SpaceX making 'well over 1,000' changes to Starship ahead of next launch

[Admin]

SpaceX has made more than 1,000 changes to the design of its giant Starship vehicle ahead of its next test flight, company founder and CEO Elon Musk said over the weekend.

SpaceX making 'well over 1,000' changes to Starship ahead of next launch : Read more

 

[c_glensmith]

In the sub head and article claims stage separation failed.
The main failure here is space.com journalism.
The vehicle simply did not reach the stage separation altitude/speed so stage separation was not initiated.
This lack of understanding or care in research destroys any credibility this article or this web site may have had.

 

[bryant]

always troubling when a group of yuppies get bent out of shape over furthering our reach for the stars.

 

[Brad]

In the sub head and article claims stage separation failed.
The main failure here is space.com journalism.
The vehicle simply did not reach the stage separation altitude/speed so stage separation was not initiated.
This lack of understanding or care in research destroys any credibility this article or this web site may have had.

You took the words right out of my mouth but the article also seems to suggest that SpaceX basically said the same thing:

"SpaceX sent that self-destruct command after Starship experienced a number of problems, including the failure of the vehicle's two stages to separate as planned. The company is taking pains to ensure that latter issue doesn't recur on Starship's next flight, Musk said."

Clearly it never came close to stage separation. It was barley supersonic, just around max Q, and had already lost too many engines to ever get near seperation.

 

[theNerdonot]

I wonder why the "flip maneuver stage separation" acrobatics was considered a good idea by the SpaceX team in the first place. Sometimes, they confuse innovation and whimsiness.

 

[billslugg]

The flip is not intended to happen prior to stage separation. It normally is done by the booster stage, after separation, using nitrogen thrusters, to prepare for boostback burn. The flip we saw was simply due to rotational forces due to too many engines out on one side. It was not thought it would handle a rotation while still linked. They were surprised it did.

 

[theNerdonot]

The flip is not intended to happen prior to stage separation. It normally is done by the booster stage, after separation, using nitrogen thrusters, to prepare for boostback burn. The flip we saw was simply due to rotational forces due to too many engines out on one side. It was not thought it would handle a rotation while still linked. They were surprised it did.

That would be the case for a Falcon. rocket. For Starship, the idea was to initiate a rotation before separation, so that a collision between the 2 stages would be unlikely. Scott Manley has a good video about the maneuver:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1651031623859843073

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1651031623859843073

 

[Brad]

The flip is not intended to happen prior to stage separation. It normally is done by the booster stage, after separation, using nitrogen thrusters, to prepare for boostback burn. The flip we saw was simply due to rotational forces due to too many engines out on one side. It was not thought it would handle a rotation while still linked. They were surprised it did.

No that's wrong. SpaceX envisioned this flip and separate maneuver. This has nothing to do with Falcon 9 boost back burns.

 

[billslugg]

I stand corrected. It makes sense. The maneuver would tend to pull the two halves apart. "Avoid collision".

 

[theNerdonot]

It was their initial assessment of how to tackle stage separation on Starship. One attempt was apparently enough to convince them to go a different way. It speaks volumes in terms of how bad the data must have been to give up so quickly on this technique.

 

[Toado]

You took the words right out of my mouth but the article also seems to suggest that SpaceX basically said the same thing:

"SpaceX sent that self-destruct command after Starship experienced a number of problems, including the failure of the vehicle's two stages to separate as planned. The company is taking pains to ensure that latter issue doesn't recur on Starship's next flight, Musk said."

Clearly it never came close to stage separation. It was barley supersonic, just around max Q, and had already lost too many engines to ever get near seperation.

Space X didn't say the same thing. Its just terrible, lazy reporting.