed service...

There's not a mobile specific thread, but this one is close enough, so, here's some Drama in the direct-to-device world. At the risk of stating the obvious, the AST solution (and FTR the SX/T-mobile concept) are far from reality right now. There's a huge divide between closing a link between...