After the March launch there was someone on here claiming Tower B would be finished by the end of May. When I asked if he meant *next* May he agreed the plumbing might not be finished until June or July but he definitely meant this year. There's optimism and then there's being unrealistic.
The tower itself won't take a year; they already have all the segments built and either in Texas or on their way there. More like 3 or 4 months. Remember how fast the Starship tower went up at LC-39A?
That said, Starship test 5 is likely to be sooner than that.
7 flights THIS year, we are already half way through the year. They would in the next 6 months need to build a tower at minimum functioning as a catcher and then do 3 more test flights before the end of the year. Even in Elon Time that’s ambitious. My guess is they want to keep doing flights every couple months and there’s zero chance a catch tower is ready before next flight, I don’t think they would delay significantly just to do a catch.
There’s also the huge hurdle of getting FAA approval. Elon can say all day long they are going to catch the next booster, but without approval it’s just Elon saying stuff on Twitter.
Probably won't take a year, but I don't think they want to wait long enough to build a tower.
I mean it was < 3 months between IFT-3 and IFT-4. Do they want to spend longer before IFT-5? Probably not.
One of the most useful things about catching a booster will be inspecting a used booster in depth.
SpaceX collects a lot of data while in flight, but checking the booster in person, particularly any rocket engines that failed, would provide a lot of additional data.
It's a couple hundred tons of stainless steel, designed to stay vertical and to be pressurized before taking any external loads, which in the best case is now structurally damaged, floating on its side, and taking on water, while carrying high explosive flight termination charges and pressure vessels that may still contain hazardous amounts of pressure. Recovery would involve specialized equipment and labor which would have to be scheduled well ahead of time, and there's no guarantees that the booster would even land intact.
One of the old SN tests did something like that. I think it exploded out the base, hopped into the air, landed with enough force to pop the top in a second eruption.
He confirmed he *thinks* they should try for a tower catch, prior to reviewing and data from IFT-4 or getting any buy in from the team. That's very different than confirming they will do it.
I don't think so, they'll surely build tower 2 with updates, improvements and maybe already high enough for the next starship versions.
They may be willing to "waste" tower one but not the new one, it makes more sense.
It's also possible there is the need to use the deluge system, maybe with low pressure to cool things down.
They won’t land over the launch mount, so why would they use the deluge system for booster landing? I can see them having a separate rain bird or controllable water cannon for the landing, but the deluge won’t help much.
Other than the video renderings, are there any statements from spaceX that they won't land over the OLM?
I may be wrong but I have never seen the chopstick testing the catch on the side. Even the timed simulation during IFT4 showed the chopsticks closing over the OLM while the booster was hovering on the ocean.
Yes, I believe they mentioned it many years ago when they first proposed to use the Chopsticks. They didn’t say a lot about it since it was still a ways off.
I think such things are coming, especially a light version specifically designed for the Starship...it would allow for one Starship to be retrieved while another is being stacked, and would be a prototype for a landing system that could be deployed in the field on Mars. It's not an immediate need though.
Next flight text should be about 2 or 3 months away. They won't have finished the new tower before then, even with all the safety corner cutting they're doing.
Considering they have no attached hardware above ground level, how far away do you speculate that IFT-5 will be?
After the March launch there was someone on here claiming Tower B would be finished by the end of May. When I asked if he meant *next* May he agreed the plumbing might not be finished until June or July but he definitely meant this year. There's optimism and then there's being unrealistic.
SpaceX builds towers fast but not that fast.
Tower 2 *might* be around for the first v2 flight...
Nonsense. They were clear that there would be ~7 flights this year and the tower is a year away. No way they’re sitting around waiting that long
The tower itself won't take a year; they already have all the segments built and either in Texas or on their way there. More like 3 or 4 months. Remember how fast the Starship tower went up at LC-39A? That said, Starship test 5 is likely to be sooner than that.
7 flights THIS year, we are already half way through the year. They would in the next 6 months need to build a tower at minimum functioning as a catcher and then do 3 more test flights before the end of the year. Even in Elon Time that’s ambitious. My guess is they want to keep doing flights every couple months and there’s zero chance a catch tower is ready before next flight, I don’t think they would delay significantly just to do a catch. There’s also the huge hurdle of getting FAA approval. Elon can say all day long they are going to catch the next booster, but without approval it’s just Elon saying stuff on Twitter.
Probably won't take a year, but I don't think they want to wait long enough to build a tower. I mean it was < 3 months between IFT-3 and IFT-4. Do they want to spend longer before IFT-5? Probably not.
One of the most useful things about catching a booster will be inspecting a used booster in depth. SpaceX collects a lot of data while in flight, but checking the booster in person, particularly any rocket engines that failed, would provide a lot of additional data.
I’m really surprised SpaceX didn’t hire some barges or repurpose a recovery ship to drag the booster out and back to Port of Brownsville
It's a couple hundred tons of stainless steel, designed to stay vertical and to be pressurized before taking any external loads, which in the best case is now structurally damaged, floating on its side, and taking on water, while carrying high explosive flight termination charges and pressure vessels that may still contain hazardous amounts of pressure. Recovery would involve specialized equipment and labor which would have to be scheduled well ahead of time, and there's no guarantees that the booster would even land intact.
A well reasoned argument to leave it the fk alone.
Considering the camera cut out when it fell over, I wouldn't be too surprised if it exploded when the top hit the water.
One of the old SN tests did something like that. I think it exploded out the base, hopped into the air, landed with enough force to pop the top in a second eruption.
Didn't that one kind of successfully land (hard), but was on fire for a couple of minutes before the bottom blew out?
Honestly, I know Elon is pushing for a catch. But I would be less surprised if they go for another virtual over trying to have tower two ready.
He has confirmed on Twitter they will try to catch it on the next flight. But most likely on the first tower.
That doesn't mean it's 100% going to happen.
He confirmed he *thinks* they should try for a tower catch, prior to reviewing and data from IFT-4 or getting any buy in from the team. That's very different than confirming they will do it.
Two seperate tweets about a day apart, first one was “thinks”, latest one he said “will”.
Ah, had not seen the second tweet, cool
I don't think so, they'll surely build tower 2 with updates, improvements and maybe already high enough for the next starship versions. They may be willing to "waste" tower one but not the new one, it makes more sense. It's also possible there is the need to use the deluge system, maybe with low pressure to cool things down.
They won’t land over the launch mount, so why would they use the deluge system for booster landing? I can see them having a separate rain bird or controllable water cannon for the landing, but the deluge won’t help much.
Other than the video renderings, are there any statements from spaceX that they won't land over the OLM? I may be wrong but I have never seen the chopstick testing the catch on the side. Even the timed simulation during IFT4 showed the chopsticks closing over the OLM while the booster was hovering on the ocean.
Yes, I believe they mentioned it many years ago when they first proposed to use the Chopsticks. They didn’t say a lot about it since it was still a ways off.
That speculation aside, a dedicated landing tower might not necesarily be a stupid idea.
While I agree, it appears that SpaceX wants to be able to put the booster back down on the OLM, fuel it, and launch a second time.
I think such things are coming, especially a light version specifically designed for the Starship...it would allow for one Starship to be retrieved while another is being stacked, and would be a prototype for a landing system that could be deployed in the field on Mars. It's not an immediate need though.
Next flight text should be about 2 or 3 months away. They won't have finished the new tower before then, even with all the safety corner cutting they're doing.