/sci/ - Science & Math

....and plopped it down on the lower sections

>>10249331
North Korea-tier rocketry.

a little to the left... wait wait a bit to the right...

This is not how flight worthy hardware is meant to be built. It should take years of preparation before even considering bringing the first components for assembly in the clean room.

>>10249370
t. ULA

This is a quick and dirty test article to do 5km hops. It’s not like it’s going to be launching expensive satellites anytime soon

>>10249331
Looks like a prop for a festival or something.
Those panels would rip off in a second if that thing was launched.

>>10249381
You’d better go warn them before they launch it then. I’m sure you know more than their engineers

>>10249396
It's not like their engineers were told to build flight-prove hardware. This thing is supposed to bring in investor money and that's it.

>>10249458
can you please fuck off? You’ve been repeating that over and over for the last four days.

>>10249458
>spacex builds hopper
>investors come in
>hopper fails or is mothballed
>investors jump ship
Can't see your logic here

>>10249481
yeah, I don't really see the benefit of building something that won't work, they aren't oldspace here, who can coast on failed project money

short video of the crane action
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=47022.0;attach=1535994;sess=0 (direct file link)

>>10249381
It looks weird because it is. Well polished stainless steel will absorb something like 45% of the solar radiation that hits it. There are white paints that'll reduce that to less than half, so they really could have just painted it and it would be better.

I assume this is what Elon meant by "liquid silver". Sexy

another low-res image

We are looking at history.

rocket diameter comparison I found on twitter

>>10249512
STS?

>>10249370
>S E E T H I N G

these oldspace boomers can't handle the future

>>10249512
Saturn V is still the big cheese. Will have to wait for Starship II I guess

>>10249521
that's only for the booster, the first stage
Starship will be the biggest thing actually in orbit, if it gets made

>>10249518
the main tank was 8.4m

>>10249521
Doesn't count upper stage diameter though. I believe the N1 is actually thicker on the bottom.

>>10249527
correct; in fact we don't yet know if Super Heavy has been widened at all. It could be fatter than S-IC in this latest design iteration

>>10249481
>SpaceX doesn't have money
>Needs money to continue BFR development
>Actually is running out of money sooner than they expected
>They need to rush the hop
>They are doing this total piss-take of a hop with a tube that has been assembled half-assed by three welders and a crane
>Some idiots fall for it
>BFR development can continue for some time

This is how it is.

>>10249521
Every time I look at that photo, I get mad at the faggots that decided they want a space plane.

>>10249532
yeah but the N1 blew up thrice and was then cancelled, this chart is only for rockets that flew or still have even the slimmest chance of flying

>>10249532
>17m
damn that's fat. funny how the soviet reliance on spherical tanks (hoop stress is cut in half) spilled into the N-1 deign so blatantly.

>>10249548
either way a complete overlap side-view image of similar nature would be cool. something like this but for rockets

>>10249542
>>Some idiots fall for it
Because investors who are willing to pour billions of dollars into an aerospace project dont consult with experts in the field, they just go with whatever rocket looks shinier...

you are literally not even intelligent enough to finish elementary school

here's a render. doubt the windows will be that shape though

>it's LITERALLY 1960 all over again
glorious

>>10249331
If the test article isn't gonna go orbital and witshand reentry heat, why make it the same material as the finished product? i mean seriously, why not make it out of wood or whetever, its just a placeholder, whatever the fuck is cheaper to build should do the trick.

Please dont tell me the finished product will be made of the same material that happens to be the cheapest avaivable?

I'm sure there is some 60's/50's sci fi rocket art out there that is practically 1:1 with starship. will have to poke around

>>10249370
>EVERYTHING THAT GOES INTO SPACE NEEDS TO BE SQUEAKY CLEAN

wrong, as this dirty boy will attest

I love that this stupid assumed knowledge is being called out for what it is these days. Just like old Trump smashed the notion that a presidential candidate needs to be a smooth operator with zero scandals to his name.

>>10249614
- by making it out of SS, you use the same sort of welding techniques/filler rods as you would for the final rocket, which is useful and gives them experience
- they can start building up their SS supplier relationship
- SS has different physical properties as other steels, and is only marginally more expensive than the closest non-stainless alternative. using SS then verifies whatever modeling they've already done on the structure and stuff
- the high reflectivity could mess with the radar sensors or tracking equipment; so they can work out those potential issues early.

Just some thoughts I had.

>>10249634
forgot pic

>>10249602
Yes, look at that japanese idiot.

>>10249491
The paint can't handle the heat of reentry, genius. It would burn off.

they have at least six welders working on it

>>10249603
A E S T H E T I C
R O C K E T

>>10249603
>>10249613
Hot damn that is really something, they were on to something that long ago

>>10249496
I fed it to ESRGAN.

>>10249668
yeah some of these drawings are spookily close to what they real thing will be

>>10249635
Nah Elon said something about the SS that will be used being produced at the space x foundry and will be an actually new alloy superior for its purposes than commercially available stuff. What theyre using here is probably just the latter though, but welding shouldnt be much different.
Still Id expect the weld job on the actual ship to be a bit more sophisticated and possibly indoors...

>>10249603
>>10249613
>>10249616
>>10249635

meanwhile in the future

>>10249652
Dat shiny boi

>>10249681
no, the spacex foundry is producing a nickel superalloy monocrystal thing for use in the engine
the skin of the rocket is 300 series stainless steel they're buying from Joe's Discount Metals

now we need dark star interior aesthetics and I'll be a happy man
>let's have some music in here, Boiler

>>10249603
this looks so god damn retarded. elon is losing me.

>>10249542
still seething over nothing

>>10249687
>>10249681
>SS that will be used being produced at the space x foundry and will be an actually new alloy superior for its purposes than commercially available stuff.
I'm calling it now - it's a small modification to a maraging stainless grade.

it's probably 18ni relabeled.

>>10249700
There were some complaints about the lack of buttons and joysticks in the mostly automated crew dragon. Doubt the starship will be different.

>>10249711

>>10249729

>Made to our spec

changes nothing about what I've said

>>10249734
he's literally just said that it's a 300 series stainless
pretty boring stuff

>>10249723
Yeah, the crew starship “controls” will undoubtedly be similar
-big touchscreens
-a handful of panel-covered buttons for “deorbit now” and “crew compartment fire suppression”
I really don’t think there will be any manual control at all. You don’t exactly want an astronaut to bump the ship into the ISS when docking

>>10249331
Seems like SpaceX jumped the shark with the FalconHeavy launch, it's only downhill now. Bankrupt in 5 years I say.

>>10249736

where does he say it's 300 series

>>10249741
Switch covers are a thing you know. Pretty sure Apollo used a shitton of them for the critical stuff that one REALLY does not want to be flipped at the wrong point in time (like Service Module Jettison)

>>10249746

>>10249745
why is jumping a shark a bad thing. I’d jump over a shark

>>10249747
that’s what I meant yeah; switch covers.

>>10249745
>reee stop doing things

>>10249680
It's almost like they are doing it delibaretely so a sci-fi-obsessed billionaire will give them money.

>>10249749

ah fuck. you've got me there Lad.

also why the fuck does he *heart* 300 series

it's a solid series, don't get me wrong, but he sounds pretty gay for the stuff

>>10249755
I’d say it’s more convergent evolution than anything. BFR by design doesn’t have any irregularities on the surface (diameter changes, tubes, abrupt material changes). It also is designed to both re-enter and leave the atmosphere, so it has large stabilizing surfaces. There’s only so many shapes it can be

>>10249755
Are you angry?

>>10249763
he's an eccentric rich dude, he's allowed to "heart" things

>>10249767
he probably “hearts” grimes every night in bed if you know what I mean heueheuehue

>>10249769
huehuehuehue

So Larry Ellison has joined the Tesla board of directors. He’s worth like 50 billion dollars and has a liking for large yachts. Wonder if he’ll fund any of the R&D in exchange for a space yacht

>>10249769
rereading it, he did say that they have a stainless foundry for casting stainless steel
that's pretty cool
he's also said that it's cryoformed

I really love how shillboys always talk about how NASA is so wasteful with money and doesn't do any groundbreaking stuff while SpaceX spend 2 billion on the Falcon Heavy and the only time it flew was to fly an advertisement into space.

I also really love how shillboys say that the Falcon 9 is "dominating" the launch market because they are getting all the satellite launches, while completely ignoring those launches have paper thin profit margins and all the lucrative contracts are not going to SpaceX because the Falcon 9 is not capable enough to fullfill them.

>>10249784
no one but you cares who exactly accelerates lumps of high technology to ridiculous velocities (and, optionally, gets them back to earth intact)

the payload releasing mechanism is crucial to the overall success of BFR. SpaceX renders showed a big hinging nose cone, but the gap that could leave is worrying. I wonder how they’re designing it to positively lock and keep out the plasma on re-entry

>>10249803
For fucks sake stop replying to him and shitting up the thread.

>>10249826
It enters "belly first" so the upper half beyond what is essentially a water line and where the hatch lies is not subjected to reentry. Unless something very bad happens.

>>10249847
That’s true; they’ll then just orient the belly part opposite of the D-shapesd hinge component.

>>10249784
>SpaceX spend 2 billion on the Falcon Heavy and the only time it flew was to fly an advertisement into space.
Umm FH costed $500 million to develop and it's going to launch twice in 2019. Also, it won 3 launch contracts last year including one military.

>all the lucrative contracts are not going to SpaceX because the Falcon 9 is not capable enough to fullfill them.
What is more lucrative than being payed to launch astronauts for NASA? Also what is GPS? What is the entire Iridium constellation? What is the heaviest commercial communications satellite ever launched? What is ZUMA? What is the X-37? The real reason why SpaceX hasn't performed any important NASA launches yet, is because the F9 only received class three certification a few months ago; which allows it to launch high priority payloads e.g. curiosity. Talking of performance, the majority of national security and NASA payloads so far have been launched by the less powerful Atlas 5 variants e.g. 511 which have similar performance to the reusable Falcon 9. Also, the most powerful Atlas variant-551 recently got outbid by the Falcon Heavy for the AFSC-52 launch. The only thing preventing SpaceX winning contracts at this point is their fairing size.

>>10249860
It is a resident troll from reddit shitting up every SpaceX thread, just stop replying to him, you will not get anywhere.

>>10249860
good reply anon

>>10249803
Those jews are handling their gassing remarkably well

Can anyone estimate how massive this structure is when completed? For comparison, old BFS design had dry mass of ~85 tons, but that includes engines and everything.

>>10249929
It is shorter, but it is likely the weight and center of mass will be identical to the real thing for the sake of testing.
The 85 ton figure is probably already grossly out of date with all the changes that happened. Don't think it grew heavier though, might even be lighter.

>>10249860
your post is useless, but it's a good effort nonetheless
>>10249915
that's Buzz, Niel, Mike and Nixon dude

>>10249860
>The only thing preventing SpaceX winning contracts at this point is their fairing size.
What happened with the paint contamination debacle?

>>10249958
I think it was just a slap on the wrist, I haven't heard about it affecting anything seriousy

>>10249847
Where is the hatch and waterline exactly? I tried to google it but nothing that shows it came up.

>>10249962
I don't think it's serious atm but I believe it's like a first strike/leading to a review or something like that. It's not impossible to sort out, but not a good thing either. Shame.

>>10249958
>Paint contamination

Lolwut qrd pls

>>10249953
Are those jews famous, how can you know the name, the nazi i cant tell apart hes not hitler or ggoerings, those are the only ones i remember

>>10249958
You mean the outgassing? That was resolved ages ago

>>10249981
One of the SpaceX bits docked at the ISS turned out to be associated with contamination of external instruments, likely cause was poor paint treatment (so the paint is still outgassing).

>>10249987
I'm sorry
you may know the one on the right better as Tricky Dick

>>10249988
It was identified as an issue like 3 weeks ago Elon.

>>10249915
Neil hadn't had his 8 bowls of porridge that morning.

>>10249542
As a NuSpace fanboy I'm only happy they're speeding up the development even if it's because of the reasons you've mentioned.

Also didn't they get a 500 million $ loan recently? Most of that will probably go towards Starlink, but still.

>>10249998
It’s been known since 2012. The recent report was from October, but only written about in the MSM recently. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20180007050.pdf
And SpaceX is certainly not the only one with the issue.

>>10250007
As you're getting onto finance, I'll just let you know that while I think Mr Musk is a shit businessman, nearly all analyses of financials of any of his companies is highly suspect/total shit. That's both lovers and haters.

>>10249994
>you may know the one on the right better as Tricky Dick
I read a novel by phillip roth that called him that, is that famous in america? did he coined that term?

>>10250013
If anyone's interested, the most important slide is page 21.

Work has entered a lull...

>>10249602
>they just go with whatever rocket looks shinier
This is indeed exactly how venture capitalists reason.

>>10250064
>>10249331
Rockets are highly complex, sensitive pieces of equipment. Why the fuck is Elon building it out in the elements?

Has this ever been done before? Surely it’s hugely exposed to inclement weather and straight up vandalism right?

>>10250064
Do you think they'll install the tanks before putting the top on?

>>10250074
>Rockets are highly complex, sensitive pieces of equipment.
t. oldspace porkbarreler
Rockets are just fucking tubes full of tanks and a few pumps.

>>10250074
Its the testbed article, not the real deal. Its meant to be cheap. Hell, most expensive thing on the hopper will be the engines.

>>10250080
Elon is benefitting from pork barrelling. He is literally a pork barreller.

>>10250089
At least he's not oldspace

>>10250089
he's accomplishing things with those pigs

>>10250074
>Straight up vandalism
>SpaceX has no security on site for it's most important fucking project

>Stainless steel
>Exposed to rain

Oh noooooooo

>>10250105
they have the number 1 element of security down pat, they're in the middle of fucking nowhere

>>10250080
>>10250086
>>10250105
Answer the question, has a heavy lift rocket ever been constructed out in the open like this?

>>10250111
abd gigantic fucking mosquitos. They’re terrifying

>>10250074
There are fences, and checkpoints. Short of someone taking pot shots at it there’s not much one can do

>>10250089
But his barrels are reusable.

>>10250117
No. Because as we keep fucking telling you, this is the testbed article thats not meant to do more than make sure their engines and landing ops software works.

>>10250117
This thing has zero payload capacity and a flight ceiling of 5000 meters. It’s a big fattened up grasshopper with raptors at the bottom. Doesn’t need to be perfect

>>10250093
Hello, spacers. Look at your SpaceX, now back to NASA, now back at your SpaceX, now back to NASA. Sadly, SpaceX isn’t NASA, but if they stopped using in house, overly vertical technology and switched to Old Space, they could fly like they're NASA. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a space colony with the space organisation your SpaceX could be like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s two tickets on the Space Shuttle to that Earth you love. Look again, the tickets are now asteroid mined diamonds. Anything is possible when your SpaceX flies like Old Space and not in a BFR. I’m on a Soyuz.

>>10250127
Stop replying jesus fuck.

>>10250127
>it's just the beta! We can patch it!
IT shit is ruining business.

>>10250122
I mean, it is texas

>>10250138
>due to recent events, BFR is now constructed out of AR550 1/2” steel plates

one of our twitter sources has been busted by the sheriff, oh no

Luckily he snapped these pics before being drugged and taken to a CIA black site

We’re throuh the looking glass, people

>>10249370
Your a dumb dumb. Like >>10249519 alludes to. Boomers are fuck ups and cannot fathom not doing high tier autistic design and construction. The greatest generation got us to the moon. Boomers squandered money and time. Millennials and zoomers will take us to the stars.

rip in pieces Austin

SpaceX intel gathering is a dangerous job

>>10250170
Elon's newest tinfoil hat. Try reading his mindwaves now SEC!

>>10250170
>cram THIS up your ass, pedo guy!

>>10250193
lel

>>10250178
>implying

>>10250089
>the oldspacer cries out in pain as he strikes you

>>10250155
Isn't that dude just snapping photos from the road? How is that illegal?

>>10250200
I get that Musk's libertarian buddies want to pretend there's not a massive amount of gov support, but there is. He is anti-kosher.

do we have a timeline of when all the sections will finally be mated?

>>10250211
it’s not. He could have stayed and kept snapping away.
Alas, people don’t know their rights.

>>10250214
Potentially in a couple hours

>>10250170
This legit looks like shit. I guess it doesn't have to be fancy but still.....

>>10250193
>tfw the so-called hopper is actually a new submarine that elon will use to practice rescuing children from underwater caverns

>>10250220
I can visualize it making crinkly sheet metal wobble sounds when it moves around and it makes me chuckle

>>10250221
>Elon is building lots of underground tunnels with no escape or support routes that it's easy to get stuck in
>overly obsessed with getting young Thai boys that are trapped underground into rocket parts

>>10250105
too soon >>10250155

>>10246221
>BFR's bid: the requirement for direct to GEO, no spacecraft can return from direct to GEO (it requires more Delta V to ge to the surface of Titan) which completely scuppers the BFR's main selling point.
Brainlet here, can someone elaborate on this? Why exactly can the BFR not meet the DoD’s requirements?

>>10250299
because $/kg doesn’t matter as much, and
>muh C3 numbers
Or something like that.

>>10249358
Ah fuck I got my glove stuck!

>>10250262
He says he’ll be back for more pics later heheheh

As much shitposting as these threads generate, its nice to see something tickle my autism in the same way that all those F9 landing attempt threads did back in the day

>>10249331
WHY DO THEY KEEP RENAMING IT?

>>10250221
I think that pedophilic diver might‘ve been on to something when he said it wouldn‘t fit.

>>10250299
BFR would have to refuel in orbit for such a mission to get out there and make it back. DoD requires it to be in one go though.

>>10250141
Is that a challenge?

>>10250130
>I’m on a Soyuz.
Ouch.

>>10250212
Yeah, but it's all fixed cost contracts

>>10250299
DoD doesn't want to fuck around with refueling in orbit.

>>10250387
minimum distance you could get is a couple hundred yards; you’d need some serious steel penetrators to make anything but a tiny divot

>>10250439
45-70 SLAPI

>>10250427
Could also be that they don’t want the Chinese to have an opportunity to check out what they’ve launched. Sitting around waiting for a refueling starship in orbit would ruffle the security folk

>>10250443
It would be less visible inside Starship than it will be in its target orbit

>>10250396
Still pork barreling.

>>10250439
There's plenty of stuff that'd tear right through it.

>>10250447
True, but on the otherhand if the chinks/russians dont want it to reach the intended orbit, its quite vulnerable to anti-satellite weapons while its waiting for the fueling tanker to launch and dock with it, and thats still not including the time it takes for the tanker to offload its cargo (probably a good dozen orbits or so).

Better to get it up there in one go rather than spend a day or so putting around in low orbit while waiting for BFR to get its shit ready for the burns to GEO.

>>10250461
>>10250447
If you’re launching twice a day, who’s to know if random payload #345 is a spy sat or fresh vegetables for Bezos’s orbital enterinatment emporium. Toss some obfuscation technology around the secret sat and release it whenever you want. Sort of like ZUMA, supposedly

>>10250461
>Implying chinks don't already have basic weapons platforms in orbit and can shoot whatever they want regardless of orbit

Lel I bet you think all those launches have really been for communication satellites right?

once there are LEO space stations all about, the risk of some country blowing up a satellite is quite low I hope. The political fallout is more harmful than any reduction in snooping.

>>10250439
Steel is butter to heat warheads

>>10250516
Steel is butter to most high velocity rifle rounds
HEAT is pretty much illegal anyway, unless you're really going to shell out $200 for the launcher and $200 per round just for the tax stamps

>>10250521
efile form 1’s only take 2-3 weeks now. Supposedly the rest of the efiles will be that short to process soon

>>10249700
>but how do you know you exist?

>>10250550
it’s intuitively obvious

How does electrostatic acceleration work?
If a positive ion is to pass through a positive mesh, then a negative one, it will:
>decelerate while approaching
>accelerate a lot while between the meshes
>decelerate while leaving

If the meshes are swapped, then the acceleration and deceleration is swapped.
How do the acceleration and deceleration not cancel out though? The ion's electric potential is the same either side of the meshes.

>>10250619
I dunno dude, my E&M phys classes were ages ago and I’ve brain purged the info by now

>>10249493
Is there anyway that can get rid of that? I guess they don't need to if it's a hopper?

>>10250638
get rid of the reflectivity? It’s for the purpose of reflecting a lot of the radiation generated by the cusion of plasma during reentry. The “liquid silver” is what Elon is referring to with how it looks to the naked eye from certain angles. The whole thing will be that shiny and liquidy for the orbital launches

>>10249483
You have not kept up with Brother Elon's business model.

>>10249700
No beachballs, though.

Serious question -- does it really not matter that the skin is fucking ripply and ill-fitting, dented and wavy? I'd think that would be sub-optimal, but I admit I am not an engineer.

>>10250702
You only notice it because it’s shinyand reflective

>>10250702
This thing will only go up 5000m at most. It doesn’t need to be extremely strong, or survive high lateral stresses. As it is, a 9m ring of 15mm steel is more than sufficient for acting as a shell for interior support struts and internal superstructer to be built onto.

>>10250619
Lot of time of flight spectrometers use stuff like this. You have the initial vector of the particle, the mass (more massive particles take longer to accelerate/decelerate and won't deviate from their direction as much). For the same sign (positive-positive or negative-negative), you get deceleration toward and acceleration away from the mesh (and with opposite signs it's the other way), with greater changes the closer to the mesh it is. Meshes are usually arranged to try to flatten this out over a section though.

Within the mesh, same signs are pushed towards the middle of the holes, opposite they're pulled away, so for opposite signs they tend to get flung off somewhere.

>>10250713
You can see a finish this bad on most surfaces. If you've ever seen bad plasterwork, you see it even when it's unfinished/unpainted.

>>10250725
All you are seeing is millimeter scale imperfections likely caused by temperature changes

Wonder what sort of tools they’re using for the polishing. I’d imagine that the production Starship will have special automated jigs that clamp on and can work on large sections at a time

>>10250702
In a lot of ways yes, in a few other ways no. The welding is likely to be as or more problematic, in some ways the ripples are a reflection of the problem with welding.

>>10250729
Yes, but you can see sub-millimeter differences in many non-shiny surfaces, it isn't "because it's shiny".

Also, it's definitely caused by temperature changes, and also poor choice of design/construction techniques.

>>10250741
You can’t see imperfections of a cement wall from 5 miles away through a low res camera picture...

>>10250353
Because it's not that big of a rocket anymore

>>10250731
Rotary sanders most likely.

>>10250734
in the close up photos the top dome is clearly spot welded, with respect to the panels and how they attach. It’s likely not much more than for aesthetics and to keep the rain/wind out. The frame we can’t see is probably more precisely welded

>>10250743
Cool dude, great argument.

>>10250747
Precision isn't the issue. Let's try a pedagogic exercise: why do you think the panels are rippling? Why might this have something to do with being welded?

>>10250699
or muffin tin spacesuits

>>10250750
spot welds, plus a big part is the slight bend that all but the lowest sections experience due to having to make them fit the required shape. S

>>10250760
Those could be rivets now that I think of it

Does it have a turbo?

>>10250774
It has turbopumps

>Elon accidentally SSTO's the hopper
>Stuck with bright light in the night sky for a month

>>10250760
That's a vastly poor answer bud.

>>10250768
Rivets could be a better design choice if used appropriately.

The ripples are a sign that the panels are not allowed to be form finding, but instead are under built-in stresses. Welding everything will do this because the weld joints store moments and stresses and so on. Simply, it needs more points where the panels are free to move. You have to do this all the time in construction, it's like that typical bridge free body diagram with one side being on a pin and the over a pin and linear rail, it allows the bridge to deflect and to expand and contract due to temperature, and doesn't causes repeated stresses in the structure. It's also why trusses are such an important design.

>>10250785
How can the panel be free to move when it all has to be air tight
Also it’ll be containing cryogenic liquids, which is when it needs to be is strongest

>>10250785
stop it, you’re bringing back memories of solid mechanics and statics. I’ve drawn enough FBD’s to last a lifetime

>>10250795
Typically you'd have little bits that can deform or flow to sandwich any gaps. Elastomers by their nature always let air through (think about bicycle or car tires over a very long time), I think 3m has developed a range that don't do this as much though. In the end you have to accept that everything's a bit leaky. You could probably get a viscous fluid of some sort in there instead too. Quite a few options.

You don't have to have it free to move everywhere either, just enough that it's not causing significant warping from the get go.

>>10250796
Yes YESSSS, FBD your eternal soul

>>10250809
>solid mechanics final
>ZERO POINTS IF NO FBD INCLUDED IN ANSWER on the front page. Even for the multiple-choice. Wasn’t too bad except for indeterminate combined loading.

>>10250746
Those things can kill your hands after a while. Wonder how many of the sander dudes will have RSI after this

>>10250815
>Those things can kill your hands after a while. Wonder how many of the sander dudes will have RSI after this
Yeah, they should really be in teams of at least two so they can switch. It fucks up blood flow and nerves and everything.

>>10250178

>>10250818
The lifts are at least infinitely adjustable, so they don’t have to bend or reach. Can be at a nice neutral height along the structure for working on it

>>10250820
Vibration is the issue, not poor working angle. Have you ever seen vibration white finger? That's something you can get after a while.

Some people on NSF think that they’re attaching reflective tape or something. I don’t think so, since the Elon pic clearly showed test spots that were polished, plus other pictures as well.

>>10250353
I'm uncomfy with how vague the "super heavy" bit is. Is that just the name for the booster? "Jettisoning the Super Heavy now" "The Super Heavy has landed and is ready for refueling" Sounds dumb to use only two adjectives for a name.

>>10250959
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urg-EqR-pHc

>>10250959
what would you call it? I can’t think of anything, but I agree that Super Heavy is awkward. Starship, that’s fine.

>>10250983
Starship on top of Super Heavy Booster = Super Heavy Starship.

>>10250782
>astronomer lobby has a collective aneurysm

>>10250540
Yeah but it's still $200 for anything fun

>>10250983
Even Starship is stupid considering it will never travel between stars. Why not just call it Booster and Spaceship?

>>10250819
Thanks, anon
I appreciate it

The government should take control of this project it is the only way to guarantee success.

>>10251452
Fucking communists

oooo

15min flyover video
zuccbook com/story.php?story_fbid=410855322789105&id=60424456156

>>10251556
Oy Vey

I don't understand. Why are they building this huge garbage can?

>>10251551
>>10251556
you can tell its texas because everyone drives a truck. it looks like they're building another section? there's a metal ring next to the tent/building.

>>10251575
Plus a triangle lifting device(?) and a square frame of some kind

>>10251570
Better questions: Why are there multiple threads with over a thousand replies in total? Why are brainlets spazming?

>>10251569
who could be behind this rocket?

>>10251581
>implying we have anything better to do with our lives

>>10251575
Does this invalidate every hopper render thus far?

Any simple way to explain to friends and family the scale and promises of the bfr/bfs?
It seems only "like orbital elevator but real" finds some understanding among those who know what an orbital elevator even is.

>>10251666
regular people don't care about space.

>talking to my uncle at christmas
>mention my telescope
>"oh have you used it to look at the spaceship up there"
>ask if he means the ISS
>he doesn't know what that is

>>10251663
MORE SECTIONS

it is literally growing before our eyes I cant even fathom the speed of this development after being led along by NASA for so long

>>10251666
Tell them "you will be able to spend a holiday in space". Assuming they are first world middle class, of course.

>>10251679
i demand moar sexions

>>10251679
At this point drop the whole 9m diameter and go for a pyramid.

WE

well if they still have another dome section to add it still might be a while before the final installation of the two halves

so will the Starship be girthy enough to hold a 16 mton 8 meter diameter glass disk? Sort of like this:
http://www.stsci.edu/institute/atlast/documents/stahl_8mDesign_SPIE2008.pdf
asking for a friend.

>>10251935
perhaps, as long as the 8m part of it immediately tapers down. The one thing that SLS has on BFR is the massive fairing diameter/volume.

>>10251551
>>10251556
I get Command&Conquer vibes from this.

>>10251957
The SLS Block 1A is only able to use the Delta 4's 5m fairing, the Block 1B is supposedly having a 8.4m fairing developed for it (which seems roughly equivalent to Starship's payload volume) and the Block 2 will supposedly have a 10m fairing, but that's basically fairydust at this point. I think the biggest problem with the Starship's payload bay is length, as the BFR hauling along it's own tanks will limit the length of the payloads it's able to carry compared to fairings or the space shuttle with it's external tank.

>>10252043
Yes. Hopefully payload builders will transition into the multi-part assemble-in-orbit mindset. If you have a gigantic mass and volume budget, lots of the engineering challenges become less so.

>>10252058
something something its too complicated to assemble in space...

>>10252079
that's oldspace speak, and they get off on being as worthless as possible

>>10249521
him legend

Major happening

>>10252173
This is going to be interesting

>>10252173
>>10252207

THIS IS NOT HOW YOU BUILD ROCKETS

STOP AT ONCE

REEEEEEEEEEE

>>10251666
Tell them BFR is the iPhone of rockets.

>>10252301
This is crazy enough to work.

Why did they abandon carbon fiber again? Are all those fuel tanks they made not going to be used now?

>>10252345
Aluminium is better for reentry heat

>>10252367
*Steel

>>10252345
correct, all of the San Pedro composites hardware is now useless.

>>10252376
Well they could probably re-use the carbon fiber tanks for ground ops (engine testing and the like).

>>10252384
But the most expensive part of composites is the tooling.

>>10252386
Well, they've still got quite a bit of stuff that needs carbon fiber work. Starship might not use carbon fiber but I see the first stage or a disposable second stage (that replaces Starship on the stack) could use it.

What they dont immediately need can be placed into storage. What they dont need period anymore can be sold off/rented out to those who do need that kind of capacity.

>>10249603
looks nice, very shiny
nice touch with the reflection lol

>>10252345
Some suspect they ran into unsolvable issues with heat that lead to drastic mass growth and bandaids were a questionable solution. The CF tooling they bought is useless now but at least the decision was made early before too much work was done. Something like this can and has killed projects before.

high res

>>10249706
Yeah, I'm sure that's not how you ride rockets.

This is so bizarre. These pictures look like a water silo is being built in a third world country. I also wonder why exactly they are building this, and why they are not covering it under a tent at least. This surely can't have a lot to do with how they actually plan to assemble their rocket.

>>10251982
>Starship complete

>>10249682
Why would they use mid century old and inferior nasa tier space technology when they have avaivable superior sexy XXI century technology

>>10252410
>3rd world
I mean they are about three miles from the Mexian border so....
Also it’s already rained a bit. Turns out stainless steel doesn’t mind? To me that also means that the engines aren’t in it yet

>>10252403
>america rocket factory
>vs
>russian rocket factory

>>10252345
Carbon fiber is absolute fuck to work with
They lost a ton of money on the hardware they had, but even that is a worthwhile sacrifice to not have to deal with the fuck fuck games

>>10249331
I think the wheels on Musk's ride are starting to fall off.

>>10252410
It comes down to the old adage if it works it works

one more pic after this

>>10252410
The spaceship will be made in their factory over in california. This is a hopper built on site because moving 9m wide rockets is hard, and meant to test things without risking expensive shiny flight worthy scifi rockets whose loss could lead to bad things like delays or bankruptcy.
>>10252418
Yeah no engines now. Raptors will be coming early next year if tests are to begin in spring. They might even have more thrust than expected.

>>10252451
>The spaceship will be made in their factory over in california
will be made or IS being made? how will they transport it, seems falcon 9 is already hard enough to move via truck

>>10252462
will be made or IS being made? how will they transport it, seems falcon 9 is already hard enough to move via truck.

Prototype components for Starship are currently being manufactured in Hawthorne and assembled in a tent in the port of Los Angeles. Simultaneously, SpaceX are building a factory nearby at berth 240 to produce the entire rocket stack in the near future. Production hardware for Starship/Super hardware will be assembled at the factory and shipped through the Panama Canal by barge to Boca Chica.

>>10252472
>>10252462
Since there aren’t any specialized super expensive bulky mandrills or curing ovens needed any more, my guess is that they’ll abandon San Pedro as the Starship manufacturing HQ. After all, the engines are still just going to be made in Hawthorn. And clearly there’s only a basic amount of tools needed to assemble the new design. Sprung makes tents which have cleanliness specifications, so that won’t be an issue either.
Like now that composites are gone why would San Pedro be better for building stuff compared to Boca Chica? I guess it is closer to where the majority of the spacex workforce lives.

>>10252472
>Prototype components for Starship are currently being manufactured in Hawthorne and assembled in a tent in the port of Los Angeles. Simultaneously, SpaceX are building a factory nearby at berth 240 to produce the entire rocket stack in the near future.
So they are building the prototype AND the factory that will mass produce them??
they are really going all in with this right? they cant really fail at this right?

>>10252462
Doubt anyone here can answer that with absolute certainty but the schedule is very tight. As for moving it, at that size a barge and the panama channel is the only option.
>>10252489
No way the factory will be moved. Composites aren't the reason they picked california.

>>10249692
What are the wings at to top supposed to do?

>>10252501
Yes. To make matters more interesting it is also essentially a requirement for launching Starlink since F9 and FH are almost prohibitively expensive.

>>10252519
control authority. They don’t generate lift, just axial control

>>10252501
Starlink is pretty much the bet-the-company program. The FCC gave them an ultimatum for launching a portion of their constellation, or else SpaceX looses the frequency rights. As long as they can launch at a high rate I’m not worried. Big banks and other firms have already dumped a lot of money into it

>>10252489
>Sprung makes tents which have cleanliness specifications, so that won’t be an issue either.
Eh. I've certainly seen that kind of building a few times with biotech levels of cleanliness, not really with like microchip fab levels. Rocket manufacturing is somewhere between the two. Also I believe it's difficult/expensive to build those sorts of things.

So you reckon Texas? I'll have to look into whether that sort of building already exists there, like someone is bound to have done it already if it's viable.

elon musk is a twat that should hang himself

>>10252519
>>10252529
I think they've missed two tricks with their "fins".

Where's the hatch meant to be? I can see the "water line" thing now that someone was going on about in a past thread, but I haven't seen anything on hatch placement.

What are they actually hoping to test with this thing?
>engines
full scale engine wont even be used on this thing
>stainless steel
not manufactured or assembled remotely close to how the final product will be
>flight characteristics
wont go above 5km so irrelevant
>software
already perfected using f9

So what are they testing exactly?
Is it all just a publicity stunt?

>>10252580
oh shit better get on the phone to spacex and let them know they're wasting time

>>10252580
>it’s another “I know better than 7000 SpaceX employees” episode

>>10252598
How many of those are janitors?

>>10252585
It's not wasting time, it's a PR stunt to gather investors. Be honest anon, do the pics of the "production" look like SpaceX is swimming in money right now?

>>10252585
>>10252598
Don't respond to it

>NSF down
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>10252616
But they're being mean about my waifu Elon-san.

>>10252615
>this redditor again

>>10252428
Is Super Heavy also steel now though?

>>10252566
The cargo bay door is visible in some renders below the windows. How big it will be exactly is unknown but smaller than F9 fairing diameter is unlikely.

>>10252625
Yes

>>10252619
>mfw yuropoor and waited until 1am when nsf posters wake up and get active
>mfw maintenance

>>10252633
you gotta come to the US and watch at least one rocket launch eurobro

>>10252585
>>10252598
When did I say that?
I was asking a question.

>>10252660
They have new engines, new aerodynamic shape, new mass and CoG that moves around differently, new landing leg setup, and new max stresses and required speed at landing etc etc etc. of course low altitude hops will give them useful data, crucial even

>>10252629
How do you know and why exactly? Might make sense for reentry from orbital velocity but why use it for a suborbital vehicle?

>>10252722
because leddit said so therefore it must be true :P

>>10252722
musk never said anything about it
we don't know, it might not be

>>10252722
Elon hasn’t said otherwise, and it makes sense. In fact, whatever mass hit - if there is any - with metal is even less so with SH, due to the larger size. And the sped up timeline is due to the switch to metal; it doesn’t make sense that SH would stay composite because that means that it is still on the slower timeline. I’d bet a million bucks that SH is stainless as well

>>10252722
First stage is the most mass and heat insentive stage

>>10252785
heat intensive in what way?
>mass intensive
literally not true. mass savings on first stage do not translate directly to payload increase like it does for second stages

>>10252785
what a retarded comment
>coming in at 2000m/s more heat intensive than 25 000

>>10252801
>>10252796
I think he meant insensitive

>>10252796
>>10252801
Retards

>>10253012
Elaborate.

nothing yet

>>10253012
can confirm i'm retarded

>>10252801
>Calling other coments retarded while confusing km/h with m/s

New thread

>>>10252814
>>>10252814
>>>10252814

>>10252758
that makes no fucking sense imo. Surely theres a great mass hit that they are trying to cover up.

I know people like to think research is all a wonderful quest for excitment and adventure where at any moment anything can happen and ohhh what will happen next oh my god how exciting?!!!

In reality scientifics knew the properties of steel and the properties of carbon well before starting the first sketch of the rocket. They knew objectively considering all facts that carbon was better, now they failed at it and try to pass it out as if steel was better all along but they just found out. Total bullshit, theres gonna be a HUGE downside, they just havent said it yet

>>10254641
It’s not rocket science lad - stainless is cheaper to manufacture, easier to join and strong as hell

The mass penalty is cancelled out by the high specific strength - less steel needed than cfrp to support the equivalent load - this is the counterintuative part

Carbon fibre layup is slow, expensive and largely unproven as a material for spacecraft airframes.