Elon Musk says Starship is stacked and ready to launch next week, pending regulatory approval. SpaceX says there is a wet rehearsal this coming week and then there will be the need to destack and arm for the real launch.
Booster 7 will land in the Gulf of Mexico and will simulate a chopstick Mechazilla catch.
Starship 24 will land off the coast of Hawaii and will also simulate a chopstick Mechazilla catch.
Starship fully stacked at Starbase. Team is working towards a launch rehearsal next week followed by Starship’s first integrated flight test ~week later pending regulatory approval pic.twitter.com/9VbJLppswp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 6, 2023
Starship is stacked & ready to launch next week, pending regulatory approval https://t.co/fLHTjwOMOT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 6, 2023
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But I thought they already had launch approval for about a dozen orbital attempts per year? But apparently the need a launch approval for for each individual launch as well. Layers and layers of bureaucracy.
“pending regulatory approval.”
So, actually several weeks from now, as the order to slow walk all of Musk’s regulatory approvals is still in place.
Meanwhile we are on the brink of AGI and no regulations in slight whatsoever…
There are two options:
1. Less bureaucracy, less approvals.
Result: Probably multiple completed orbital launches and perhaps even cis lunar one,….
2. The usual paperwork, tons of approvals.
Result: We are still waiting for first orbital launch and it can be delayed by bureaucrat.
Too much paperwork damages progress A LOT.
Another regulatory approval?
Hope we won’t need to wait another few months.
What does “simulate a chopstick Mechazilla catch” mean? They are both falling into the water, correct?
I’m pretty sure they mean exactly what the words imply. They will attempt to fly Starship 24 and Booster 7 on the same landing profiles they would if they were going to use Mechazilla to “catch” them. They will pretend that there is a Mechazilla out there in the middle of the ocean, descend towards it and come to a hover as they approach it.
Much like with early F9 landing tests, the booster will go through the exact landing sequence on the ocean that it would if it was doing it next to the tower with mechazilla arms. F9 did a full landing sequence as though it was over a pad rather than water. It deployed its legs and tried to get to zero velocity as its pads touched the ocean surface. SpaceX will be able to see how well it did relative to a virtual tower.
SpaceX can learn about as much as an actual capture attempt without risking damage to the pad.
oh ok got it, great, thanks!
SpaceX decided pretty early in the process that they didn’t want to go through all the difficulty of developing legs and making them work for both stages just to be able to do early testing without risking the pad infrastructure. They likely decided this kind of water landing on a virtual tower would tell them what they needed.