- #1
- 37,126
- 13,968
Starlink launch in 20.5 hours, live coverage here. 80% chance that the weather will be good, backup launch date is the following day. The deployment of the satellites could be very interesting.A lot of new information about Starship:
They are building two of them - one in Texas (that one was known) and one in Florida. Confirmation from Musk. They are built by two independent teams competing - but also sharing things they learned with the other team. The landing legs/wings might be installed end of June.
New Starhopper flights are https://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/county-approves-another-round-of-spacex-road-closures/article_52b32cee-7682-11e9-b13b-cb22079e283c.html, although these could still be single-engine hops.
They are working on the fifth Raptor engine - that is enough for larger hops of Starhopper later (it needs three, but 1-2 engines are earlier prototypes that won't fly). The plan is to have about 100 engines early next year. That would be sufficient for Starhopper, both orbital Starship prototypes, two "Super Heavy" boosters and ~15 spares. Will they actually assemble two sets so quickly? We'll see. It looks like they aim at orbital flights in 2020.
SpaceX plans to give a presentation about the project status June 20. By that time we should have seen more Starhopper hops and the outer shell of an orbital Starship prototype should be in an advanced stage. It is two days before the next (third) Falcon Heavy flight, launching various payloads for the US Air Force.
They are building two of them - one in Texas (that one was known) and one in Florida. Confirmation from Musk. They are built by two independent teams competing - but also sharing things they learned with the other team. The landing legs/wings might be installed end of June.
New Starhopper flights are https://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/county-approves-another-round-of-spacex-road-closures/article_52b32cee-7682-11e9-b13b-cb22079e283c.html, although these could still be single-engine hops.
They are working on the fifth Raptor engine - that is enough for larger hops of Starhopper later (it needs three, but 1-2 engines are earlier prototypes that won't fly). The plan is to have about 100 engines early next year. That would be sufficient for Starhopper, both orbital Starship prototypes, two "Super Heavy" boosters and ~15 spares. Will they actually assemble two sets so quickly? We'll see. It looks like they aim at orbital flights in 2020.
SpaceX plans to give a presentation about the project status June 20. By that time we should have seen more Starhopper hops and the outer shell of an orbital Starship prototype should be in an advanced stage. It is two days before the next (third) Falcon Heavy flight, launching various payloads for the US Air Force.