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The parts of your brain required to listen to music or sing are very different from the parts needed to watch the road and react to other vehicles. And yes, if the driver is watching something on a screen in the car for more than a second that is not safe. Unless the car is on Auto Pilot. ;)

Well that was unexpected. But what exactly will a “propellant transfer demonstration” include? There will only be one vehicle involved with IFT-3, obviously. SpaceX is under a lot of pressure from NASA to make progress on the HLS. I hope they are not rushing this “demonstration”. They have yet...

For the past two years or so I have been using the side cameras on my Model 3 every time I change lanes (since the side camera view appears automatically when the turn signal is activated). I find the side camera view almost always better than the mirror since it shows a much wider and more...

A lot happening at Starbase: S28 getting its final tiles, massive tank farm expansion and some new subcoolers, mystery structure foundation at Sanchez, work on the OLM and chopsticks, and more.

When I’m doing a U-turn like that and know that to make it I need as much space as possible I always start near the right edge of my lane. In the turn shown in the video, I agree with you that the driver went to far and significantly into the lane to his right. He probably wasn’t sure if he...

Good to see the media acknowledging the obvious… :D

The Top Gear video review does show the CT doing a pretty impressive U-turn that my Model X cannot match. Note that the Top Gear driver chose to do that at an intersection clearly marked with a no left turn sign. Though it does not say “No U Turn”. :D

Thanks for clarifying, my apologies for the misunderstanding. Regarding the side mirrors; in the US they are required by law, as you noted. Elon has wanted to eliminate side mirrors for a long time; the first Model X prototype shown by Tesla had no side mirrors. Of course they were present in...

I also would like to learn more about that. Several video reviews have stated that the side mirrors are removable but none of them attempted to do so because the reviewer did not own the truck they were using. Once removed I am confident you can turn on the side camera images in the center...

You can go to the Tesla showroom in Santana Row, San Jose, and look at one but you can’t touch it or get inside. Still, that’s better than nothing. I saw it and it gave me a sense of scale of the vehicle. Just my opinion, but it seemed smaller in real life than in the many photos and videos I’ve...

@tashtibet thank you so much! Great work and appreciate your updated chart. Suggestion: maybe there are no reliable numbers yet, but turning radius is missing from the chart. I searched for the R1T turning radius but can’t find a number, not even on the Rivian website, which is weird. That...

I agree. Ever since getting my first Tesla over a decade ago I have primarily relied on the rear camera image in the center display instead of the physical rear view mirror. That image shows me much more than the mirror, the exception being when it rains. Since Tesla started showing the side...

Reviving this old thread to see if anyone has up to date information now that the CT has officially been launched and a few are in the hands of new owners. I’ve been wondering that for a while now. With the caveat that I am not an engineer of any kind, I agree. But where the sensors need to...

The Pebble website states: What it does not appear to state is what the empty dry weight is. Anyone here go to see it at the LA Auto Show?

According to that article the explosion was at a test facility, not a launch facility. If correct, not a big deal.

My mind is having a great deal of difficulty comprehending that sentence.

Ars Technica: No further investments in Virgin Galactic, says Richard Branson Not sure who would consider the company a worthwhile investment.

Almost done…

50 years ago I could do integrals but then I stopped thinking about calculus so not going to attempt it now! The interactions between the two vehicles at stage sep, fluid dynamics in the tanks during the flip, optimum engine throttle settings needed; it seems it is going to take several more...

In another thread @JB47394 wrote: That is a brilliant idea. I continue to maintain that ground-based astronomy has no future. I understand that astronomers are very unhappy with the current number of LEO satellites but they cannot stop the growth of those constellations which by the end of this...

You may be correct. :oops: Latest NSF video shows lots of activity at Starbase.

What if the Starship V2 (stretched) lifting points were positioned lower on the vehicle, such that relative to the tower they were the same height above the ground when the ship was stacked? I suspect the location of the current ship lift points — just below the front flaps — is in a...

Very happy to see that New Glenn booster! That is, assuming it isn’t a mockup… :p

This is the best video I’ve found so far of someone who does not work for Pebble giving a tour of the trailer. This video is also informative.

You can look into the interior — from a distance — at the Tesla Showroom at 33 Santana Row, San Jose. Was on Woodside Road this afternoon, near the 280, and saw this, my first real life sighting.

My completely uneducated eyes say “yes”. Thanks for that reminder. SpaceX has a lot of land to expand onto. But that land is not stable and would require a massive amount of fill and then years of settling before building on it. That’s what SpaceX did with the currently developed launch area...

It’s unclear to me as to why SpaceX is building a massive wall part way around the suborbital launch site. The wall shown below is between the road and the suborbital tank farm. The wall has already been completed far to the right of this image. My personal speculation is that perhaps the...

Four ships in the High Bay at the same time!

(I know you know this) SpaceX has stated that the booster experienced a RUD and the ship was destroyed by the FTS. I don’t take Zach too seriously. Seems like a nice guy, but…

Didn’t Elon also recently opine about slightly changing the location/size of the flaps?

So much hardware…

If SpaceX could do 12 test flights next year they could make a tremendous amount of progress. At this point, I think the next flight is likely to result in booster and ship landing attempts; if not that flight then very likely the next one and all subsequent ones. Later in the year they could...

NSF believes that B10/S28 are planned to be used for IFT-3. But B11 is on the engine installation stand in the MegaBay and S29 is also pretty far along. B12 is also in the MegaBay and S30 and S31 are nearly complete. That’s a lot of hardware! Wouldn’t it be great to see a Starship launch every...

First time I’ve heard the word “milli-ton”. :)

The NSF livestream shows workers at the OLM right now, a bit surprising considering what day it is and that the next flight is surely over a month away.

NASA will launch a Mars mission on Blue Origin’s first New Glenn rocket This surprises me. Seems like a risky move by NASA, really more of an escapade. ;) And this: Wow, talk about giving away your services!

Now the Ars Technica Rocket Report newsletter is calling this mission “OFT-2”. I think that is an error. I just re-listening to the opening words of the SpaceX webcast and Kate clearly says “Integrated Flight Test”. Surprised that Ars would make an error like that.

Sorry, I should pay more attention: I see that people are using ABRP.

Sorry to hear that. I’ve used EVTO for years, but not so much recently because the onboard Tesla nav software has become better at adjusting for the extra energy consumption when towing. Still, if a planned route has a lot of elevation changes EVTO is very good. What “other options” are there?

Well I’ve watched that about 20 times. :rolleyes: Fascinating to see how the inner ring of booster engines come on after stage sep, but one fails to ignite, seemingly on the side nearest the ship (?). First sign of a problem.

B11 has been moved from the Masseys test site back to the MegaBay. Booster and Ship stands have been moved to the launch site. S31 was moved out of the MegaBay into the Rocket Garden and S29 moved into the MegaBay. All that activity is shown in the NSF video below. So, which vehicles will be...

As far as this video shows there was minimal damage to Stage Zero. And we have Elons tweet about the water deluge plate looking very good.

You are probably right. The ISS weighs about 420mt. Even Starship would find that a bit too much to handle. :oops:

Thanks, no I did not know that.

Thanks @Grendal but that graphic is a bit blurry to my eyes. Here’s the text of the bullet points: Interesting info. No FTS for the booster. Tank bulkhead failure? Engine plumbing failure? But yes FTS for the ship. So many possible explanations. Hope we get more details on that.

Hey, this thread is on topic for this forum. :D It’s about the ISS.

Thank you. I had to look that up! Flux switching alternator

Just read this Scientific American article NASA May Pay $1 Billion to Destroy the International Space Station. Here’s Why which got me thinking about this issue again. @JB47394 helpfully posted the NASA contract requirements upthread, which specify the deorbit vehicle requirements. As we know...

I think SpaceX will be able to make a profit of more than an order of magnitude times their launch cost, if they can achieve that goal of $10 million per launch. If that can be achieved, it is likely many years away. Three, five, ten? I don’t know. But I would not bet against SpaceX achieving...