Today's most important drone in the world

[spsphotos]

SN9 looks like a grain silo. LOL.

 

[dixter]

I'm not saying this is the issue but it could be local traffic... and one of the local traffic would be ships coming into the port.... to see if ship(s) are coming into the port then you can use the ios app " findship " open the app and zoom into the area of the launch pad to see how many ships are there... I never understood why musk put that launch pad that close to people and other items that could cause him issues with launching... anyway...

edited to change intercoastal water way to port...

 

[African wildlife]

The channel for the ships/boats is just outside the exclusion zone, so it's not a safety issue.

SN10 being rolled out now from the build site to the launch site:

SN9 launch NET Monday.

 

[VenomXts]

They trying to launch 10 now?

 

[dixter]

I think they just want to polish number 10 and show it off in the sun...

 

[dixter]

The channel for the ships/boats is just outside the exclusion zone, so it's not a safety issue.

SN10 being rolled out now from the build site to the launch site:

SN9 launch NET Monday.

how do you look up the exclusion zone... I saw a tanker go by the pad a few days ago and it wasn't very far at all from the pad ??

 

[African wildlife]

how do you look up the exclusion zone... I saw a tanker go by the pad a few days ago and it wasn't very far at all from the pad ??

You can see the shipping channel is just outside of the exclusion or hazard zone.

I know many forum members have got more than one drone (even we've now got two, albeit just for work) but the sight of TWO Starships on their respective launch pads is something special. And that's without their Super Heavy first-stage boosters underneath, which will be even bigger.

I hope the FAA get their act together for granting SpaceX permissions - which always seem to drag on unnecessarily - because otherwise there is a high likelihood of China dominating space in the near future.

 

[maven4336]

Here's the official drone footage from the SN5 launch (together with a bit of onboard footage).

The drone pilot did a really good job to get around for the post-landing view. Again, pre-planning before the event is so important when you have one opportunity to deliver and with no chance of a "take two".

Just kick a footage

 

[African wildlife]

Okay, it's now Tuesday, and here we go again. FAA approval was finally granted late last night. And the weather today is looking good. Elon's jet arrived at Brownsville, Texas, from Hawthorne,, California at 7.00 UTC this morning. So we are very likely to see the test flight of SN9 today and hear those fantastic words "Go for launch".

It's going to be a wee bit confusing because SN10 has now joined SN9 on the launch pad, but when those three Raptor engines roar into action and SN9 lifts off, it'll be pretty obvious which Starship is which.

Live coverage has just started (link below). It's just before sunrise at Boca Chica as I type these words. Tune into SpaceX's own official feed five minutes before takeoff for the best views. Meanwhile, spot that SpaceX drone.

 

[African wildlife]

Recondenser on. We could be just 35 minutes to liftoff.

 

[elborak]

The Starship design really takes me back... I expect to see "Estes" printed on the side.

 

[African wildlife]

Another successful test flight, even if the landing was a bit hard again. 9/10. ?

 

[OndaEyes]

And, this time, SpaceX is likely to nail the actual landing -

That sentence didn't age too well ...

 

[African wildlife]

That sentence didn't age too well ...

True. That said, many who closely follow the Starship testing would have - did - guess likewise. SN8 was a spectacular success until the final seconds and Elon thought the short-term fix was straightforward for the low pressure issue in the header tank.

Yesterday's test was another undoubted success until the landing. I don't have the engineering background to begin to work out what might have gone wrong when the landing flip manoeuvre happened, but a few things looked off this time. But that's the great thing about test/fly/fail/learn.

The drone pilot did well at takeoff. If you do the simple things right...

 

[Barbara]

Whenever I see Starship, I think Buck Rogers.

 

[BigAl07]

That landing..... I don't think it's going to BUFF out cleanly on that one.

 

[elborak]

I'm glad Elon didn't try to hand-catch.

 

[dixter]

well, I watched this one and I watched the one prior... it was like a perfect replay... in fact you could have used the exact same footage and you would not be able to tell the diff.... I was very surprised they took off with the other rocket sitting out there bare like that... didn't seem to be a safe way to conduct a flight/experiment... if the rocket had exploded on the pad then musk would have lost two rockets... crazy way to conduct business like that... if he's not careful the FAA is going to make him move his experiment out into the gulf or the desert....

 

[dixter]

Whenever I see Starship, I think Buck Rogers.

Whenever I see Starship, I think of Barbarella

 

[Barbara]

well, I watched this one and I watched the one prior... it was like a perfect replay... in fact you could have used the exact same footage and you would not be able to tell the diff.... I was very surprised they took off with the other rocket sitting out there bare like that... didn't seem to be a safe way to conduct a flight/experiment... if the rocket had exploded on the pad then musk would have lost two rockets... crazy way to conduct business like that... if he's not careful the FAA is going to make him move his experiment out into the gulf or the desert....

Similar, but important differences. SN8 had a pressurization failure that affected both engines on landing. They fixed that, but had a single engine failure this time. One engine lit up and ran perfectly right up to the RUD. The second engine sputtered and quit. It's a learning experience, as they have said.

Took them a few attempts to get the Falcon landings right too.