5 ms·

unfortunately they had to scrap the booster Catch, due to undisclosed factors.

by marviel 2y ago

mwambua 2y ago
The explosion when it landed in the ocean was pretty epic though!
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
Ancalagon 2y ago
did they land it on the barge instead?
- pieix 2y ago
  No landing legs on Starship or its booster! Tower catch or bust.
  - Ancalagon 2y ago
    oh duh, thanks
- teractiveodular 2y ago
  No, it was a water splashdown. Looked silky smooth though, they likely could have caught it again had they tried.
  - xnx 2y ago
    Water splashdown did look very smooth. I seemed like they cut the video before it exploded (I assume), but hopefully there's some third-party footage or SpaceX will release it later. Update: Looks like Spaceflight Now has the explosion at https://www.youtube.com/live/dtmvbQDou4I https://www.youtube.com/live/dtmvbQDou4I at about 90 minutes in
    - perihelions 2y ago
      There's a better camera here which shows the aftermath, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDFirLcQDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDFirLcQDM (Everyday Astronaut) Landing is at about T+06:42.
      - maxerickson 2y ago
        Boom is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11180 https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11... This is a bit before that: https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11100 https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11...
- oezi 2y ago
  Water splashdown.
- perihelions 2y ago
  It did a controlled landing on the Gulf of Mexico, exploded, and now it's floating! Hasn't sunk yet; haven't seen any official comments yet about this novel situation.
  - oliwary 2y ago
    If I remember correctly last time this happened they shot missiles at a booster from a jet
    - perihelions 2y ago
      Oh, you're right: this did also happen back in 2018, with a Falcon booster (GovSat-1 launch). I don't think the part about the missiles was accurate though. https://old.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7w4pag/americaspace_article_air_force_strike_takes_out/ https://old.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7w4pag/americaspace... ("Air Force Didn’t Take Out SpaceX’s GovSat Booster, Private Company Did (UPDATED WITH CORRECTION)") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16332582 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16332582 (ibid.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16279316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16279316 ("SpaceX Rocket Survives Experimental High-Thrust Landing at Sea")
- nycdotnet 2y ago
  no barge for super heavy- the point of the catch is to save weight on the massive legs that would be required. It “soft landed” in the Gulf a few miles off shore, meaning they did a burn and it entered the water not in freefall (though it still looked faster than I expected).
ReptileMan 2y ago
The way it gently splashed down in the ocean without hiccup - I think this is promising and that they will get to the chopsticks catching a booster is boring and mundane phase soon. Specialists would say why they aborted.
- cubefox 2y ago
  Well, it made a big fireball. It's only that the official stream cut away before that. You could still hear the SpaceX crowd cheering as they (apparently) got to see it. The fireball was in any case visible in the NSF stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/6yd_cpPP4fE&t=3h31m35s https://www.youtube.com/live/6yd_cpPP4fE&t=3h31m35s Though the upper stage actually didn't explode this time, it only broke apart.
the_king 2y ago
I would love to see the dashboard that the team that made the decision was looking at. I'd be interested to hear speculation by people who know about this as to what they think went wrong. Was it off course? Did the engines not relight in time? Did it not have enough fuel?
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  They announced a no-go while it was still boosting towards space, so it won’t be a relight issue.
  - zamalek 2y ago
    I wonder whether doing a catch without the catcher (rapid scheduled crash landing) would be feasible. Data is data.
    - mulmen 2y ago
      > Data is data. This is one of those cases where technically correct is not the best kind of correct. Not all data is useful. A billion rows of sensor output is data but without a timestamp it’s useless. Maybe you need more or less resolution, or additional dimensions.
      - m4rtink 2y ago
        If the duty cycle is stable enough, you can reconstruct the timestamps in many cases based on the data. ;-)
        mulmen 2y ago
        “If” is doing a lot of work there.
    - CompuHacker 2y ago
      That is what happened. It performs the maneuvers at a primary target site with no catcher, or terrain, or ground-based feedback; the Gulf; switching to an alternate site; the launch tower; if and only if all factors allow for a real catch.

unfortunately they had to scrap the booster Catch, due to undisclosed factors.

mwambua 2y ago

The explosion when it landed in the ocean was pretty epic though!

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

Ancalagon 2y ago

did they land it on the barge instead?

pieix 2y ago
No landing legs on Starship or its booster! Tower catch or bust.
- Ancalagon 2y ago
  oh duh, thanks
teractiveodular 2y ago
No, it was a water splashdown. Looked silky smooth though, they likely could have caught it again had they tried.
- xnx 2y ago
  Water splashdown did look very smooth. I seemed like they cut the video before it exploded (I assume), but hopefully there's some third-party footage or SpaceX will release it later. Update: Looks like Spaceflight Now has the explosion at https://www.youtube.com/live/dtmvbQDou4I https://www.youtube.com/live/dtmvbQDou4I at about 90 minutes in
  - perihelions 2y ago
    There's a better camera here which shows the aftermath, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDFirLcQDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDFirLcQDM (Everyday Astronaut) Landing is at about T+06:42.
    - maxerickson 2y ago
      Boom is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11180 https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11... This is a bit before that: https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11100 https://www.youtube.com/live/DjDFirLcQDM?feature=shared&t=11...
oezi 2y ago
Water splashdown.
perihelions 2y ago
It did a controlled landing on the Gulf of Mexico, exploded, and now it's floating! Hasn't sunk yet; haven't seen any official comments yet about this novel situation.
- oliwary 2y ago
  If I remember correctly last time this happened they shot missiles at a booster from a jet
  - perihelions 2y ago
    Oh, you're right: this did also happen back in 2018, with a Falcon booster (GovSat-1 launch). I don't think the part about the missiles was accurate though. https://old.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7w4pag/americaspace_article_air_force_strike_takes_out/ https://old.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7w4pag/americaspace... ("Air Force Didn’t Take Out SpaceX’s GovSat Booster, Private Company Did (UPDATED WITH CORRECTION)") https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16332582 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16332582 (ibid.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16279316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16279316 ("SpaceX Rocket Survives Experimental High-Thrust Landing at Sea")
nycdotnet 2y ago
no barge for super heavy- the point of the catch is to save weight on the massive legs that would be required. It “soft landed” in the Gulf a few miles off shore, meaning they did a burn and it entered the water not in freefall (though it still looked faster than I expected).

ReptileMan 2y ago

The way it gently splashed down in the ocean without hiccup - I think this is promising and that they will get to the chopsticks catching a booster is boring and mundane phase soon. Specialists would say why they aborted.

cubefox 2y ago
Well, it made a big fireball. It's only that the official stream cut away before that. You could still hear the SpaceX crowd cheering as they (apparently) got to see it. The fireball was in any case visible in the NSF stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/6yd_cpPP4fE&t=3h31m35s https://www.youtube.com/live/6yd_cpPP4fE&t=3h31m35s Though the upper stage actually didn't explode this time, it only broke apart.

the_king 2y ago

I would love to see the dashboard that the team that made the decision was looking at. I'd be interested to hear speculation by people who know about this as to what they think went wrong. Was it off course? Did the engines not relight in time? Did it not have enough fuel?

ceejayoz 2y ago
They announced a no-go while it was still boosting towards space, so it won’t be a relight issue.
- zamalek 2y ago
  I wonder whether doing a catch without the catcher (rapid scheduled crash landing) would be feasible. Data is data.
  - mulmen 2y ago
    > Data is data. This is one of those cases where technically correct is not the best kind of correct. Not all data is useful. A billion rows of sensor output is data but without a timestamp it’s useless. Maybe you need more or less resolution, or additional dimensions.
    - m4rtink 2y ago
      If the duty cycle is stable enough, you can reconstruct the timestamps in many cases based on the data. ;-)
      - mulmen 2y ago
        “If” is doing a lot of work there.
  - CompuHacker 2y ago
    That is what happened. It performs the maneuvers at a primary target site with no catcher, or terrain, or ground-based feedback; the Gulf; switching to an alternate site; the launch tower; if and only if all factors allow for a real catch.