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SpaceX on X: ISS Deorbit Vehicle Render
  • A missile would not change the re-entry time or location: just break the target into many pieces. In the one case where the US used a missile the target broke into many small pieces which mostly burned up on re-entry but I don't think that would happen with the ISS. Uncontrolled re-entry of a single large object would, I think, be preferable to re-entry of dozens of them.

    No agreement would have any effect on the headlines saying "US allows its spacestation to crash on city, killing 800 people".

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • It's been asserted that they were used for water but I know of no evidence that they actually were.

    Texas regulations require that the design for a methane storage system be done by a registered professional engineer certified to do methane storage systems in Texas and be submitted for approval before construction starts. Thus it's unlikely that they were "too close together". More likely they just didn't work right. Perhaps they had an excessive boiloff rate or too high a leakage rate.

    Speculation: Perhaps they decided to build their own tanks because lead times for purchased tanks were too long. It worked out for LN2 and LOX.

    I wonder why they have not recycled the suborbital tanks?

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • They're now cutting up the shell of one of the vertical methane tanks. They managed to suck all the perlite out when we weren't looking.

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • The LR11000 has moved into the space near gate D2 where they recently demolished the storage sheds. I think it's there to handle the last three horizontal tanks (unless it's just there to compact the new asphalt...)

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • Kathy Lueders said that this month is unlikely but seems to think that there's a chance for January. I'll go with that.

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • I think that a launch this year is still possible but I wouldn't want to give odds. I think that before the end of January is likely. It would be cool for it to happen on my birthday but I'd rather see it earlier.

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • "Runs the risk" means it might happen, not that it will happen. When he said that Starlink was committed to switching to the version two satellites and F9 was not expected to be able to launch them. They would have missed their FCC deadlines. However, they were able to develop the "shrunken" Starlink2 that fits on F9. I also think that both the F9 launch cadence and Starlink sales have exceeded expectations.

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • If you never succeed you are pushing them too hard.

    A test that goes to completion always returns more data than one that doesn't. For example there is a theory that the flaps on the ship are too large. IFT2 could have confirmed or falsified it.

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    Starship Development Thread #52
  • Disconnect arm. Looks like they’re planning on lowering at least a portion of it. (Rover 2.0 Cam)

    They removed the flex pipes.

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    Starship Development Thread #46B
  • Hot staging also eliminates the gravity loss that otherwise would occur during the coasting phase during and after separation.

    They may ignite only three engines at half thrust for the first second or so.

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    Starship Development Thread #46B
  • Such a device has been spotted at the shipyard. It has been speculated that the reason the ship QD was removed was to adjust it for the height added by the vented spacer.

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  • phys.org Tempest in a teacup: Physicists make breakthrough in creating turbulence

    Turbulence is all around us. It's in the swirl of coffee and milk in a latte, unfurling along the wings of airplanes and the sides of cars, churning the blood in your heart after the valve snaps closed. Yet we still don't fully grasp all of its rules.

    Abstract: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-023-02052-0

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    Starship Development Thread #46B
  • We're talking about apps used by moderators to do their work. The mods say that the tools provided by Reddit are inadequate.

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