Comments on: SpaceX launches another 49 Starlink satellites

By: Questioner

Questioner — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 22:07:46 +0000

“Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Causing More Streaks to Appear in Space Images”

“Photo-bombing Starlink satellites are increasingly complicating ground-based observations”

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-s-starlink-is-causing-more-streaks-to-appear-1848385218

By: geoffc

geoffc — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 19:04:14 +0000

Alas, they still need to make a lot of second stages, but they are smaller and simpler than first stages. But a much smaller cost than a full booster that is discarded.

Consider… They launched 32 times last year, so while they introduced only 1 or 2 new first stages, they built 32 second stages!

And this year is looking like more! So the factory is not idle at all, which is also good for keeping costs manageable. (Building one core every 2 years (cough SLS cough) is a recipe for cost overruns).

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 16:25:36 +0000

In reply to geoffc. Geoffc: Nice graphic. Indicates that SpaceX now has a fleet of 18 reliable boosters, with a number unused but ready to go if needed, and all capable of launching hundreds of times. Essentially, the company no longer needs to spend much getting a Falcon 9 ready for launch, making those launches incredibly cheap when compared to past launch costs.

By: Richard M

Richard M — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 16:01:17 +0000

As Eric Berger noted, this was SpaceX’s eighth rocket launch in 50 days. That’s better than a launch a week.

Pretty amazing cadence.

By: geoffc

geoffc — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:38:38 +0000

Nice infographic of all the flightworthy cores…

https://i.redd.it/2fkiiwfzknc81.png

Packs a lot of data into a small space.

By: geoffc

geoffc — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 13:17:45 +0000

Core 1051 – 11 flights
Core 1049 – 10 flights
Core 1058 – 10 flights
Core 1060 – 10 flights

So yes, 3 at 10, but also one at 11. So 4 at 10 or more flights.

1061 trails at 5 flights, and 1062 at 4 flights.

By: Alton

Alton — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 03:59:55 +0000

Watching their launches in real time NEVER gets old……..
Was there person in Dec 1972 for the last crewed Apollo moon launch.