5 ms·

I suspect if test flight 3 makes orbit then flight 5 will be delivering starlink satellites and then testing on the way back down. If I remember correctly, a s

I suspect if test flight 3 makes orbit then flight 5 will be delivering starlink satellites and then testing on the way back down. If I remember correctly, a starship can deliver 440+ starlink satellites compared to around 60 for falcon 9.

dotnet00 3y ago
Probably why they're hoping to get permission for 9 launches this year. Even if they throw away the entire stack, it probably costs less than the equivalent number of F9 launches.
- mjevans 3y ago
  I strongly suspect they'll achieve at least partial re-usability if not full by 9 launches. If not SpaceX will at least have a very clear understanding of the engineering problem by that point. I'm most worried about the final landing which I would not want to be anywhere close to until they've had a solid string of successes without any issues.
  - dotnet00 3y ago
    I'm not sold on them achieving partial reusability in practice in 9 launches (assuming that the 9 launches happen mainly this year as they have requested). I think they'll have achieved it in theory (ie demonstrated a hover landing of the booster over water), but they've only just started to build out the second tower that'll be needed to actually test reusability without risking the entire launch infrastructure. Between the construction pauses during testing/launch, and things they can't really speed up like concrete hardening times, I don't think they'll be able to both have 9 flights AND operationalize the second tower this year.
    - mjevans 3y ago
      Yes, we solidly agree on the risks associated with an as yet, as far as I know offhand, completely new landing system... Two really strong metal toothpicks.
brandonagr2 3y ago
Current falcon 9 launches can lift 22-24 starlink v2 mini satellites
Casteil 3y ago
Starlink V2 sats are bigger, so they definitely won't be sending 400+ up at a time with Starship - probably more like 100-200.. but I don't think they've had any official updates/figures on this in a while.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  They just confirmed that 24 V2 minis are 17.5 tons. So ~200 v2 minis would be 150 tons. But v2's are probably bigger than v2 mini's...
  - ianburrell 3y ago
    The V2 are 1.25 ton according to Wikipedia. Which means 150 tons would be 100-120.
Geisterde 3y ago
Well Elon did say the "lack of load" that played a part in the last ships crash wont be a problem.

dotnet00 3y ago

Probably why they're hoping to get permission for 9 launches this year. Even if they throw away the entire stack, it probably costs less than the equivalent number of F9 launches.

mjevans 3y ago
I strongly suspect they'll achieve at least partial re-usability if not full by 9 launches. If not SpaceX will at least have a very clear understanding of the engineering problem by that point. I'm most worried about the final landing which I would not want to be anywhere close to until they've had a solid string of successes without any issues.
- dotnet00 3y ago
  I'm not sold on them achieving partial reusability in practice in 9 launches (assuming that the 9 launches happen mainly this year as they have requested). I think they'll have achieved it in theory (ie demonstrated a hover landing of the booster over water), but they've only just started to build out the second tower that'll be needed to actually test reusability without risking the entire launch infrastructure. Between the construction pauses during testing/launch, and things they can't really speed up like concrete hardening times, I don't think they'll be able to both have 9 flights AND operationalize the second tower this year.
  - mjevans 3y ago
    Yes, we solidly agree on the risks associated with an as yet, as far as I know offhand, completely new landing system... Two really strong metal toothpicks.

brandonagr2 3y ago

Current falcon 9 launches can lift 22-24 starlink v2 mini satellites

Casteil 3y ago

Starlink V2 sats are bigger, so they definitely won't be sending 400+ up at a time with Starship - probably more like 100-200.. but I don't think they've had any official updates/figures on this in a while.

bryanlarsen 3y ago
They just confirmed that 24 V2 minis are 17.5 tons. So ~200 v2 minis would be 150 tons. But v2's are probably bigger than v2 mini's...
- ianburrell 3y ago
  The V2 are 1.25 ton according to Wikipedia. Which means 150 tons would be 100-120.

Geisterde 3y ago

Well Elon did say the "lack of load" that played a part in the last ships crash wont be a problem.