SpaceX recovers floating Starship from test flight 13
SpaceX has successfully recovered the Starship from the 13th orbital test flight in July that soft splashed down vertical in the Indian Ocean without serious damage and has been floating there since.
The image to the right shows the Starship on board its recovery vessel. The ship floated freely about a hundred miles before multiple SpaceX recovery ships arrived to slowly tow it to Christmas Island, where the new ship arrived that had room and equipment to haul it on board and transport it back to Boca Chica, on the other side of the world.
Company engineers will now have a priceless opportunity, much sooner than expected, to do a hands on inspection of a Starship that reached orbital space and then returned safely. The data is certain to accelerate the development of Starship/Superheavy to a completely reusable rocket capable of launching frequently and bringing large amounts of mass into orbit.
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This knowledge will at the least open many more abort survival opportunities for Starship. Especially when it gets man-rated.
SpaceX originally thought reusing Falcon rocket fairings required catching them with a giant shipborne net, but experimental iteration taught them, to paraphrase Elon, “a little swim didn’t hurt”.
SpaceX is never content to rely exclusively on “conventional wisdom”.
SpaceX has redefined ‘conventional wisdom’. Also, Tesla.
The term “conventional wisdom” reminds me of “scientific consensus.”
There is one “scientific consensus” that I might not immediately reject. When a large or small group of scientists say “we have no idea what that is.”
Essentially SpaceX seems to live by Clarke’s first law
Forte looks big enough to haul a whole Starship/SuperHeavy stack.
He could use that ship to transport four Falcon 9’s to California. If he is willing to stack them. in special cradles. Or even standing up welded down.
Why leave behind perfectly good rockets.
I don’t know why anyone has to remind you of this fact at such a late date, but Falcon 9 stages are road-transportable and have been from the get-go. Nothing is going to be “left-behind” anywhere. If any of Florida’s currently-resident F9 boosters need to make a trip to the West Coast, all they’d be doing is re-tracing the route that brought them to FL in the first place.
“How Does Space-X Transport the Falcon 9?”
Primal Space (2018)
https://youtu.be/oUDes_wpGvg
(7:03)
“The diameter of the falcon 9 was intentionally limited to “3.7 meters” to enable it to be shipped via Interstate highway and clear all bridges & overpasses in route. ”
Space-X contracts with 3rd-party shipping companies which utilize custom built cradles fitted to a 44 wheeled trailer.
California doesn’t deserve them.
I want Falcons at SEC states only.