Starbase

that helps explain all the dump trucks of rock and truckloads of pre-cast bridge sections hauling ass up and down the road

Somewhat older video.



Near the end it's mentioned that there might be a thousand launches a year at Canaveral in 50 years.

The current rate of launches is incredible. A thousand launches with SpaceX, Relativity, BO and who knows who else launching medium to heavy lift vehicles? Multiple times a day practically every day depending on the weather and perhaps technical issues?

Might be enough to build a moonbase. Certainly would be a whole lot o tonnage parked in 🌎 orbit.

This starts to get my transportation-engineer attention.  (I'd believe 1,000/yr from Canaveral but in fact I'd be disappointed if that was the only place launching like that (or just replacing most with a space elevator))

Short term, is someone working on a new rail line/highways/container port to Canaveral to support the freight.  Pipeline for consumables, what's the limit there?  At some point the terrestrial freight connection requirements will mean that less-optimal launch sites make sense even with the performance hit (which Starship ca.2040 can presumably compensate for by being awesome)

Clearly we have other launch sites on the planet. But at the moment most of the traffic is out of Canaveral and various Chinese sites. Seeing the trucks going in and out of Starbase every day on those miserable roads and Peter Beck's statement that Neutron will probably never launch out of NZ because all the LOX in NZ produced in a day would only fill a Neutrons tanks to half really got me thinking about launch infrastructure in general.

Its funny but it's always been a major part of the process. The more we do this stuff the more we will have to deal with the fact that building a rocket is only part of a larger picture.

Over the long term we are definitely going to have to build space elevators or a launch loop or something to make it easier to get to orbit. But we probably aren't going to attempt something like that seriously for a century.

Until then I expect SpaceX can make the logistics work with their existing sites and maybe a few others. It will be interesting to see what Rocket Lab does with Wallops and what RFA is putting together in Scotland.

Maybe some operation will move into Kodiak Island someday? Launching large orbital rockets out of there sounds like easy logistics.

I don't have a non=paywalled link but this was on Sunday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/opinion/elon-musk-spacex-brownsville-texas.html

For @nytopinion, I tried to reflect on Elon Musk, Brownsville, Austin, and a decade living with the billionaire class: https://t.co/2JobtHxU5L

— Christopher Hooks (@cd_hooks) May 24, 2024

Before some tard complains about the NYT paywall:  https://archive.ph/kEKi2

Thanks, I was remembering archive.org which wasn't right.

Summary of article:  Wah

If we aren't dropping expendable stages back to Earth, there's no particular reason that Starship (et al) couldn't launch from the interior of the Continent(s), regardless of what's downrange.  We launch planes over dense urban areas, every day.  So long as the vehicle has a high reliability (i.e. doesn't arc back into the ground a few dozen miles downrange due to a RUD/malfunction).....launch 'em from Nevada.

I almost stopped at trump, almost stopped at "mostly other people's money, but I stopped at 25 miles away after the article claimed the previous rockets blew up over the man's city.


I'd listen to a guy bitch about vibrations 5 miles away, but 25... Noone cares.

The closed the road to the rocket garden? that was THE coolest spot.

Something tells me 85% are interchangeable and not serialized like the shuttle.

Economics is still a reason.  You need velocity to reach orbit, the higher the orbit, the higher the velocity is needed.  The closer you launch from the equator, the more free velocity you get.  Net result - it is why Musk chose the southern most tip of Texas - abet I think it is still a bit north of the cape.

Thanks for summarizing.  I figured  from the title/source that it was a hit piece, but was tempted to read it anyway.  Now I won't.

Boca Chica Launch Pad is quite a bit South of KSC LC39A and B.

Same. The pontificating and superiority was more than I could push through.

Envy is an ugly look.

Lol what a whiner.

I wonder (having no idea, at all) what the actual mass penalty (in terms of kg to LEO) would be incurred from launching to an equatorial orbit from Nevada (or West Texas, etc)....

That is not going to happen.  Boca Chica may be ok to test the rocket and eventually launch payloads to geosynchronous orbit but the reachable orbital planes (inclination) from Boca Chica is too restricted.  No Starlink orbits.  Nothing to the ISS.  No polar orbits.

Thus Canaveral and Vandenberg and possibly offshore launch platforms and in my craziest fever dreams, Wallops, Mahia and Kourou.

Hell, Falcon 9 is so trusted it can do polar launches out of Canaveral.

The booster will be nearly empty of propellant by the time it reaches the tower, so if it RUDs, it may be less destructive than the actual launch was.

Approximate latitude of Boca Chica Orbital Launch Pad: 25* 59' 46.3"

Approximate latitude of KSC LC 39A: 28* 36' 30.8"

One degree of latitude is approximately 69 miles, with one minute of latitude being about 1.15 miles, so the Boca Chica Launch Pad is around 180 miles farther south than 39A.

The Eagleford Play is a huge source of natural gas (methane), and a good part of that is connected via pipelines to Brownsville.  Sure they could manufacture their own, but I suspect it will be hard to beat the cost of something that is almost considered a waste product of oil production from the nearest significant town.  I don't know where their LOX is being generated - but honestly, that just cost power and equipment to make, so location is only important due to the cost of power used.  Lots of wind farms in S. Texas...

While Boca Chica might be a pain in the butt for many reasons - it has a good location for launch and probably an available cheap source of fuel.  While we are at it, it also has a nearby port - so shipping in raw materials is probably not all that bad either.  If I had to guess,  Brownsville probably also has decent access by rail (not that they are using rail for shipping probably - my wag is shipping is mostly ship or truck).
---
Sorry I was confused with latitude.  Florida extends further south than Texas, but Cape Canaveral is not on the tip of Florida.

Roughly east of Orlando.

Ideally, they would pipe methane to Boca Chica and set up a cryogenic plant on site to manufacture fuel. Another cryo plant to produce O2, N2, and any other available gasses needed for operation. They have power to the site now, but methane can also produce electricity.

Only for test flights. Booster need a little help.

This definitely increases the chance of a flight next week,  FAA statement provided to NASASpaceflight:

Attached File

Methane can be produced electrically - and Musk will do it to test before trying to do it on Mars.  But economically, it would be cheaper to just get it from Brownsville.

"Ms. Hinojosa’s core complaint was that her native city didn’t feel like it belonged to her anymore, and that it felt as though public officials were changing the city to become a center for space tourism"


LOL

It doesn't belong to you and never did.  Only the part with your name on the deed belongs to you, cunt.

In a post last night on X, Musk hinted at another interview with Everyday Astronaut coming next week.

ETA:

I’m very excited to do another Starbase tour with Elon before flight 4! A lot has changed in the last two years and there’s a lot of technical challenges that SpaceX is continuing to solve with the Starship program. https://t.co/SxQxewSzic

Everyday Astronaut  (@Erdayastronaut) May 30, 2024

Road to Mars - Episode 2 (SpaceX Starship Slow-mo at 2400fps, Incredible Sound, NASA VAB)

FTS being armed
Attached File

installed, not armed

Still, very groovy.

After all. You don't want to leave however many pounds of explosives that is sitting on a beach in Texas for too long.

I just finished this. Incredible footage.

According to The Everyday Astronaut the Dear Moon project has been cancelled.

Not terribly shocking considering Starship is a long way from flying humans, but still.

Dear moon being cancelled is actually a big deal.

I don’t think Spacex needed the money at all but it’s no doubt a bad lock.

The hater patrol will get some ammo from this.

Not really.

And just like that, the dreams of my crew are over.

I have such mixed emotions about dearMoon’s cancellation. Of course I’m extremely disappointed, having dreamt about this mission since I first heard about it in 2018 and even more for the last 3 years since the selection… https://t.co/ROC6JgFHGa

Everyday Astronaut  (@Erdayastronaut) June 1, 2024

And just like that, the dreams of my crew are over.

I have such mixed emotions about dearMoon’s cancellation. Of course I’m extremely disappointed, having dreamt about this mission since I first heard about it in 2018 and even more for the last 3 years since the selection process started. I slowly allowed myself to envision a trip to the Moon one little bit by little bit. On the other hand, I have guilt about being upset about a gift that was retracted. A part of me doesn’t feel I’m entitled to grieve since I wasn’t entitled to this mission in the first place. But the reality is, I’ll need to allow myself to grieve this loss as it became a big part of my life, my dreams, and my visions.

Going to space has never been a thing I’ve actively pursued in general. It’s not a goal of Everyday Astronaut. It was simply a cherry on top. Granted, a HUGE cherry, but I’ll be just fine without this mission. I’m extremely fortunate to have the life and the career I have and this mission’s cancellation changes none of that. In fact, I’ve gained new friends, had new adventures and learned more about myself in the last three years because of dearMoon. Unfortunately, I can’t speak for everyone on the crew who all have different emotions, consequences and realities of this cancellation. For those who this affects the most, my heart goes out to them.

The one thing I have a hard time reconciling is the timeline. Had I known this could have ended within a year and a half of it being publicly announced, I would’ve never agreed to it. We had no prior knowledge of this possibility. I voiced my opinions, even before the announcement, that it was improbable for dearMoon to happen in the next few years.

I still firmly believe that, within my lifetime, we will see missions like this happen, and while I will never be the first to do such a mission, it brings me great joy to know the future is bright and exciting. And I’m proud to be able to continue to cheer those on who will do these exciting firsts! I’ll still be here to help explain rocket science to anyone who will listen to me babble on about spaceflight.

In 2018 I started looking at the Moon and imagining artists going around it, then as the selection process narrowed, I allowed myself to imagine going around it. But unfortunately now every time I look at the Moon, it’s a painful reminder of dreams lost. But I will continue on as I always have, one giddy rocket nerd who’s here to witness history, absorb as much knowledge as I can, and break down what I learn for my fellow everyday person.

I love you all, thank you for the ongoing support and encouragement at this time.

Attached File


Attached File



Space programs are a constant evolution, talk about getting.overly attached.

The timeline was and is unrealistic.

It will be 7-10 years at the current rate of development before crewed missions happen.

He was told he was going to the moon.

That's been in the cards since people noticed that Elon had stopped following Maezawa on Twitter....and possibly Maezawa got kinda spooked by the sexy-gory IFT-1/2/3 RUDs.  The expedition was certainly not gonna happen in the next couple of years (and Maezawa kinda obliquely suggests that he was promised a hard "NLT Q4 2023", back when this started).  'Course, the economy ain't the same, and who knows if Maezawa has decided that he's got less spending money that he had in 2018.

Flight 4 of Starship is now targeted to launch as early as June 6, pending regulatory approvalhttps://t.co/XjreI7nQOp pic.twitter.com/Pgg0IqlP24

SpaceX  (@SpaceX) June 1, 2024