Starhopper has hopped
Capitalism in space: SpaceX last night successfully completed the first untethered flight of its Starship/Super Heavy prototype dubbed Starhopper.
This hop attempted and flew about 65 feet. They hope to do next flight, planned to be about ten times higher, in a week or two, according to a Musk tweet.
Below the fold is video of the hop. You can’t see much as the viewing angle is ground level, it is night, and the engine flames obscure things. Expect better footage from future hops.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX last night successfully completed the first untethered flight of its Starship/Super Heavy prototype dubbed Starhopper.
This hop attempted and flew about 65 feet. They hope to do next flight, planned to be about ten times higher, in a week or two, according to a Musk tweet.
Below the fold is video of the hop. You can’t see much as the viewing angle is ground level, it is night, and the engine flames obscure things. Expect better footage from future hops.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
What is so amazing about this is that it was mostly constructed out in the open…no fancy rigs or even a solid building…by a water tower company. That to me is the game changer.
A water tower company?
Not Lockheed or Northrop?
And they are doing it under the direction of some non professional non NASA engineers? I bet they are over budget and late on their dead lines.
Making a rocket NASA said could not be made and flown.
I sat watching the live stream for two nights to see that. From the angle I had, it was just a big glowing ball of flames. I would sum it up as “It took off, it hovered, it landed on the SLS.”
It took them a while to put out the resulting brush fires, some of which were pretty large. I noted that all the water they were spraying to douse the fires was just going to grow more grass.
They were flying Raptor #6, the first engine that’s resolved the combustion instability issues.
On other forums I note that the usual scoffers are rather more subdued this morning than is their wont.
I mean, my God, if this cobbly water tower can fly, maybe that far sleeker thing nearby can do it too! The horror! The horror! Musk’s beach rockets might actually work!
The analogy of helicopters comes to mind. (“Helicopters don’t fly; they’re so ugly that gravity rejects them!”) Yes, the water tower is ugly, but that Raptor engine is a challenge that the rest of the industry can’t ignore. And the water tower can accommodate three Raptors. Not to mention those two Starships that are already under construction, and Musk’s commitment to mass production of Raptors.
This does put Bezos on the spot. What’s the status of BE-4? ULA has bet their future on BE-4; they should be asking some hard questions about now.
Elon’s greatest crime is that he makes everything seem possible. He breaks down tabboos. That tower looked like it could have been assembled by the local rocket club. When you break down the shackles, when those shackles are all some people have, you break a power structure. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have been too surprised with a giant fireball. The appetite for risk! Horatio, captain of the gate.
Dick Eagleson wrote: “I mean, my God, if this cobbly water tower can fly, maybe that far sleeker thing nearby can do it too! The horror! The horror! Musk’s beach rockets might actually work!”
Innovation takes an unexpected turn in the aerospace world. Who would have guessed that water towers were an aerospace industry, too.
Good work for SpaceX. I am glad that they are overcoming their problems in a timely manner. I expect more problems to rear their ugly heads, especially since we have our first flying water tower, but the water-works engineers know their stuff.
Regarding the grass fire after the test, a small herd of goats would keep that problem in check fairly nicely. It would also add to the utterly absurd, but wonderful, image of what will likely become the worlds most powerful and advanced rocket being built and tested in an open field.
“A rocket being built and tested in an open field.” Why that’s right out the opening chapters of MISS PICKERELL GOES TO MARS (1951)!
“At the far end of Miss Pickerell’s pasture, a huge, silver-colored structure gleamed in the late-afternoon sun. It was shaped a little like a pencil, but it was much fatter, and had several wide fins at the bottom. Even from here, Miss Pickerell could see that the thing was enormous. It was far bigger than any airplane Miss Pickerell had ever seen or ever heard about. And instead of resting flat on the ground like an airplane, it pointed straight up in the air.
“A long thin ladder extended down from the thing to the ground, and even as she looked, Miss Pickerell saw two men walking across the pasture to the ladder. One behind the other, they climbed up and disappeared inside the structure.
“For a long moment, Miss Pickerell stood there, shading her eyes with her hand. She was not slow to realize that this must be the secret expedition Mr. Haggerty had been talking about. And of course these must be the people who had been using her house while she was away.
“This is the last straw!” Miss Pickerell said. “Just the last straw!” She tied the cow to a tree with great angry loopings of the rope, and marched down the lane to the pasture.”
MacGregor, Ellen. The Miss Pickerell MEGAPACK ™: 4 Classic Adventures . Wildside Press LLC. Kindle Edition.
And when the engine fires, you have roast goat! Sheer Genius!!
Diane Wilson: I as noted about two months ago (with no change since), we have heard nothing about BE-4 since last spring. Very worrying.