Shotwell supposedly said first BFR flight will be an "earth hop"

[ecarfan]

See Twitter

Someone named "Robin Seemangal" tweeted:

"Shotwell: BFR system being designed for Earth hops. First test will be this type of launch..."

This may have come from someone in the SpaceX subreddit named Craig_VH. I don't know the original source. Still looking for that.

So is Shotwell saying that the first BFR flight will be an Earth-to-Earth "hop"? Want more details!

 

[Duckjybe]

Not sure if you saw this but at 40:50 it suggests that is a possibility.

Mars

 

[Grendal]

See Twitter

Someone named "Robin Seemangal" tweeted:

"Shotwell: BFR system being designed for Earth hops. First test will be this type of launch..."

This may have come from someone in the SpaceX subreddit named Craig_VH. I don't know the original source. Still looking for that.

So is Shotwell saying that the first BFR flight will be an Earth-to-Earth "hop"? Want more details!

It comes from the first meeting of the Space Council that I posted about today. Gwynne Shotwell was there and said they will be making the BFR and the first flights will be hops.

 

[cronosx]

In makes sense.. why go all the way up for testing your system if you can just hop a little distance? like they did with the grass hopper

 

[e-FTW]

In makes sense.. why go all the way up for testing your system if you can just hop a little distance? like they did with the grass hopper

From Elon's talk last week, aren’t “earth hops” at least partially outside the atmosphere? I may misunderstand how this is supposed to work.

 

[Grendal]

From Elon's talk last week, aren’t “earth hops” at least partially outside the atmosphere? I may misunderstand how this is supposed to work.

Yes. I think it will be mostly out of the atmosphere and suborbital. I expect it will probably be at or near the Karman line.

Kármán line - Wikipedia

It's less wear and tear on the vehicle, I believe.

 

[AZ Desert Driver]

It bugs me when an abbreviation BFR is used and nobody says what it means. I know what BFD means (big flipping deal) but what is BFR?

 

[TerrapinThief]

It bugs me when an abbreviation BFR is used and nobody says what it means. I know what BFD means (big flipping deal) but what is BFR?

I believe it is Big Flipping Rocket. (Flipping?)

 

[adiggs]

It bugs me when an abbreviation BFR is used and nobody says what it means. I know what BFD means (big flipping deal) but what is BFR?

Big ****in' Rocket.

Big Falcon Rocket.

After Elon's recent presentation, the next iteration of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, with full reuse built into both stages of the rocket. Oh, and a WHOLE lot bigger than F9 or FH. Elon's claim, and I have to say it sounds pretty reasonable to me on the surface of it, is that they can design BFR to be SpaceX's everything rocket, and thereby take as many as 3 different R&D budgets and concentrate them on improving a single launch vehicle.

Did I mention it's really big?

 

[YoungStranger]

I believe it is Big Flipping Rocket. (Flipping?)

That’s the last thing we want it to be!

 

[Nikxice]

Soon after Elon's 2017 IAC presentation, former astronaut Chris Hadfield put another twist on the acronym. describing it as the Big Far-Fetched Rocket. For anyone interested in watching his six minute BBC interview, he offers an explanation. Definitely pro-SpaceX.

 

[ecarfan]

From Elon's talk last week, aren’t “earth hops” at least partially outside the atmosphere? I may misunderstand how this is supposed to work.

As @Grendal noted, it will be a suborbital ballistic flight and will certainly go beyond the atmosphere in the sense of breathable air (of course the atmosphere extends out several hundred miles but it becomes very very thin at over 10 miles).

I expect that for transoceanic "hops" the BFR will be higher than the Karmann Line (100km) which is the somewhat arbitrary boundary where "space" begins. See Kármán line - Wikipedia

 

[ecarfan]

It bugs me when an abbreviation BFR is used and nobody says what it means. I know what BFD means (big flipping deal) but what is BFR?

I understand that the BFR acronym started as an internal SpaceX shorthand for the next vehicle after the Falcon Heavy and stands for Big (obscenity) Rocket which in polite company means Big Falcon Rocket and even Gywnne Shotwell uses that phrase in public.

 

[e-FTW]

Soon after Elon's 2017 IAC presentation, former astronaut Chris Hadfield put another twist on the acronym. describing it as the Big Far-Fetched Rocket. For anyone interested in watching his six minute BBC interview, he offers an explanation. Definitely pro-SpaceX.

He does raise a good point about food and waste: anybody around here ever use a zero-g toilet?
Plenty of little challenges to overcome, that is for sure.

 

[Electroman]

The trip is 30 to 40 minutes. which flight today with that short of a duration has any food or beverages served?

 

[e-FTW]

The trip is 30 to 40 minutes. which flight today with that short of a duration has any food or beverages served?

And up to 60 minutes. Agreed you don’t get meals, but snacks and beverage. It will be acceptable to not get that if going on a suborbital flight!
But no bathrooms? Even on short hops in commercial aviation, folks go to the bathroom. Maybe they do simply because it is available, I don't know. We do spend hours on long drives without going to the bathroom, so it could be set up in a way where folks understand they will not have that option.

I love Chris Hadfield, and what he did for space exploration, the ISS, NASA and social media. A hero frankly.
His bio is great too! “An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth”.

 

[Grendal]

I love Chris Hadfield, and what he did for space exploration, the ISS, NASA and social media. A hero frankly.
His bio is great too! “An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth”.

He also made the greatest music video of all time:

Talking about the video and being on the ISS:

 

[Joel 3]

Here's the part explained by Gwyenne:

 

[Joel 3]

Sorry, the Youtube link didn't scroll to the right section. Scroll to 1:17:07 for Gwyenne's remarks on the BFR hops.

 

[ecarfan]

And up to 60 minutes. Agreed you don’t get meals, but snacks and beverage. It will be acceptable to not get that if going on a suborbital flight!
But no bathrooms? Even on short hops in commercial aviation, folks go to the bathroom. Maybe they do simply because it is available, I don't know. We do spend hours on long drives without going to the bathroom, so it could be set up in a way where folks understand they will not have that option.

It seems to me that it will be a simple matter to instruct passengers in advance that they will have to remain in their seats during the flight and bathrooms will be available in the boarding/disembarkation lounge. And it won't be feasible to serve passengers during the flight, as during the coast phase the ship will have a microgravity environment.

For the longest E2E BFR flights, which will be almost 60 minutes as you note, passengers will have to be capable of being in their seats continuously for likely a bit over 2 hours, for the more common 30 minute flights about 1 1/2 hours. If you can't do that, take a jet for 11-16 hours (that includes the time spent board and disembarking) and enjoy the bathrooms and those tiny seats with no leg room...