16 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

The BFR will have Raptors, but the Merlins on the Heavy are impressive. So, I can't say "word not allowed?" but I can say Dick Cavett? 

 

When I was a moderator on another forum. I found that the forum naughty word filter was changing cockpit to "male chicken pit". 😁

18 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

As I type this I can see goats out the window. A group is outside of the fence (of course) and huddled around something. I can also hear the cock crow--we have two bantams and a surprise Polish we thought was a hen. Very peaceful on our little farm.

 

Yes... but I bet you can't see DOLPHINS can you? No sir! Well when I nip across to a nearby island they frolic in the ferries bow wave. So take that goat man. [Insert farting noise here] 😆 

Edited December 4, 20205 yr by martin-w

One of my fondest memories is of a cruise on USS Mobile Bay—just a training jaunt in the Caribbean (no, no liberty ports)—and early in the morning seeing dolphins sporting in the bow wave. It would sound silly to try to describe what I felt. If I did see a dolphin out my window, well, my wife has had horses, goats, chickens and llamas, so I would shrug and wonder what she’s feeding them.

In non-dolphin news, Space X launch postponed until December 7th, awaiting new TFR. Now it’s 12.5 km instead of 15, or the original 20. And we think these engines are impressive. These are just for atmospheric tests. The vacuum engines for use in space and on Mars are roughly twice as big!

Musk must be reasonably confident since he’s still building this model at a fast clip. But the plan is not to relight the engines on Mars until 300 meters AGL! Yes, lower gravity, but much thinner atmosphere for that suicide dive braking. I don’t think that’s the way it’s going to be, but I guess we’ll know more... whenever. It’s just possible December 7th will go down in history as the day we took our first step toward Mars.

15 hours ago, martin-w said:

It was actually Elon's Roadster

I wonder what all this is doing for Tesla sales? Honestly, I never really gave them much thought until I saw Elon’s car in space. This may be the biggest PR campaign in history,

24 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

One of my fondest memories is of a cruise on USS Mobile Bay—just a training jaunt in the Caribbean (no, no liberty ports)—and early in the morning seeing dolphins sporting in the bow wave. 

 

These guys are bottle nose dolphins. The ferry between St Peter Port and Herm (30mins trip) or Sark (45 mins) often slows to a crawl when they see them. They head in the direction of the pod to encourage them and then back on course with Dolphins having great fun in the bow wave.

The other week on the cargo ferry crossing to Sark (a few passengers allowed) one of the crew we knew, called us onto the deck. After leaning precariously over the side I got a fantastic close up view of the Dolphins along with baby dolphins.

What wonderful creatures they are.

24 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

In non-dolphin news, Space X launch postponed until December 7th, awaiting new TFR. Now it’s 12.5 km instead of 15, or the original 20. And we think these engines are impressive. These are just for atmospheric tests. The vacuum engines for use in space and on Mars are roughly twice as big!

Musk must be reasonably confident since he’s still building this model at a fast clip. But the plan is not to relight the engines on Mars until 300 meters AGL! Yes, lower gravity, but much thinner atmosphere for that suicide dive braking. 

 

I gather they have SN9 pretty much ready to go too. A few minor changes over SN8, wiring that sort of thing.

300 metres, whats that? Just under a thousand feet? Pretty low for what must be high velocity. Must say I'm a bit worried about this approach.

12 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Dolphins having great fun in the bow wave

I’ve always wondered what they’re feeling when they do that. They do seem joyful.

7 minutes ago, martin-w said:

300 metres, whats that? Just under a thousand feet?

To put that in perspective, that’s the pattern altitude (accounting for airport elevation) of my little home airport, KMDH. Plummeting that low at 68 meters per second (that’s earth; it would be a lot higher on Mars) before lighting your engines up is terrifying to contemplate.

2 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

To put that in perspective, that’s the pattern altitude (accounting for airport elevation) of my little home airport, KMDH. Plummeting that low at 68 meters per second (that’s earth; it would be a lot higher on Mars) before lighting your engines up is terrifying to contemplate.

 

1000 Km/hour terminal velocity on Mars. Yikes! A mere 200 Km/hour hear on Earth. 😧

Actually acceleration is lower on Mars, less mass. 9.78 metres per second, per second is the acceleration on planet Earth. At the equator. Acceleration on Mars is 38% less than on Earth. 

Edited December 4, 20205 yr by martin-w

TFR issued for 6th-8th, but first road closure is on the 7th. If it's going to happen, it looks like the 7th. Wx looks good, but maybe a little windy. Not sure what winds they will launch in. Going to be a long weekend.

Okay, Space Fans, given TFRs and road closures, it is looking like we might get a MONDAY December 6th launch of the Starship 20, erm, 15, no, I mean 12.5 km high test. That's TOMORROW as of this post. P.S. did you know X-Plane has come out with a Starship Simulator for iPad? Have not yet checked out the details, but it looks pretty cool.

Any idea why the lower altitude Tim? I'm thinking perhaps to keep it in thicker atmosphere, lower velocity, less aerodynamic pressure. 

Edited December 5, 20205 yr by martin-w

8 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Any idea why the lower altitude Tim? I'm thinking perhaps to keep it in thicker atmosphere, lower velocity, less aerodynamic pressure.

I guess 2.5 kilometers keeps it in slightly thicker atmosphere to test the belly flop, but would it really make that much of a difference? Maybe they re-did the math and decided that was the difference between an out-of-control Starship NOT cratering in some backyard in Texas. Anyway, I can't wait until tomorrow--to be disappointed by another delay. TFR and road closures are good for the following day... I know Elon has said he's going to make the video available "warts and all" no matter what, but I can't say if this is going to be live-streamed, other than whatever happens on the launch pad by LabPadre and other YouTube live streamers. There's a lot of enthusiasts following this, so I think we'll have some sort of real-time coverage by someone. Elon is really "laying a mattress," as we used to say among trial lawyers, (A Chicago thing, as far as I know; at least that's where I picked it up in a brief stint as a prosecutor with the AG's office. Defense counsel don't use it, because they're expected to lose.) In other words, he's managing expectations by predicting spectacular failure.

Okay. FOR SURE NOW. December 8th. Yep. Carved in stone. Absolutely ZERO possibility of delay. I'll be glued to the live feed all day. Yessiree.