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Charity bet #5: First Starship Booster Intact Landing
- Thread starter Cosmacelf
- Start date
OK, maybe we can still make this bet real! Elon just posted:
Which would fullfill the bet. Of course, it doesn't mean they will actually try to land the next booster, or that it will work, or when it'll happen. But there is hope!
I'm opening this bet up to ANYONE and declaring this a new series, so only $50 to charity if you lose and you had bet before. I'll keep this bet open for new contestants through the end of June 2024.
Which would fullfill the bet. Of course, it doesn't mean they will actually try to land the next booster, or that it will work, or when it'll happen. But there is hope!
I'm opening this bet up to ANYONE and declaring this a new series, so only $50 to charity if you lose and you had bet before. I'll keep this bet open for new contestants through the end of June 2024.
Given what we just saw with IFT-4 and flaps missing giant chunks, you may need to define what "intact" means, lol.
But Musk is talking about the booster. There is no talk about landing the Starship yet. That is still several flights away .
Right, this bet is about landing the booster into the chopstick arms, nothing to do with Starship orbital reentry! Obviously the first landed booster won’t be reused (they'll take it apart to see how what needs improving), but as long as it doesn’t blow up, it’ll count.
Looks like no one wants to participate in these bets anymore though. Heck, I’ll even modify the bet so that the closest month wins. Eh, maybe people are strategically waiting until the end of June to pick a month.
I suppose this is an early IFT-5 pre-launch
I'll take December 2024. My assumption is that the first try will fail and there will be some damage that needs to be repaired and they get it on the second try.
Sure... I was just pointing out that SpaceX hardware is robust enough that "intact" becomes a bit fuzzy, lol...
A month? Bonkers. Tower catch of the booster? Double bonkers.
Go for it.
I'll add that Scott Manley reported that SpaceX had chartered an aircraft somewhere out by the Starship landing area, so they might have gotten video of that landing.
The aircraft? A Falcon 900.
Mike1080i
Member
Presumably this 900EX.
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Max Spaghetti
Member
Amazing that FR24 can track aircraft over the ocean these days - this aircraft went down to 2000' over the ocean about 1000km NW of Australia at one point. I'm aware that there are satellites that can pick up ADSB these days but I didn't know that FR24 could get their hands on the data.
The following times are all UTC.
The test flight was 12:50 PM to 1:55 PM. The aircraft arrived on station about 10:40 AM, loitered at 2000' and 220 knots until 12:11 PM - and then the data drops out until 2:21 PM. At that point, the aircraft is back at altitude and on its way home. So they were definitely out there on time and in position to watch the reentry and landing. I'm sure we'd all love to see that video.
Six kilometers should be nothing more than a rounding error. At 200 knots, the aircraft can cover that in 60 seconds. Surely SpaceX was tracking the spacecraft's position the whole way down, and the aircraft crew could go wherever it was headed. I'd guess the greater concern would be getting too close with the aircraft and getting hit by any debris that had come off the vehicle during reentry.
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