SpaceX rolls out the next Superheavy for sixth test orbital launch
SpaceX in a tweet on October 22, 2024 announced the roll out to the launch tower of the next Superheavy to be used in the sixth orbital test flight, only nine days after that launch tower had successfully caught a Superheavy at the end of the fifth orbital test flight.
Though no launch date has been announced, the company is clearly wants to do it soon. Though its present launch license allows it go when ready, it remains unclear whether it will get that approval from the FAA when requested. FAA upper management has repeatedly indicated a desire to delay its approvals to SpaceX, and until there is a change in the White House — thus forcing a change in that FAA upper management — there is no reason to expect the agency to change its behavior.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
SpaceX in a tweet on October 22, 2024 announced the roll out to the launch tower of the next Superheavy to be used in the sixth orbital test flight, only nine days after that launch tower had successfully caught a Superheavy at the end of the fifth orbital test flight.
Though no launch date has been announced, the company is clearly wants to do it soon. Though its present launch license allows it go when ready, it remains unclear whether it will get that approval from the FAA when requested. FAA upper management has repeatedly indicated a desire to delay its approvals to SpaceX, and until there is a change in the White House — thus forcing a change in that FAA upper management — there is no reason to expect the agency to change its behavior.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Please allow me to repeat my question on a more appropriate post:
So when is a titanium Starship coming? Compare stainless steel Foxbat to titanium SR-71.
Felix on Tuesday’s What About It podcast said SpaceX is targeting an IFT-6 launch on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11 though there has been no announcement confirming this yet from SpaceX – or at least none of which I am aware as of this writing. If SpaceX can launch IFT-6 by mid-November, it could – FAA permitting – likely launch IFT-7 in December.
If, as seems increasingly likely, Trump is President-elect by the time IFT-6 launches, one hopes the political hacks at the FAA will prioritize resume polishing over a pointless dead-ender last stand against SpaceX. But by that time, the worst they could do would be to delay IFT-7 from December to January.
@Ray – Titanium is a more expensive and less plentiful material to obtain, and it is significantly more difficult to machine and form than the very cooperative stainless steel SpaceX uses. All of Starship’s current development path involves the very familiar properties of that steel, and switching to titanium would require replacing all of that knowledge (and likely a lot of tooling) with an entirely new research and development process to prove out that build. While titanium is lighter for a comparative strength and performance, the vast majority of the launch weight is from the fuel itself, and there is a sort of economy of scale in just making a bigger rocket of the same material to offset that structure/fuel ratio even more. There gets to be a point where a possibly better-performing material just can’t make things cheaper in a mass-production setting. The SR-71 and its variants were truly great, but we only ever made a few dozen of them, while 1,700 MiG-25 and MiG-31s were built.
Now, using titanium for certain key components like the grid fins is a whole different story, should happen soon now that they are actually recovering the boosters.
Yess, Matt the cost and manufacturability of titanium are very real challenges. But in addition to less weight and greater strength there is also higher resistance to heating, which might lead to dramatic payload increases by eliminating heat shielding or substantially reducing it, in addition to the other savings.
Imagine a tanker that could fill a Starship in (say) five loads instead of ten! The cumulative effects of having a Superheavy, a Tanker, and an HLS/ITS, all with a greater payload fraction might be dramatic.
Is that at all possible? I don’t know if the trade studies have been done, but if anyone could tackle a whole new design and manufacturing process, it would be SpaceX!
The real question is would there be time? Without setting back progress for (say) 10 years, I doubt it would work. But perhaps someone will take the longshot opportunity, and start defining the second generation in spacecraft now?!
RVD asks: “So when is a titanium Starship coming? Compare stainless steel Foxbat to titanium SR-71.”
One comparison would be in the number of airframes built. 1,186 Foxbats v 32 SR-71 / A-12. This betting man goes with Foxbat. Cheers –
I agree with Matt that titanium is much more expensive and difficult to use. Machining titanium isn’t that much worse than stainless steel, but welding might prove to be a challenge.
But more to the point, I would question whether the titanium industry is even able to provide titanium sheet and plate in sufficient quantities to satisfy SpaceX’s appetite. Or whether SpaceX could live with the notoriously long lead times of the titanium industry.
Even the SR-71’s had to discreetly import titanium from the USSR due to insufficient domestic titanium capacity.
There must be an interesting tale there.
Over at the Secret Projects Forum, one individual talked about needing argon–The Soviets welded Titanium for their Alphas, so it can be done–for Lunar Starships–any environment where there isn’t a lot of oxygen preferably.
I would like to see Aluminum tankers…
Titanium and LOX would lead to unfortunate types of excitement.
The Internet repeatedly claims, incorrectly, that the issue was that the US did not have sufficient access to titanium ore. Complete hogwash. The real issue was that the domestic titanium metal mills had problems with quality control, so up to 80% of the titanium metal being sent to the Skunk Works was unusable.
Fun fact: 90% of titanium ore is not used to make titanium metal, but instead is used to make titanium dioxide which is the main ingredient in paint.
“Titanium: Past, Present, and Future” published in 1983.
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/1712/chapter/1
Ray,
Titanium is not magical. It is only 60% the density of stainless steel. And, while titanium alloys have melting points comparable to or slightly higher than stainless steels, they do not seem to have the same strength at elevated temperatures. Titanium alloys used in the SR-71 were good for extended service at maximum temperatures of about 1,200 degrees F. on the hottest parts of the airframe, but I wasn’t able to find any data on the tensile strength of titanium alloys at that temperature – all the curves and tables stopped at about 1,000 degrees F.
Stainless alloys vary quite a bit in tensile strength at elevated temperatures, but the more temperature-resistant grades in the 300-series, to which SpaceX’s proprietary alloy belongs, are still pretty strong even above 1,200 degrees F. There is certainly no way an all-titanium Starship would be able to operate with a less heat-resistant TPS system than that used on the actual stainless steel models now being built – never mind doing without TPS entirely.
I wonder if Space X could make a second stage that is modular?
Obviously any landing legs could be added or left of.
Any heat shielding could be left off if the ship is never coming back to land safe on Earth.
But could the engines be one component and the fuel tanks could be sized to the mission and just bolted on top of the engines.
The payload section could then be custom built and just bolted on top of the fuel/fuel tank section.
The payload section could even be disconnected in orbit.
Could the engine/fuel tank section be safely landed and re-used? Maybe using a combination of heat shielding, parachutes and engines.