Post by 26xh.0717https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13501577/Elon-Musk-Starship-launches-test-flight.html
Along with a successfully Starship splashdown, the booster
also landed in the Gulf of Mexico eight minutes after
take off.
It was a critical milestone in the company's plan to
eventually return the Super Heavy booster to its launch
site for reuse.
The Starship is classified as a super heavy-lift launch
rocket that is celebrated as the most powerful ever built.
. . .
While everyone was crowing about Boeing ...
Anyway, let's see Musk do this a few times before
anything else.
The previous test went bad. The booster lost track
of its speed and position and smashed into the
ocean while the Starship came apart due to
aerodynamic stress over the Indian Ocean. This
MAY have also been a sensor/software issue.
In any case, as SpaceX does, it crashes a few,
does intensive investigation, then builds a
better bird.
The sheer CARGO capacity of Starship is a real
game-changer. LARGE sections could be lofted
for a much bigger & better space station.
Still wanna see one like in '2001' !
Mars ??? Um ... there are a lot of OTHER issues
besides having decent room. Oh, and the Starship
cannot "splash down" on Mars. Likely it would
CONTAIN one or two landing vehicles. Supplies
for a longer stay and crude hab ... better send
that ahead of time.
Followup note :
Viewing the full mission video, the top-end
"flaps" on the StarShip part ... critical to
controlling re-entry angle - were BADLY burnt.
The process became obvious early on in the
re-entry process, but became especially severe
around 60km altitude.
One edge of the control surface was BADLY burnt
away - massive sparks/melting/erosion. The metal
casing peeled, part of the hinge melted. Very
spectacular before the camera also got cooked.
On the plus, when NEEDED, the messed-up controls
STILL worked despite the damage. The Starship
was able to maintain the correct alignment all
through re-entry and eventually made the desired
kind of landing.
Go to spacex.com for the full video (about 50 minutes).
Clearly, part of these control surfaces were NOT
adequately protected from the re-entry heat. The
plasma was highly destructive, created a white-hot
fire against them. They WERE made of stainless
steel according to the SpaceX commentator ... which
likely explains their functional survival. If made
of aluminum alloy they'd have been totally destroyed
early on.
MIGHT be that a relatively simple fix ... some extra
shielding tile or even a small plasma deflector, will
solve this issue. This is how SpaceX works ... fly,
super-analyze, fix, fly again.
In any case, the whole thing WORKED this time. It
would have been a functional mission if they were
releasing something into LEO. Next time will be
better.
NOT entirely sure if the ultimate goal is to fully
recover the SuperHeavy booster - ie land it back
on land rather than plunge it into salt water.
This would SEEM to be the desired end for obvious
reasons.
Oh, this time, only 32 of the 33 engines on the
booster worked. Not a major issue but still
something to look into.
StarShip has HUGE cargo capacity ... like Really
Big '2001' Space Station capacity. It is WELL
worth continued funding/development.