Spacex Starship

[BushMasterBoy]

Amazing launch this AM from Texas. I bet it won't be long until this platform is as reliable as the Falcon series of booster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-L-WZrnpBA

[flogger]

How fricking cool is that??!!

[kidicarus13]

Only 32 of the 33 engines lit? How does that happen?! Keep in mind, my rocket knowledge does not go much beyond Estes.

96708

[BushMasterBoy]

The Boeing spacecraft docked with the ISS today! Two huge wins for the US space industry.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXYNaqp1hU0

[O2HeN2]

Only 32 of the 33 engines lit? How does that happen?! Keep in mind, my rocket knowledge does not go much beyond Estes.96708

To keep it simple, those engines, unlike an Estes engine, have all sorts of instrumentation to monitor the status of many, many parts of the engine and its many, many steps from turning fuel and oxidizer into thrust.

If you watch the engine graphic you'll see that all 33 ignited initially. Then that one engine detected something wrong and was shut down. Even before the rocket had cleared the tower.

Better to shut it down than to have it ka-boom and take out all the engines around it.

Hope that helps!

O2

[BushMasterBoy]

The Falcon burns a special kerosene. The Starship runs on methane. Seems strange they are using different fuels. I wonder if there is a ecological reason?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypergolic_propellant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_propellant

[DenverGP]

2 big reasons to use methane instead of RP-1 (special kerosene as you mentioned)

1) RP-1 is very dirty. Methane burns much cleaner. For starship, they intend for these engines to be reused with very little turn-around, so the cleaner burning fuel will keep the engines working better without requiring any refurbishment.
2) Methane can theoretically be made on mars. We'll need to be able to do that to return a starship from mars.

[electronman1729]

A cool video of the booster.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMz8GxUun7Q