I answered this in Post#12. Could you not even bother to read the wikipedia link I left in Post #12??? Stop asking such basic questions without even reading a wikipedia page that might answer some of your questions! Google SpaceX Starship. Watch a couple Youtube vids about it. (there's a thousand) It's all there. .
DC-X was a proof of concept vehicle for vertical landing and transition maneuvers with LOX/H2 engines. She was designed to be very operable with quick turn times. McDonnell-Douglas and SDIO/NASA were using her as a lead-in to McD-D's X-33 VTVL demonstrator, which likely would have flown in 1998 if it had won. DC-X only had about 8000 fps delta V and it takes ~30,000 fps to get to orbit.
What/How Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPV) are used. (An example. I believe there are others in the nose to pressurize header tank) Jump to 11:00 (shown at 11:13) .
Not sure how he acts in private, but publicly I like this They may need to slow down a little. Seems they have been chasing several issues, and may just be creating more. But at least they are trying and trying at a pace that probably exceeds the US effort in the late 50's early 60's.
SN11 explodes mid-air, in heavy fog, at point of landing/engine re-light. Debris rains down. Time stamps Image Unavailable, Please Login .
Neeeext! skipping SN12, 13 and 14 Image Unavailable, Please Login BN1 is massive 1st stage booster that STARSHIP will ride on top of. Image Unavailable, Please Login .
Glad to see Musk doing what we could never thoroughly convince DOD needed to be done on reusables. Last DOD/DARPA attempt with Boeing was XSP Phantom Express and Boeing quit before we got too far on that one. Powered by a modified RS-25. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Trouble with STS was all the maintenance that needed (?) to be done between launches. Really killed turn times. Safety concerns overrode practical concerns because the system was manned. Turned out a lot of that time was spent on things that did not improve safety while things like launching at too low a temperature and vulnerable TPS were ignored.
Stacked notice man standing at base for scale + old design, legs have been eliminated Image Unavailable, Please Login .
SN11 scattered wreckage Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Raptor engines Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Jump to 4:15 - crank up 'Playback Speed' - debris is outlined in red .
IIRC, the last several launches went pretty well. A lot of blood and treasure went into working out the bugs, for the Shuttles to be just turned into museum pieces. JMHO.
Affirmative, STS was one of man's great achievements, but it was costing $8B a year (~$1.5B per sortie) to keep it going because of all the manpower costs. NASA could not afford that and paying customers could find cheaper alternatives. STS was overdesigned to allow it to launch out of Vandenberg AFB into polar orbits. Reentry from polar orbit sees much higher heat rates and loads than from low inclination orbits, and TPS was toughened for that. The first crash killed USAF interest after 3 years of downtime and the system became unaffordable with only one operator. Originally, STS was to be a fully reusable two stage to orbit (TSTO) system, but that cost too much so the partially reusable system resulted. Would have been much cheaper and safer to do it right the first time.
$200,000 streaming rigs and millions of views: inside the cottage industry popping up around SpaceX https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/09/tech/spacex-starship-livestream-youtube-scn/index.html "I really do believe, not to sound like I've drunk the Kool-Aid or anything, but, like, I really do believe that what we are witnessing right now is history in the making." Jack Beyer, NASASpaceflight.com Contributor .
Glad to have been able to see the SpaceX operation at Boca Chica as a work in process. Wonder how long it will be possible to get this close. A little sad for the former (and few remaining) Boca Chica residents. Rockets and test stands are visible at McGregor but you're a lot further away. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Apparently not everyone thinks Elon going to Mars is cool...... Image Unavailable, Please Login Note where the billboard is........
SpaceX completes a soft landing with SN15. Good work! Unfortunately cloudy weather and on-board camera feed failure means that the video that's out there isn't all that great, but I'm sure there will be a good replay by tomorrow from onboard storage. Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date
