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SpaceX Starship - IFT-5 - Starbase TX - Pre-Launch Preparations Thread
- Thread starter JB47394
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Also from that stream, Elon said they will put an ablative secondary structure underneath the tiles just in case tiles fall off, and they have new tiles that are twice as strong all for the next ship.
I wish he had been clearer on what “strong” meant in that context. Stronger attachment points? Stronger tile material? Both? Do the new tiles weigh more? And how are they going to attach the new ablative pieces?
Removing all 18,000 tiles from Ship 30, one at a time. The thumbnail shows the nose, but most of the video is guys slowly removing the tiles. They break into the tiles at the mount points, then detach the tiles from each point. The ones mounted with adhesives look awful to remove.
Fortunately, they have a lot of guys working on it and have made good progress.
Then they have to put the ablative backing material and the new tiles back on. I hope they get to use the robot installer with the new tiles.
Fortunately, they have a lot of guys working on it and have made good progress.
Then they have to put the ablative backing material and the new tiles back on. I hope they get to use the robot installer with the new tiles.
Wow, what a huge job that is. Seems like some care has to be taken to not damage the mount points?
Hard to imagine that ship will be ready to fly in a month.
Hard to imagine that ship will be ready to fly in a month.
Easy to say in retrospect... but at the same time if they operated in such a sequential manner with everything, we probably wouldn't be where we are today...
But they do know that reentry survival and tiles performance is THE unknown and the main focus for IFT4.
So why not wait till the test is completed before loading up on the tiles, while the rest of the ship can be built fully? It is also true and well understood that removing tiles is a laborious sticky operation. So I don't believe it takes a lot of foresight to make the decision to wait for the results of IFT4 to come through before installing the tiles. Hubris..
Multiple possible reasons:
- They thought the most recent attachment mechanisms would suffice
- The ablative underlayment option was conceived/developed after the ship was tiled
- They anticipated needing more data, but got sufficient data from IFT-4
- Etc...
SpaceX is not one to not press forward, even if that means needing to reverse course a bit and change directions...
Ship 30 was stacked in August 2023. Many moons ago.
In general, the idea of delaying work because of doubts is a slippery slope.
Our current tiles may not work out, so let's not put any more of them on ships. We'll want to mount a different kind of tile.
Mounting on pins may not work, so let's not put the mounting pins on ships. We'll want to mount them a different way.
Tiles as a general idea may not work out, so let's stop building ships. We'll want to use transpirational cooling or some other technique.
Stainless steel may not work out...
I understand that the argument is "Thermal protection is really difficult, so caution is warranted", but so is the rest of it. They throw their all into their current best understanding and try to make that work. They move fast and break things, and that sometimes means a lot of seeming make work (e.g. blowing up your launch site). As with all things Elon, it's a package deal; crazy rants online combined with crazy ambitious plans for the future.
Buckminster
Well-Known Member
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