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Keep in mind that Starship has never made it to orbit.
by 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y ago
Keep in mind that Starship has never made it to orbit.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- perihelions 2y agoYes, but it *launched* four times, and the launch tower verifiably works, and it didn't take a decade to build. That's the subject of this question, isn't it? The $2.7 billion NASA wants to spend on a steel-frame launch tower.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoIn that case there is no SpaceX equivalent. Is SpaceX's tower used for transporting stacked human-rated rockets from hangar to pad?
- Diederich 2y agoThis is very technically correct but also misleading. In the last test flight, Starship reached a velocity of 7.3km/s. Orbital velocity is 7.8km/s. Why didn't they make it to 7.8km/s? Because they choose not to. Starship had the fuel, control and capability to burn a few more seconds for another 500m/s. It also (barely) survived re-entry and achieved a fully controlled, powered, soft splashdown.
- robryan 2y agoBecause the mission profile has been intentionally sub orbital to avoid any possibility of uncontrolled reentry. There would be minimal change in the burn for the last 2 flights to place it in orbit.