Starship Launch live

[Pollushon]

musk was only expecting it to leave the launch site anything more was a bonus, it also wasnt all the new gear/engines that will be on the next one now they have all this data to help out, i cant wait till they are going to attempt a landing (or catching)

Exactly. Chris Hadfield put it into the best words... "enormously successful". SpaceX tweeted they already have 'hundreds of improvements' on the next iteration and now 4 minutes of real world data. I reckon if they fix that pad they'll win half the battle

 

[Immortality]

I'm actually surprised they didn't test the heavy booster by itself. Make a fairing to enclose the top and away you go. Would be more cost effective than sitting a full startship on top and risk loosing it.

 

[Immortality]

Great video showing the damage to the launch pad after the first launch.

 

[Immortality]

Some more images of the damage to the launch pad.

Mike Killian on Instagram: "Carnage at Starbase. We don’t care about the cameras we care about the memory cards. And we got ‘emmm Place is littered with chunks of concrete & pad infrastructure SpaceX won’t let us get our inside pad cameras tho, say

18K likes, 365 comments - Mike Killian (@mikekillianphotography) on Instagram: "Carnage at Starbase. We don’t care about the cameras we care about the memory cards. And we got..."

www.instagram.com

 

[07GTS]

if u have seen the drone footage when it takes off where u can see the ocean on the right u can see big chunks landing like 50 meters out, gonna take a bit to get approval now with a new pad will have to do a flame diverter or something and its so shallow there to with ocean so close

 

[Immortality]

I've seen that footage. It's quiet amazing how much debris you can see, even up around the rocket as it seems to sit there forever before lifting off.


That could always raise the pad a bit and extend the tower to accomodate a flame trench and add a water deluge system. There gonna have to move that tank farm too, plenty of damage there as well

 

[Pollushon]

It's amazing what 75.9 MN of thrust can break. Apparently it sits for a number of seconds as quick connects on stage zero spool up the outer Raptor engines. It lets go once the engines are started and the quick connects retract. Should be about 5 seconds so it was a little over. There's already a new launch system on site with flame diverter and deluge system. Methinks Elon got impatient and well knew this puppy was a goner. Easiest way to move it? Launch!

There's some really good breakdowns on YouTube of the colossal launch damage done to the engines and the hydraulic thrust vectoring system which sealed its fate 30 seconds into flight when it broke off. This has already been replaced by an electronic system. With that and the pad fixed, attempt two should have a great chance at success. Looking at the damage I reckon that's 6 months away, maybe next year. I would love to be wrong

 

[Skylarking]

Nasa should have parked their car a bit further away… notice the car on the left of screen at 0:15 below…

 

[07GTS]

kinda makes u think too with the saturn 5 engines only 5 of those made only a million or two less thrust then 33 raptors, saturn 5 were a beast, look them up and u will see a good flame diverter

 

[Immortality]

Yup. You've got to give it to those folks who build that beast with slide rulers.

The thing is though, NASA and it's predecessors spent plenty of time blowing up rockets learning their trade post WW2 with Von Braun and the V2 before they got to Saturn V. SpaceX is really doing this on an expedited time line.