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SpaceX Starship - Integrated Flight Test #2 - Starbase TX - Including Post Launch Dissection
- Thread starter Grendal
- Start date
Mike1080i
Member
I agree that they talk too much but, they do have some good moments. I also think that SpaceX has the same problem of talking too much. I'm used to the classic NASA-TV coverage where it was mostly for the working space press and they didn't have the need to fill every second with endless babbling. If I could get a stream that just has the audio from the launch control loops, I would be a happy camper.
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
I only caught her once (I think it was in Mar 2023), I'm not sure if I got the hosts name right but Somya Srivastava has my vote for calling the launch.
She gives the basic facts without sounding like she's filling time or fumbling for words. If I could get her to call all the casts the way she did that one launch it'd be perfect (assuming no one coaches her to be more like the other hosts).
The interstage is still stacked, but they're working on that now.
She's also my favorite, but there's also Siva Bharadvaj and John Insprucker. I like to think that SpaceX grabbed some well-spoken engineers and invited them to do the announcing - as opposed to asking for volunteers and those people put their name in the hat (subject to the Dunning Kruger effect).
Then there's the NSF guys.
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Saturday, 8am EST, (13 GMT/UTC) go for launch!
nextspaceflight.com
Starship-Super Heavy (Prototype) | Starship Flight Test 2
A Starship-Super Heavy (Prototype) rocket launched with Starship Flight Test 2 from Orbital Launch Pad A, Starbase, Texas, USA on Saturday Nov 18, 2023 at 13:02 UTC.
nextspaceflight.com
Everyday Astronaut isn't too much different from NSF team in terms of talking nonstop, but he seems much more knowledgeable on the rocket tech and science
SpaceX announced on Wednesday that its massive Super Heavy Starship rocket has been cleared for its second test flight, during which the company will attempt to send the unmanned spacecraft into space for the first time.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, "The FAA has granted a license for the second launch of the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle." "The FAA determined that SpaceX meets all safety, environmental, policy, and financial responsibility requirements."
According to SpaceX's website, the company's goal is to launch on Friday, November 17, with a two-hour launch window starting at 7 a.m. Central Time (8 a.m. Eastern Time).
A notice to mariners indicates that backup launch opportunities could include the mornings of November 18, 19, and 20.
The rocket is planned to lift off during a two-hour launch window that opens at 7 a.m. Central Time (13:00 UTC) on Friday from SpaceX's private Starbase spaceport in southern Texas, shortly after sunrise along the Texas Gulf Coast. The weather forecast appears favorable for the launch on Friday morning, but the launch team will evaluate upper-level winds throughout the countdown and then give the final go-ahead for liftoff.
If SpaceX executes its flight plan flawlessly, the Super Heavy booster, powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, will fire for over two and a half minutes, propelling the stainless steel rocket through the atmosphere above the Gulf of Mexico. The booster will then separate and attempt a controlled descent to the Gulf of Mexico, while the Starship upper stage, equipped with six Raptor engines, ignites and accelerates to the speed necessary for entering a stable orbit. The Starship spacecraft will fly about three-quarters of the way around the Earth before returning to the atmosphere for a targeted splashdown in the Pacific off the north coast of Hawaii.
The largest and most powerful rocket ever built, this 30-foot-wide Super Heavy Starship stands 397 feet tall and weighs more than 11 million pounds when fully fueled.
The 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy first stage can generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle, roughly twice the power of NASA's current most powerful space launch system, the Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 35 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @Spacex, and experience this exciting moment together.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, "The FAA has granted a license for the second launch of the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle." "The FAA determined that SpaceX meets all safety, environmental, policy, and financial responsibility requirements."
According to SpaceX's website, the company's goal is to launch on Friday, November 17, with a two-hour launch window starting at 7 a.m. Central Time (8 a.m. Eastern Time).
A notice to mariners indicates that backup launch opportunities could include the mornings of November 18, 19, and 20.
The rocket is planned to lift off during a two-hour launch window that opens at 7 a.m. Central Time (13:00 UTC) on Friday from SpaceX's private Starbase spaceport in southern Texas, shortly after sunrise along the Texas Gulf Coast. The weather forecast appears favorable for the launch on Friday morning, but the launch team will evaluate upper-level winds throughout the countdown and then give the final go-ahead for liftoff.
If SpaceX executes its flight plan flawlessly, the Super Heavy booster, powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, will fire for over two and a half minutes, propelling the stainless steel rocket through the atmosphere above the Gulf of Mexico. The booster will then separate and attempt a controlled descent to the Gulf of Mexico, while the Starship upper stage, equipped with six Raptor engines, ignites and accelerates to the speed necessary for entering a stable orbit. The Starship spacecraft will fly about three-quarters of the way around the Earth before returning to the atmosphere for a targeted splashdown in the Pacific off the north coast of Hawaii.
The largest and most powerful rocket ever built, this 30-foot-wide Super Heavy Starship stands 397 feet tall and weighs more than 11 million pounds when fully fueled.
The 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy first stage can generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle, roughly twice the power of NASA's current most powerful space launch system, the Space Launch System (SLS) moon rocket.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 35 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @Spacex, and experience this exciting moment together.
No activity currently visible at Stage Zero. NSF says “Replacements tested”. Apparently more than one was replaced. I went back in the stream to see but it’s difficult to move through the video in short increments and I didn’t want to watch it for hours. At 11:54:46PM CST they started testing the fins, rotating them through what looks like about 90 degrees. The three visible fins were tested and I assume the fourth one as well (not visible from the camera angle). Then the ring was re-installed starting at around 1:30, which is a pretty crazy looking operation: it was lowered in place by the crane but it was moving around a bit and two work platforms with people were right next to the booster. Eventually it stopped moving when it was very close to the top of the booster and was then guided into place.
Yah, 3 of the 4 were replaced.
Wow, that was accomplished in just a few hours.
And Starship has been re-stacked! QD arm is connected.
TunaBug
Member
Have they tested the hot staying ring at all? For example, put the ring under starship (don't bother with booster), and static fire starship? I would think this could be done relatively easily, but haven't read of anything like it.
No, that has not been done. The plan is that Booster MECO (when “most engines cut off” according to SpaceX) will occur 3 seconds before the 3 Starship Raptor Vac engines ignite at which time stage separation will rapidly occur as the engine exhaust pushes against the staging ring cover and the booster decelerates and the ship accelerates as its engines throttle up.
That can only be tested in flight. If the Starship Raptor Vac engines were ignited with a Starship on a test stand with the hot staging ring under it all kinds of bad stuff would likely happen very rapidly because the staging ring would be fixed in place. The staging ring cover is likely not designed to take that kind of force. There is no reason to make it any stronger/heavier than it needs to be.
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So I guess this new method of staging has one additional benefit - it will slow down the booster, albeit only a tiny bit, that in turn helps in boost back phase with some savings on the fuel.
I'd love to hear from a rocket scientist about this. There's both the density and the velocity of the exhaust working to push the two stages apart. The exhaust pressure is going to be roughly ambient, but a lot of exhaust is going to be pushed into the space between the two stages. The exhaust velocity is going to be very high initially, but slamming into the ambient atmosphere and the prior exhaust gases will slow it down.
It never occurred to me until now, but the grid fins should help to slow some as the booster flips. The grid fins should generate a fair amount of drag as they are brought edge-on to the air stream. I'm assuming SpaceX looked at the idea of drag brakes and discarded it as too little benefit for the mass and complexity.
In the spirit of every part having multiple uses, maybe the interstage can be made like the petals of a flower that hinge out when there's gas flow hitting the top of the booster. When the booster is turned around for reentry, the air flow would push them back into their original position.
Edit: Or they could be left out for reentry drag, if they could handle the heating.
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