Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab
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@dogmeat said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
@Kirwan yeah I couldn't remember the acronym but it made me smile when I heard it.
I really like that their coverage uses people that actually work their. Get good information, even if the presentation skills can be a bit lacking. Lead Nerd was genuinely excited when it launched, I love the enthusiasm.
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Debris from the launch

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Yeah, some work ahead to repair the mount. The plan was to have steel plates to protect the concrete but they rain out of time. They thought they could get away with one launch based on the static fire test, but that was......ummmm....wrong.
I wouldn't be surprised if they end up building a flame divertor as well.
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@Kirwan said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
Yeah, some work ahead to repair the mount. The plan was to have steel plates to protect the concrete but they rain out of time. They thought they could get away with one launch based on the static fire test, but that was......ummmm....wrong.
I wouldn't be surprised if they end up building a flame divertor as well.
The Apollo and Shuttle launchers always had diverters. But that's a little more power than people are used to...
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From the BBC:
One might expect SpaceX to be pleased, but outside experts were also impressed with the improvements that had been made.
"This time all the 33 engines, which are called Raptor engines, were all up and running during lift-off. And this allowed Starship to actually reach what we call first-stage separation which is the most interesting part - this is what they wanted to test," said Dr Emma Gatti, editor in chief of Space Watch Global.
Dr Phil Metzger is a former Nasa scientist, now with the University of Central Florida, who studies rocket systems. He told BBC News: "Elon was predicting a 60% chance of success. And I would say that they probably got 60% success.
"They'll be looking at the data. A rocket has a huge amount of data being sent to the ground. They'll have data on every system and subsystem imaginable, so I don't doubt they're going to be able to pinpoint the causes of what did go wrong; and I'm sure they'll be pressing ahead for their next launch as soon as possible."
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@Kirwan said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
It was pretty incredible to watch. Hot staging looks crazy. Launch mount is in good shape this time.
To get to where they are on what is effectively the second launch of a new, leading-edge vehicle, is staggering.
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"just experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly" - got to love the euphemism.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
@Kirwan said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
It was pretty incredible to watch. Hot staging looks crazy. Launch mount is in good shape this time.
To get to where they are on what is effectively the second launch of a new, leading-edge vehicle, is staggering.
Yeah, they installed that water deluge system in a few months. The organisation involved for this sort of manufacturing iteration for the largest rocket ever made boggles the mind.
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@Kirwan said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
The organisation involved for this sort of manufacturing iteration for the largest rocket ever made boggles the mind.
Having spent much of my career helping business run better, I'd love to spend some time looking at SpaceX, their culture and management ethos. Probably not dissimilar to military technical operations, I'd imagine.
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@antipodean said in Space - Spacex, NASA, Rocket Lab:
"just experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly" - got to love the euphemism.
They clearly enjoy themselves, don't they?
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@antipodean that's ridiculously awesome. What a spaceship.