Questions tagged [spacex]
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, is a private space exploration company. It was the world's first privately held company to successfully launch a cargo mission into space , cargo to the ISS (International Space Station), land and reuse a booster, and a crewed mission into orbit. See the wiki for related tags.
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What is this ring-shaped part falling from Starship SN9 after launch?
The picture shown is a screenshot during the recent launch of SpaceX's SN9 from a live stream, and I noticed that a black ring fell off the exhaust/engine. It only shows up for around a frame or two ...
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SpaceX Starship: Could they use the Vacuum engines during landing in case of other engine failure?
With the recent test (and RUD due to single engine relight failure) of SN-9, Musk has stated that what they should've done was light all three raptor engines simultaneously then turn one off so as to ...
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Why does starship flip vertical at the last moment instead of earlier
In the test flight of SN9, it appeared that 1 of 2 engines did not relight upon landing. Why is the transition to vertical not done at a higher altitude where a backup engine could be lit if needed ...
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How long is Falcon 9 suicide burn?
My question is
How long is a Falcon 9 suicide burn?
I assume the answer might vary between rides, depending on the payload lifted and its destination orbit so the time might not be the same for a ...
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Which US Air Force career should I be in for the best chances at becoming some sort of electrical engineer at SpaceX? [closed]
I flunked in high school and early college because I wasn't in the right mindset. No drive or motivation to do my best. I now want to pursue SpaceX's vision because it's similar to my vision, and I ...
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Why do Space X starship launches need permission from the FAA?
For Flight #7 slated for 02-Feb-2021, Wikipedia's SpaceX Starship; Testing Program says:
SpaceX attempted to fly SN9 on 28 and 29 of January 2021, but failed
to receive permission from the FAA. (164, ...
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Is it cheaper to build a habitat on the surface of the moon or dig a hole into the moon and build a habitat in there?
There was a space competition a while ago that had teams design the best habitat for either Mars or the Moon, and the winning design was a cone-like building using a large 3D printer. I saw it and ...
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How to understand "rat" moving on Falcon 9 second stage rocket nozzle?
Starting at about ten seconds into this video of the SpaceX CRS-19 launch:
One can observe what looks something like a rat moving around the side of the second-stage ...
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What's the benefit of making boosters land nicely (SpaceX) instead of parachuting them at sea (Space Shuttle) [duplicate]
SpaceX boosters return by landing nicely thanks to an elaborate guiding system. This requires, well, a guiding system (so, more electronics, more opportunities for failure and massive engineering ...
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Superheavy assisted trip to Mars
i just had a thought and wonder about feasability, cost and possible implications.
What I assume is the plan:
A Superheavy pushes Starship into Orbit. Cargo Starships follow and refuel. Fueled up ...
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Design impact on Chamber pressure
What is forming the amount of chamber pressure which is produced in a rocket engine and why would you like to have an higher chamber pressure?
I was calculating the SpaceX Raptor engine for myself, ...
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Why isn't SpaceX's Starship "trial and error" development strategy an open source project?
Some large community of space enthusiasts is working hard on simulating or extrapolating data on the SpaceX Starship. But this data isn't publicly available.
So why don't they release it as an open ...
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Starship deceleration during belly flop?
Was just wondering what level of deceleration did they get during that belly flop manouver?
Updated:
Hiya, you're all correct, and I was a tad vague in my question! What I'm after is the vertical ...
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Does Falcon 9 perform static fires before every launch?
Before launching every Falcon 9 rocket, is SpaceX performing a Wet Dress Rehearshal (WDR) and a static fire?
If not before every launch then is it doing it before every first launch of a new booster?
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Any large scale rocket static fires, like SpaceX's 3 in one day?
SpaceX on Jan 13, 2021 did three static fires in one day.
Elon Musk tweeted:
All three static fires completed & no RUDs!
And that was in response to this tweet of his own:
Today at SpaceX is ...
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What's the ratio of horizontal to vertical velocity and travel distance for starship?
As far as I understand the spacex starship trajectory is not exactly vertical, it looks more like the picture below.
If the height of the flight is 12.5km, then what is the horizontal distance it ...
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What are SpaceX plans for Starship with respect to Moon landing and then takeoff?
Starship uses Raptor engines which in turn uses liquid methane as fuel. The idea for using methane as fuel being - methane can be produced on Mars from CO2 and H2O. And using the onsite produced ...
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How will SpaceX land its rockets on the unleveled surface of Mars?
SpaceX plans to send the Starship to Mars and to land it there, tail first in a vertical position.
Unlike the Perseverance rover, which seems to be able to land on uneven terrain without the need for ...
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Does the SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage fleet, fly in order?
SpaceX by the end of 2020, made it very clear that they have solved the first stage reflight problem. Two cores have flown 7 times. Several are over 4 flights. At the beginning of 2021 they have about ...
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How is PICA different from other heat shielding materials?
What are the differences and why did SpaceX prefer to use PICA?
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Cryogenic storage in Starship header tanks
Since Starship uses cold liquid oxygen and methane fuel in its header tanks, how will these cryogenic tanks been kept full and cold on long missions in space?
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Is it really possible to catch the Super heavy booster by using the launch tower ? How Challenging will it be?
Reports say that SpaceX now aims to recover the Super heavy booster by catching it with the help of the launch tower. What are the engineering challenges for this and how will it benefit ?
News ...
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Can Starship use dedicated smaller auxiliary landing fuel tanks?
Would it be better for Starship to have a separate set of small fuel tanks dedicated to landing the ship, maybe controlled separately or plumbed differently.
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Did Starlink's experimental Darksat help reduce brightness? [duplicate]
Did Darksat's visor like coverings to its parabolic antennas reduce the brightness or was it a failure.
Or is SpaceX devoleping any other mechanisms or manuveres to counter this problem?
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Are SpaceX Falcon rocket boosters significantly cheaper to operate than traditional expendable boosters?
The title pretty much sums it all up. I remember somebody once remarked about the space shuttle program that “the space shuttle was originally designed to be a space truck. But the shuttle is to ...
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Is there possible engine damage without launch platform on Mars return flight?
When a Starship has landed on Mars, there is not going to be any kind of prepared platform initially. (That may be a task for early crews to resolve).
Is there the possibility that Starship, sitting ...
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Does the SpaceX spacesuit address any of the criticisms of ACES raised by Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report?
A brief history of what Shuttle crews wore for ascent and entry, from the Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report:
The shuttle was originally designed to be operated in a shirtsleeve (bare-hands) ...
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Why would it take so long (22 minutes!) to travel from Hong Kong to Singapore flying SpaceX?
In the SpaceX video Starship | Earth to Earth they show the flight time from Hong Kong to Singapore to be 22 minutes.
What's taking so long? It's only 4 hours by airplane (and US $275!)
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For the Starship SN8 flight, did they lose engines in flight?
Watching the first (only?) test flight of SN8 we saw them start flying with three Raptor engines firing and then one looked like it flamed out, with lots of fire inside the engine bay. Then later a ...
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Why does SpaceX Crew Dragon not have planned holds?
I watched the launches of SpaceX Crew Demo 2 and Crew 1. I observed that there were no planned holds during the last hour of the countdown.
The Space Shuttle had planned holds at T-20 minutes and T-9 ...
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What is that white smoke coming out of the bottom of the Starship?
What is that white smoke coming out of the SN8?
It comes out at the bottom and it starts when the first engine stops, why is that?
I think I have seen it coming out from the top too:
This is also ...
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Is Starship aerodynamically stable when travelling nose first?
Is Starship aerodynamically stable when traveling nose first, or does it require constant gimbaling from the main engines to keep it pointing nose first? Is this part of the explanation for why Space ...
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Will the SpaceX Starship's stainless steel skin ever look the same as the renders?
We've seen plenty of renders of the Starship with smooth, flawless stainless steel skin
And we are well familiar now with the look of the Starship prototypes.
Given what we know about the ...
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What does diiferent colours in orbital path seen in the CRS 21 launch video indicate?
The SpaceX broadcast of Falcon 9 - CRS 21 launch showed the orbital path of the vehicle differently than previous videos. Separate green lines and rectangualar boxes were visible.
What additional ...
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Starship surface heating on Mars landing
Mars atmosphere is much thiner than Earth's
And then how much will Starship heat on a Mars landing comparing to a landing on Earth?
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Portable Starlink antennas
Starlink is slowly starting to spread their wings globally, with a recent beta launched in Canada after their initial launch in the US.
Let's assume I buy the antennae/dish and their service in Canada....
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How much krypton do Starlink satellites carry when they are first deployed?
Starlink satellites use krypton as propellant.
This answer roughly estimates 2.3 kg of Krypton based on a total delta-V of 190 m/s and an exhaust velocity of 20,000 m/s.
But how close is that to ...
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Design of starship fins
How much can the falling speed of starship approximately be reduced by the bellyflop fall with fins? Are we talking about numbers around 5% or 50% here?
Wouldn't it make sense to put holes where the ...
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Software to view flight path of rockets
What software could a hobbyist use to visualise the flight path of a rocket from launch to some arbitrary time after launch? I imagine this software might draw the path over a globe. Additionally, if ...
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How should we point our SpaceX Starlink ground transceiver antennas?
I don't have one of course, but I see that the Starlink ground transceiver antennas are flat but "pointable" to some extent. I assume but don't know for sure that there's at least some kind ...
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What is the Starship forward dome?
What is the Starship forward dome?
How does it look like?
What other parts are connected to it and what is it good for?
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Are SpaceX launches from California going to retrograde orbits?
SpaceX has a launch site in Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Will satellites launched from that place have a retrograde orbit?
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Why is the SpaceX crew-1 mission more important than the previous one (demo-1)?
The previous one was also crewed (two crew) but it was called "demo" for some reason - despite taking astronauts to the ISS. How is the recent one different?
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Why do some rockets have closed boattails around the engines and others do not?
During launch and landing, dust, dirt and debris may be stirred up. For non-gimbaling engines like the vac Raptors on Starship, can't the engine fairing/boattail be closed? I imagine titanium sheet ...
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How many Crew Dragon spacecraft are SpaceX planning to operate?
NASA has bought six Crew Dragon flights and there is at least one private flight booked for next year. There are currently two flight-capable Crew Dragon spacecraft. Is SpaceX currently building ...
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What are these shiny wrist plates worn by astronauts in the SpaceX crew capsule
What are these shiny wrist plates worn by astronauts in the SpaceX crew capsule?
screen shot from the NASA YouTube video Watch NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 Mission Arrive at the International Space Station
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"...extending the Starlink network using longer-range laser comms and relay satellites to reach Mars and Starships in-transit" (Musk & Shotwell)
I have it on good authority that SpaceX's Elon Musk and Gwynne Shotwell:
...have talked about extending the Starlink network using longer-range laser comms and relay satellites to reach Mars and ...
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Would this Starship design alternative be viable?
Considering Starship's atmospheric entry, belly dive and "bellyflop",
latest iteration displays four aerodynamic surfaces, two aft fins and two canard fins.
Soon, this configuration will be ...
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Which Tesla Roadster was launched into space?
Which Roadster was launched into space? What year was it made? I cannot find any information about it. On Wikipedia, there is an image of it from 2010, so it is at least that old. It doesn't look like ...
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Testing of rocket heat shield on Earth
One Space Shuttle was destroyed due to failure of the insulation tiles. SpaceX is reportedly using another technology, which replicates sweating , for wearing off the reentry heat. How is the ...
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