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FR24 shows a Dassault Falcon 900EX doing circles around the expected Starship re-entry location (Perth to Perth flight plan): https://www.flightradar24.com/MXJ

FR24 shows a Dassault Falcon 900EX doing circles around the expected Starship re-entry location (Perth to Perth flight plan): https://www.flightradar24.com/MXJ/345b8f09 https://www.flightradar24.com/MXJ/345b8f09

mikeyouse 3y ago
Not looking good - Returning to Perth now.
grecy 3y ago
From a safety perspective, how does that work? This is obviously a test, and safe to say the vehicle was out of control and not entirely predictable. I realize they wouldn't fly into the actual predicted landing area, but just being close must be a risk. Would the flight crew on that plane literally be scanning the sky above them to make sure they're not in the direct path of whatever comes down at whatever speed?
- terramex 3y ago
  If onboard computer would sense that Ship is going somewhere it should not be it would trigger FTS (Flight Termination System) and destroy it with debris falling into Atlantic Ocean (exclusion zone was there as well). Once Ship finished burn it simply had to land in predicted landing area in Indian Ocean, it did not have enough fuel on board to significantly change trajectory even if computer went crazy.
- BenoitP 3y ago
  I guess some risk analysis can be made with the plane's and Starship's cross-section. Let say they are cubes of 30m each. The expected area where they might both be present to be a 5km square. That's a 0.000025 chance of collision at most; and I suppose the plane is away from the center of the expected Starship Gaussian. I'd personally ride in that plane and risk that, even to just to get a glimpse of the reentry.
  - grecy 3y ago
    that.... makes a lot of sense. Thanks. Somehow I was thinking it was super risky to be in the general area, but your numbers show that is clearly no the case.
mrandish 3y ago
Interesting that there was a flight sent to be in the splashdown area. My guess would have been there's not much engineering/scientific benefit to getting in the neighborhood of the splashdown. Maybe some footage could be gotten just for curiosity but at this early stage of re-entry testing of such a new and different vehicle I suspect the odds of being close enough to acquire decent air-to-air visuals would be pretty low. Maybe the flight was an attempt to get close enough for a stored telemetry downlink post-rentry blackout but pre-splashdown?
deleted 3y ago
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mikeyouse 3y ago

Not looking good - Returning to Perth now.

grecy 3y ago

From a safety perspective, how does that work? This is obviously a test, and safe to say the vehicle was out of control and not entirely predictable. I realize they wouldn't fly into the actual predicted landing area, but just being close must be a risk. Would the flight crew on that plane literally be scanning the sky above them to make sure they're not in the direct path of whatever comes down at whatever speed?

terramex 3y ago
If onboard computer would sense that Ship is going somewhere it should not be it would trigger FTS (Flight Termination System) and destroy it with debris falling into Atlantic Ocean (exclusion zone was there as well). Once Ship finished burn it simply had to land in predicted landing area in Indian Ocean, it did not have enough fuel on board to significantly change trajectory even if computer went crazy.
BenoitP 3y ago
I guess some risk analysis can be made with the plane's and Starship's cross-section. Let say they are cubes of 30m each. The expected area where they might both be present to be a 5km square. That's a 0.000025 chance of collision at most; and I suppose the plane is away from the center of the expected Starship Gaussian. I'd personally ride in that plane and risk that, even to just to get a glimpse of the reentry.
- grecy 3y ago
  that.... makes a lot of sense. Thanks. Somehow I was thinking it was super risky to be in the general area, but your numbers show that is clearly no the case.

mrandish 3y ago

Interesting that there was a flight sent to be in the splashdown area. My guess would have been there's not much engineering/scientific benefit to getting in the neighborhood of the splashdown. Maybe some footage could be gotten just for curiosity but at this early stage of re-entry testing of such a new and different vehicle I suspect the odds of being close enough to acquire decent air-to-air visuals would be pretty low. Maybe the flight was an attempt to get close enough for a stored telemetry downlink post-rentry blackout but pre-splashdown?

deleted 3y ago

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