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"A block of planned upgrades to the Starship upper stage will debut on this flight test, bringing major improvements to reliability and performance. The vehicle’s forward flaps have been reduced in size and shifted towards the vehicle tip and away from the heat shield, significantly reducing their exposure to reentry heating while simplifying the underlying mechanisms and protective tiling" -SpaceX

#space #spacex #starship #ift7#LaunchInformation #bocachica #texas #newspace #launch #rocket

Ship 33: This is the first Block 2/v2 upper stage of Starship, it features various improvements over previous ships. The item to watch is the new forward fins. Many changes are internal and/or software so won't be visible.

Booster 14: A Block 1 booster. Notably, Raptor #314 (Pi engine) from the recovered booster from IFT-5 will be reused on this flight.

#space #spacex #starship #ift7#LaunchInformation #bocachica #texas #newspace #launch #rocket

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Ship 33 will also be used to test the deployment of 10 payload dummies. These are similar weights and sizes to the upcoming next generation Starlink sats.

#space #spacex #starship #ift7#LaunchInformation #bocachica #texas #newspace #launch #rocket

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Some good coverage that doesn't require using X:

[4K] Everyday Astronaut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Px_b5eSzsA

[1080p] Spaceflight Now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCG1T06jlk

[1080p] NSF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhJRzQsLZGg

[1080p] WAI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NupMFUk0Og

[1080p] LapPadre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8Bn5BrZix8

As usual, be aware that "official" streams from SpaceX on YT are fake. SpaceX no longer broadcast to YT directly. Please report them.

#space #spacex #starship #ift7#LaunchInformation #bocachica #texas #newspace #launch #rocket

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🔴 October 8, 2024 #RocketLab will challenge the program to hit a 📆 2028 launch window https://spacenews.com/nasa-awards-rocket-lab-study-contract-for-mars-sample-return

📆 December 2, 2024 #SpaceX would rely on #Starship. Canceling #MSR would open the door for #China 🇨🇳 to become the first nation to return samples from #Marshttps://spacenews.com/foust-forward-who-gets-the-final-word-on-mars-sample-return

#Mars#SampleReturn#NASA #commercial#Neutron

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"#NASA Nearly Bet It All on Boeing’s Troubled #Starliner—Here’s Why That Changed" by @Gizmodo / @RabiePassant - #CommercialCrew contract was almost awarded solely to #Boeing, if not for #SpaceX's willingness to test crew escape system in flight https://gizmodo.com/nasa-nearly-bet-it-all-on-boeings-troubled-starliner-heres-why-that-changed-2000504311 #StarlinerCFT

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The pace of #space launches has reached the point that lots of stuff is always happening. But some things don't go as planned. @LiveScience was able to make a Top 10 list of mishaps in space in 2024. #Starliner figures prominently on the list. But also 3 #Falcon9 groundings, #Starship explosions, and misc probes and rovers. https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/10-times-space-missions-went-very-wrong-in-2024#NewSpace#NASA#SpaceX#Boeing
They're gonna get people killed and in so doing also poison the public's view of #SpaceExploration, all because they cannot be bothered to buy an mf-ing generator or something that a f-ing 8th grader could sort out. This recklessness is bad and so typical of the apartheid space douche and his cascading bad ideas. All he does is accumulate money for himself and hurt others.

#Musk is a hazard to all living things, and some non-living things.

https://gizmodo.com/spacex-reportedly-lost-communication-with-private-astronaut-mission-before-historic-spacewalk-2000540517

🧵 2/3

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Footnotes:

₁ three points-safe - at least three independent components or safety features must fail simultaneously for major disaster happen.

₂ failover - NIST defines as the process of automatically switching to a backup system when the primary system fails. The goal of failover is to minimize or eliminate the impact on users and keep critical systems running.

🧵 3/3 end

#spaceX #space #safety#3PointsSafe#ThreePointsSafe #failover#GroundControl #musk #elon#ElonMusk #disaster #aerospace

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"...a power outage at #SpaceX’s California facility caused a loss of #GroundControl, meaning that the mission control team was briefly unable to command the #spacecraft."

Single outage brought GROUND CONTROL down?! On the ground where power grids & diesel generators at a nearby home improvement store are! Have they never heard of battery backups and generators?! They have no idea what 3 points-safe₁ means, nor failover₂, and have no business trying to send so much as a spatula to #space.

🧵 1/3

Launch costs have fallen 95% 📉 (with another massive reduction expected in the coming years) thanks to reuse, improved engineering, and increased volumes.
“In economics, we assume that resources are limited; land is limited; natural resources are limited. With #space 🌌, it allows us to change that.” https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/03/were-in-a-new-era-the-21st-century-space-race-takes-off

#LaunchCost#SpaceMining

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📊 #ESA 🇪🇺 and its member states forked over $4.4B 💰💰💰💰 to develop #Ariane6. Customer launches are unlikely to pay back development costs any time soon.

#SpaceX has invested over $5B 💰💰💰💰💰 in #Starship 🚀 R&D to date. Starship has proven its expendable capability, and the company is focusing on achieving full #reusability ♻️.

#NASA spent a dizzying $24B 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 developing #SLS
https://payloadspace.com/rocket-development-costs-by-vehicle-payload-research

#DevelopmentCost#LaunchCost