Successful Static Fire Editionprevious >>16956328
>>16958743the tile meme has got to end
spaceflight
They've started using drones to capture footage of the landings from different angles. Pretty nice.
The GOAT of spacesuits
>>16958755I prefer something that looks less like the suits the Martians wear in Mars Attacks!
>>16958756I dunno, it looks like one of those spandex suits they wear at the Olympics
>>16958743is that supposed to be the moon rocket?doesn't it have stages?where's the launch abort system?does orion get hidden inside the top?not trolling, I'm just out of the loop and this rocket doesn't look like other nasa spacecraft
>>16958762Why don't they just stick a full Orion inside the payload bay? Here's your crew-rated spacecraft
>>16958762moon rockets are whitenot trolling
>>16958764In the event of a vehicle failure, the launch abort system needs a straight shot to escape the zone affected by it. The entire front section of Starship would need to contain extraordinarily reliable blowout panels to destroy and separate the entire fairing section of the ship in moments.
>>16958766>vehicle failure
>>16958762yesyesnoneno
>>16958769The capability must exist, even if it's never needed nor used.
>>16958769failure is inevitablethose who succeed simply has adequate plans for such contingencies
The Northrop Grunman Firefly Eclipse rocket will use the tower catching method of recovery.
640 AU away from you niggers sounds about right
>>16958766agreed, preemptively tackling cortisol spikes with zone-maxed escape strategies is essential in tackling calmpilled bezos's bogged virgin-air predatorial engineers
>>16958762nonololno
>>16958786I fail to see the relevance of a solar system shelf.
Fact: Musk won.
I wonder if golemposter just lurks and seethes knowing his shit gets deleted here
>>16958765>>16958770>>16958790what is it for then
>>16958794At losing. Yes.
>>16958762>is that supposed to be the moon rocket?Only the moon lander. They will still launch in Orion, transfer to Starship for landing then go back to Orion to reenter Earth. Same with Blue Origins lander.
>>16958796orbital datacenters
>>16958796Its purpose is only limited by your imagination.
>>16958704>picrelI wonder what the chances are that the anti-starship schizo, who’s been obsessively spamming /sfg/ recently, is actually a disgruntled former national team member with a chip on his shoulder
>>16958798thanksthen what was the point of all that testing of orion and sending it to the moon if its purpose is to be an orbital taxi?
>>16958791it's a convenient place to put the solar system elf
>>16958762This is the in-development starship, and it’s the only vehicle that’s going to have the mass to TLI and potential launch cadence + price to make permanent lunar habitation (the main goal of artemis) possible.Without it, you might as well do another flags and footprints mission and call it a day, because SLS (the rocket carrying orion) doesn’t have the capability to do more than that
So when are we going to get a proof of concept for orbital refueling?
>>16958805two weeks
>>16958805this is one thing I don't understandthey could modify a pair of Falcons to do that, easy
>>16958802It’s a long and complicated story, basically, SLS used to be part of the now cancelled constellation program, but congress wouldn’t let it die, however, that program included the procurement of the altair lander design, which was cancelled, this lander would provide a lot of the delta-v required for a direct one launch trip, leaving SLS as an incomfortably underpowered launcher for moon launches, this was going to be fixed with a better upper stage, but it’s been years and boeing still hasn’t delivered it.Launching the lander is now a seperate task for another rocker, it’s an awkward workaround.The upside is that starship is an extremely powerful rocket with a lot of upmass, when it becomes operational, it will make the lofty goal of permanent lunar habitation a lot more fiscally realistic.
>>16958802>then what was the point of all that testing of orion and sending it to the moon if its purpose is to be an orbital taxi?They will transfer in the lunar orbit, it needs to be able to go the Moon and back. Basically Artemis IV will split the the Moon taxi and Moon landing between two completely separate spacecraft rather than doing it all in one launch like Apollo.
>>16958805We already did, in-space cryogenic prop transfer between two tanks was already tested on one of the starship flight tests.Docking is relatively trivial and automated these days, so i doubt that would cause much additional challenge.
>>16958811Getting a second vehicle ready to fly in a timely manner while the first ship sits and waits is going to be a task in and of itself. Starship's orbital service life is not characterized yet. Not to say it's insurmountable or anything, just that even the mundane side of Space is unforgiving.
>>16958764Unless orion can fit though the starlink letterbox that ain't happening.
>>16958809Good post. But we need better in orbit capability than refuelled Starship which is imo extremely unrealistic.
>>16958804> SLS (the rocket carrying orion) doesn’t have the capability to do more than thatIn fairness even Saturn V couldn’t build a base. Only orbital refuelling can enable that
Starship is the future today.
Zubrin needs to stop trying to take credit for the vacuum washing thing. He got the idea, originally with microwaves, from /SFG itself. The only advantage with vacuum is that it permits metal elements such as zips to be present. However, since the bacteria resevoirs responsible for odour can be eliminated both from garments and the body (via standard bathing) regular treatment unnecesay. It is only required for visual stains if correct procedure is used initially. NASA was never going to credit this forum either, but I suppose we're all dishonestly standing on the shoulders of giants in some way
A single ACES 71 can apparently put more mass into TLI than Saturn V
>>16958823Semantics here: but you don’t really put something “into” a TLI do you?Rather, you “do” a TLI. It’s a burn, a process, an event.
>>16958771>>16958772How do you engineer a launch escape system that can handle a hundred passengers and be economical at the same time. That's why it doesn't exist.Use as a Starlink workhorse should start a feedback loop that makes the risk in human flight acceptable. If it can't do Starlink duty very reliably i doubt humans will ever fly out or into earth's atmosphere with it.
>>16958826put 24 superdracos behind the passenger section of the Ship
>>16958824Putting mass into a "TLI" implies a direct injection where you never stopped firing since launchDoing a TLI burn is when you are presumably in earth orbit and then do a burn.It's kinda semantics but going straight from launch to TLI versus earth orbit and then TLI have different requirements.
Yuri gagarin jumping out of the second-story window to avoid getting caught in an affair after his wife came home unexpectedly
if globalstar was such a good deal, why didnt oneweb buy them first?
>>16958753It should be easy to automate this process as well. Just time the landing and then program the drone to fly up and track the landing, then land. And have the drone be landed on a wireless charging platform. Or if they want human involvement, allow humans to control it. They got starlinks
how legit is this?https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-secretly-launched-rockets-into-space-from-aircraft-lawmaker-2026-4they claim they have a secret launcher similar to virgin orbit
>>1695885250/50 either they have been doing it or they haven’t
>>16958848Amazon bought them for spectrumif you have no way to monetize that spectrum (other than trying to sell it again), then its kind of pointlessApple owning a big part of them and being able to basically block any transaction also creates a new layer there, Amazon probably made some sweetheart deal with Apple for them to agree to thisSpaceX wanted to buy some spectrum from them from a upcoming auction I think, but it probably makes more sense for Apple to have many providers they can buy services from than just SpaceX (also SpaceX doesn't need the spectrum as much so less leverage on them to get some good deal)
>>16958811Still doing the transferring prop inside a ship is the same as transferring between ships or with a depot? Sad.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01194-4
>>16958856lmao
>>16958856>"competition is bad because it just is, okay?!"
>>16958856conflict breeds creativity
SpaceX has deployed a Grok-powered voice assistant to handle Starlink customer support calls, putting callers in touch with an AI that sounds convincingly human but identifies itself upfront.PCMag confirmed the rollout after calling Starlink’s support line on Monday. “Hi there, I’m Towlie an AI assistant powered by Grok,” the voice told them when asked directly. The assistant can hallucinate incorrect answers to different types of questions:https://www.pcmag.com/news/hi-this-is-ai-starlinks-customer-support-now-features-grok-voice-chatbot
>>16958856>Although not a science missionlol
>>16958856>meanwhile feeder schools for PLA academies and the state's space programs are teaching their kids securing the moon is of the greatest strategic importance for the next several hundred yearsthere's no room for pussies for something as important as this
>>16958855>transferring fluid between two tanks in zero-g is the same as transferring fluid between two tanks in zero-gCorrect.
>>16958868Assume paid traitors instead of cowards
>>16958852utterly bonkers
>>16958856leftism is a disease
>>16958871>ISS crew pissing is a propellant transfer demonstrationHey you said it not me.
>>16958852clickbait. Article says they fired a missile to 124 km from a plane, so just suborbital, nothing like Virgin Orbit (or Northrup Grumman which has been "developing the Pegasus rocket" lol)
>>16958856I don’t even get why we bring them along.I bet a lockheed replacement for the esm would be even better. we don’t need to rope canada in for a few robot arms.we could do all of it without them, they could barely get off the ground without us.
>>16958856throw journalists out the airlock
>>16958879Propellant is stored in the balls
> equatorial nations have tried more than once to lay claim to the geosynchronous orbit used by communications satellites, and have managed to obtain payment for their uselol @ brownouts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgJKHfZE20M
>>16958881>I don’t even get why we bring them along.Because you can't afford not to. Further upcoming slashes to budget will make that even more noticeable.
What the fuck is wrong with posting now?
https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2044427117773889740
Think about how long ago the fucking ComCargo awards were handed out, and Dreamchaser is STILL currently in testing.
>>16958898>blue balls
https://x.com/vast/status/2044429555809829262
>>16958905>now available for orderYeah the market for these definitely exists.
>>16958905these guys need to get their MVP space station up ASAP and stop getting bogged down in side quests.
>>16958905framemogged
>>16958880There is a lot to it>Air launch>Ukrainian air-launch projects emerged as an attempt to address a fundamental problem—the lack of a domestic spaceport. As early as the late Soviet period, the Pivdenne Design Bureau and the Antonov Design Bureau began developing concepts in which an aircraft would serve as the first stage or launch platform.>Unlike a traditional spaceport, such a system does not require expensive fixed launch facilities. The aircraft transports the rocket to a designated area, lifts it to an altitude of about 10 km, after which the rocket separates and fires its own engines. This simplifies trajectory selection, reduces azimuth launch restrictions, and allows for launches over neutral waters, which is particularly important for a country without a secure ground launch corridor.>Svitiaz>One of the most ambitious Ukrainian projects was the Svitiaz air-launched space rocket system in the early 2000s. It was developed based on the An-225 Mriya aircraft and a launch vehicle built from components, assemblies, and systems of the Zenit rocket.>According to published specifications, the maximum takeoff weight of the entire system was to be 600 tons, and the maximum launch weight of the rocket was 250 tons. The system was designed to deliver up to 6,600 kg to a low circular orbit at an altitude of 400 km, up to 2,400 kg to a transfer orbit, and up to 700 kg to a geostationary orbit.>However, the Svitiaz was never put into practical use and remained at the conceptual design stage due to a lack of funding.
Literally where does this Helium-3 meme even come from?
>>16958922It comes from a pop-sci level of understanding of nuclear engineering and a complete lack of knowledge of how difficult it would he to extract from regolith.Science fiction authors included it in their works and then normgroids conflated 'possible' with 'practical'
>>16958924If people can learn about that part, why can't they learn about the problems existing just as easily?
>>16958907They can take the surplus inventory and QA rejects, mark them up, and sell them to hedge fund bros to use as thresholds for their mancaves / goon dungeons
>>16958933Technological progress solves problems. Understanding which problems are likely to be solved and by when requires expertise.
It actually kind of seems like a miracle that the human body is still able to swallow and process/digest food from end to end and perform normative liquid/solid waste functions while floating in space, regardless of gravity.I guess if we NEEDED it we would have eventually found a way to do it after project Mercury, by bringing along little centrifugal habitation modules or spinning the Apollo CSM or whatever. But it sure is nice that the human body can basically handle staying in space for a long time and all it needs is nutrition and exercise (which is basically already recommended on Earth for optimal health anyways)
>>16958943Biology yearns to float through the void between stars
>>16958905this is something that's been needed if big stations are ever going to be a thing, but they probably should have been working with NASA and the gov to make a standard
>>16958942Some problems like we don't have even simpler working fusion for power yet should not require expertise to understand.
>>16958905This is something that's been needed if big stations are ever going to be a thing, actual good idea. I might have gone bigger though.
n
>>16958856
>>16958943>Evolved from aquatic creatures capable of 3 dimensional orientation>Even above water, we spend significant portions of our lives horizontal at rest>Anon finds it surprising that our digestive system doesn't catastrophically fail as soon as gravity stops pulling food down towards our ass
>>16958856>Anonymous authorCOWARD
posting is completely fuckedhttps://arstechnica.com/space/2026/04/blue-origin-has-a-new-employee-stock-plan-but-not-everyone-is-happy/
>>16958952Fish must explore
Behold, the Clamp-O-Tron Sr.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8rlGlO7wSM
>>16958954>posting is fuckedIronically posting now takes more effort than solving the captcha. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume post quality has improved across all boards during this time.
>>16958905Does the spec include how data/power/HVAC etc are connected, or are they just going to route the conduit through the pressurized opening manually every time
>>16958965I think they're only selling the air-tight hoop. Everything else is the customers problem.
>>16958946Why so it can be worse and more expensive?
>>16958965I don't see any info about that, so I would assume it's just the physical connector.I have to imagine internal conduits would be popular though, given the size of it. You could run conduits and ducts through that thing with plenty of room to spare.
>>16958963/v/ got worse, somehowevery other board has improved though
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/04/space-force-looks-at-moving-significant-number-of-launches-from-ula-to-spacex/ULA sisters...>The Vulcan rocket is many months from returning to flight for the US military. One industry source told Ars that the Space Force may not fly another mission on Vulcan before the end of the year.>Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, head of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, said the Vulcan rocket’s reliability woes are top of mind among the military’s space leadership. On Tuesday, Garrant told Ars the experience with Vulcan “absolutely will shape” the military’s thinking the next time the Pentagon buys launch services.>Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket needs to launch successfully two more times before becoming certified for the Space Force’s most important NSSL missions.SpaceX has already started taking more contracts, it's only a matter of time before BO joins in on the action.
Road's closed
>>16959001For primes.
>>16959000With blue finally orbital and rocket lab on the way to having a bigger launcher it seems like ULA's days are numbered. When do their last gov launch contracts run out?I wonder who will inherit their launch pads as well, they've got some nice real estate, the only worthwhile thing they've got.
