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Do they need to get a permit just to replace the a failed part with a matching same-spec part?

I'm really curious to know what the filters are intended to filter, and what's blocking them. Is it that the LOX is cold enough that they get chunks of frozen nitrogen or something in there? Quick searches show that Nitrogen freezes below LOX temperature, so...? Sweet.

I disagree with the premise that it's desirable to make EVs more accessible to those with lower income. Do you really want to target a group that is more likely to be renters to have EVs? Where are they going to charge? Their insurance is going to probably be higher. I think the near term...

That's what I was trying to convey, but I clearly fumbled that. I agree that the current design seems optimized for easy replacement. In other words, they've decided that a cheaply/quickly replaced heatshield is better than a large, heavy, good for 100 flights heatshield. Excellent. And the...

I'm curious to know what they actually expect from a "fully reusable" heatshield. Two flights? Three flights? I have assumed that the design of the tiles and their attachment, which seems to be that they just snap on, maybe whack them once with a rubber mallet, is that they are intended to be...

And isn't that so lame? It's currently nothing more than the "I Am Rich" app for the iPhone. My first boss was fond of saying "P.T. Barnum was right", a reference to the phrase "There's a sucker born every minute". Since when has a "tourist" been somebody that shows up and then immediately...

How do astronauts get to/from Orion/Starship if they don't dock? EVA?

What are the white dots that coincide with the tiles?

I interpreted it differently. Each of the first four lines is clearly a separate goal with it's timeline. I inferred that "civilization secured" is also it's own goal and that he does not have a timeline in mind. Typical CEO or salesman talking. Say something they know you interpret one way...

Is this being developed under a typical NASA contract that pays out when milestones are hit? If so, then shipping to to Florida is likely a milestone, and your answer could be "because cash flow" :) That cynical answer is mostly because I recently read the Eric Berger article that somebody...

I don't recall that SpaceX ever provided details, or even an overview, on the propellant transfer demo that they did in IFT-3 as far a "how it works". I think I just a assumed a pump between two tanks and thought it was a stupid demo. Now I'm realizing that it was a silly interpretation on my...

If you keep thrusting there is downward pressure, the exact same pressure that you're talking about using to settle the tank. Perhaps I'm abusing the term "pressure": so be it, but I cannot imagine that anybody writing these articles is that precise and correct in their use of terminology, and...

What you wrote is your interpretation of what you quoted, and it fits with what you quoted. But they didn't supply that detail, you assumed it. If you simply don't turn off the engines (and they never said the engines would shut off), then the pressure differential can come from thrust. Just...

The fuel to be transferred (CH4 & LOX) are cargo, and I have always assumed that the tanker ship would be a version of Starship where the cargo area was occupied by tanks. That also solves the problem of simply letting "gravity" (acceleration from thrust in this case), cause the levels to...

What I imagined from the description is that the thrust is continuous, and thus the "pressure differential" doesn't need to come from pressurizing the tank. It would just be the thrust providing an artificial gravity: connect the tanks and they'll tend to equalize their levels.

I found this thread while looking info about odd behavior I have seen twice, and perhaps you and I are seeing different aspects of the same thing. I'm in the middle of my 1 month free V12, and I have never used FSD prior to this, so my expectations are all naïve. Yesterday when leaving work I...

I first thought that was one of the stupidest ideas ever. "I wonder how much spaghetti mankind has wasted trying to find things that stick to a wall?". But then the guy mentioned the military aspect of being able to have supplies instantly dropped to somebody, reminding me of the supplies that...

My pride is not boosted by SLS. I think the only thing it serves to demonstrate to other countries is an inability to execute.

I'm assuming the star tracking cameras are all infinity focus, you'd need.... I like your analogy of a GoPro, although a camera drone is a better analogy. What I suggest certainly isn't lunch money, but compared the total cost of each SH/SS test flight? And at some point they will want to...

Do starlink satellites have cameras? Seems to me it would be useful if they could send up one in IFT-4, use it for testing deployment, then instead of raising itself to orbit, just maneuver around the ship and do a high-res external inspection of the entire starship. And if they don't have...

This is the first Twitter reference I've seen that it's just a link. The others on this page still show the full Twitter quote. I MUCH prefer just the link.

Well you point out something I haven't considered: What are the scenarios to recover from? I wonder what NASA's requirements/goals for abort systems look like?

Wouldn't there still be 2 or 3 second delay to startup even if they were chilled and ready to go? I won't be surprised to find out that SpaceX has an awesome answer for this. But right now it looks to me like the startship's abort story resembles the space shuttle's abort story.

I would think that the startup sequence would be the hard part of using the raptors for an abort story. Aren't abort motors usually something that can ignite instantly, and not a few seconds later? How long is the raptor startup sequence? I don't know, but I have been assuming it is multiple...

EA's problem isn't that they're unreliable, it is that they are unreliably unreliable. They work enough to give you a glimmer of hope so that you you might show up, and then they let you down. If they were just completely broken all the time people would learn that, ignore them, and not hate...

I had an update a couple of weeks ago that has caused a large increase in dry wiping. It would have been one in the 2024.2 series. Probably 2024.2.3, although I have installed 2024.2.6 and 2024.2.7 which are just as bad.

Here's the article that I read yesterday: NASA monitoring increased leak in Russian ISS module While the article does say "Joel Montalbano, NASA ISS program manager, said the leak in the Zvezda service module...", it later clarifies that... I think the "PrK" is the small spherical submodule...

Two things went through my head when I read about it this morning Perhaps the Russian micrometeorite shielding isn't as effective as the American? Perhaps this is what the beginning of the Keppler Syndrome looks like?

How much of a panel's rated output will one see over the course of an average day? Whether 300W or 100W, you're not getting that much for 24 hours/day. I'm assuming that the rated power is under ideal conditions: angle is perfect, skies are clear, no pollen/dust/polutants in the air, etc...

It is common in Washington State for cities to plan parks in advance. Think 10+ years. The land where those parks will be is usually privately owned. Parks departments can start buying properties in advance as they come on the market. The idea is that they can avoid the ill will and legal...

Do they really need modified hardware to keep track of the amount of power? And what exactly would that hardware do? One of a charger's main jobs is to adjust the power into the battery on the fly (and it's why we constantly tell people that the box on their garage wall is an EVSE, not a...

With the homesteaders once they got to their plot of land they were isolated: go nuts and they injure themselves or their family, not take out the whole community. ETA: The old/wild west analogy is probably good though in that there will probably be a need for swift harsh justice. Hopefully...

I love Dan Rather's pun when he introduced the news segment: "Scott Pelley has the exclusive on nuts and bolts in space." :) The article also mentioned that a later incident involved a mission specialist who had flown multiple times having a bad reaction to some meds. So there's a concrete...

The thought that keeps going through my head when I read about Sierra's inflatable habitats is "what's taking so long?". I've been hearing about them for a really long time, but it's really just a minor blip every couple of years. So what's taking so long? Are they having a hard time...

Not sure when this started. I noticed it while running 2024.44.30.8. I do not have EAP or FSD, just plain autopilot. When I enable AP while the wipers are off it still changes them to Auto. However, I can then change them back to Off. The change works either via the UI, or via the left...

For those who didn't read the linked article:

TLDR: What is a space tug? Helios sounds like just a third stage. I don't know if there is any accepted definition of a tug, but I would expect that after a tug has moved a satellite from, say, LEO to GEO, that the tug can leave the satellite there, return to LEO, and then move a different...

Thanks for that. I had never heard of Sea Dragon. The wikipedia page has a nice summary, but I'm glad I watched the YT clip first because I wouldn't have realized that's what was meant for the launch. My favorite part of that page is from a caption on one of the drawings:

That's what I do. I normally plug in one a week and charge to 70%. Winter time I try to remember to plug in nightly, and if snow/ice is imminent I'll change the car to 90% instead of 70%. Which reminds me... the worst is over and I need to change it back to 70%.

What NASA involvement is there in SpaceX going to Mars? I thought it was entirely a SpaceX thing, meaning that SpaceX will be picking its own astronauts, training them, and defining its own safety protocols as well. It also remains to be seen what "building" the ISRU plant means. It might be...

I agree with your overall premise that a publicly traded business has a responsibility to not waste shareholder money. However... In Boeing's case, their track record over the past several years (737-Max, SLS, Starliner) shows not an unwillingness to innovate, but an actual inability to...

After my previous post I started thinking and realized I was being dumb. Assuming we can't bury a tank, I suggested we'll cut them up and create something else we would bury. But most likely that thing's shape will also be cylindrical? So...dumb. But I'm having trouble with the pressure...

I have a different mental model for the problem you're solving with modules: I think they'll make different versions of the starships. One for passengers, one for freight, one for NASA & the moon, and a giant Pez dispenser for StarLink. Much like today with large aircraft: you can buy a...

That amount of memory on Voyager seems like a lot. I would've guessed 16k. I thought the first shuttles had 64k before the electronics were overhauled? What surprised me in that statement is that a key fob would have so much. I'm not sure if that's horrible engineering or that transistors are...

I sometimes get that. I think it’s just a UI bug in the app.

He'll want to put it on Mars. But why not Mars? SpaceX will probably have regular shuttles to Mars before NASA does to the moon, and at lower cost. And he needs something to do once there, although he probably already has a bucket list for that. Trying to bring this back to the thread topic...

That sounds neat, but if telescopes pointing south were desirable then why aren't there more of them in Antarctica? I know it's not a convenient environment, but it's warmer/cheaper/closer than the moon. Putting telescopes on the dark side seems like a red-herring, though. Even if it was ok...

So the purpose of the wall is to hold the sign? ;)

It seems obvious to me that it's something along those lines. All CEOs are cheerleaders for their companies. Most CEOs are able to control their mouths. Whether y'all have guessed his specific meaning, I don't doubt that it's intended to make ULA look good to the people that matter to him.

I really meant ANY even though my examples were clearly related to blasting it with raptors. I thought I had been reading all posts about it, but I missed the crusher.