Redwire Space’s Post

🚀 SpaceX's Booster 9 has successfully completed its second static fire test, marking an important milestone towards the second integrated test flight. After undergoing a spin prime test and thorough inspection, the Super Heavy booster ignited its Raptor engines for a full-duration static fire of approximately 5 seconds. Although it is yet to be confirmed if all 33 engines were ignited, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has declared the static fire a success. You can watch the impressive static fire in action at the link below: Watch Super Heavy Booster 9’s second static fire: [https://lnkd.in/gV8PZtGE) Pending positive data and confidence in the booster's performance, Ship 25 may soon join Booster 9 on the launch pad. However, SpaceX still faces challenges, including obtaining approval from the Federal Aviation Authority and addressing ongoing lawsuits from environmental groups. Regardless, the possibility of witnessing a test flight in September is an exciting prospect! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to me via email at rangle@teslarati.com or on Twitter @RDAnglePhoto. Stay tuned for more updates on SpaceX's progress. #SpaceX #SuperHeavy #RocketLaunch #StaticFire #Booster9 #Milestone #TestFlight #Technology #SpaceExploration #Innovation https://ift.tt/isjloNw #SpaceX #SpaceNews #Space #Moon #Mars #SpaceTech #SpaceEconomy #DisruptiveTechnologies #ToTheMoon #News #BreakingNews #spaceflight #spaceexploration #MoonToMars

SpaceX's vision (video is from 2016) ignited a lightbulb moment! I finally grasped the essence of product/business vision and what makes it truly impactful. Watch this video of SpaceX https://lnkd.in/g5-Hzwfa

Despite the dramatic end, SpaceX's recent Starship test flight showcased several significant achievements. 💥🚀 The successful ignition and full-duration burn of all 33 Raptor engines marked a milestone for the Super Heavy Booster. 🔥 The separation between the Starship upper stage and Super Heavy proceeded smoothly, demonstrating a new hot staging technique for vehicles of this scale. Additionally, the upper stage reached impressive altitudes and speeds, almost completing its planned burn. 💨 Even though telemetry was lost near the end, the team executed a safe command destruct, showcasing robust safety protocols. 📡 Despite the setbacks, these successes highlight progress and valuable data for space exploration. 📈 #SpaceX #Starship #spaceexploration #spacetech

SpaceX tested out Starship Booster catch loads. The tower’s chopsticks will close in on a landing booster. The test emulated Initial contact loads on the tank side walls from the catch. Catching a booster weighing hundreds of tons using a tower will be a first when that happens! Once landed, the booster will be stacked on the launch mount by the tower. The design intent is to do no refurbishment but re-fuel and relaunch from the mount. Figuring out rapid reusability is going to be exciting. #spacex #rockets #spacetechnology https://lnkd.in/gPJUw6cB?

#SpaceMission #SpaceX conducted a new flight test of its Super Heavy rocket and Starship prototypes, launched from its base in Boca Chica, Texas. This is the third test involving the entire system of Elon Musk's company which is supposed to revolutionize space travel with an unprecedented transport capacity and being totally reusable. In this case, however, they are prototypes with the Super Heavy identified as Booster 10 and the Starship identified as Starship 28 or Ship28 or simply S28. After the second test conducted on November 18, 2023, many changes were made to the Super Heavy and Starship systems. Despite the upgrades, they don't have the safety requirements required to conduct controlled landings, so the plans continue to have the test ending with both vehicles splashing down. https://lnkd.in/dt9ZyYPx

A counterintuitive result: partially reusable SuperHeavy/Starship can get same price per kilo as fully reusable one IF an expendable Starship can get 40 ton dry mass: SpaceX should explore a weight-optimized, expendable Starship upper stage. https://lnkd.in/egwDRsNF This is because of two reasons: 1.)a 40 ton expendable Starship compared to a 120 ton reusable one means you get 80 tons extra payload, and 2.)making the first stage reusable is more important because, like with the Falcon 9, the first stage makes up 2/3rds of the cost anyway.

#SpaceX's Next #Bold Move: #Starship's #Historic Return Attempt #SpaceX’s Starship rocket is set for its fourth flight on #June 5, aiming to evaluate the second stage’s reusable heat shield during atmospheric reentry for the first time. #ElonMusk highlighted on social media platform #X that the biggest challenge is creating a reusable orbital return heat shield, a feat never achieved before. The primary goal of this test is to endure maximum reentry heating using around 18,000 ceramic #hexagonal tiles designed to protect the second stage from extreme temperatures. However, Musk noted the system's vulnerability, as the loss of a single tile in critical areas could lead to failure. Surviving reentry is just one piece of the puzzle; #SpaceX must also develop a high-volume manufacturing supply chain for these advanced heat shield tiles. Successfully solving this issue would bring SpaceX closer to achieving full reusability of their launch vehicles. While the #Falcon 9 rocket has significantly advanced reusability with 56 flights this year alone, its second stage is still expended. By reusing both stages of the Starship, SpaceX aims to drastically reduce launch costs and deliver much more mass to orbit per launch. If successful, the mission will demonstrate controlled reentry and soft #splashdown of both the #Starship and its Super Heavy booster in the #IndianOcean, advancing the development of the largest and most powerful launch system for future cargo and crew missions. #SpaceX #Provelopers #Starship #ReusableRocket #HeatShield #ElonMusk #AerospaceEngineering #SpaceExploration #LaunchVehicle #Reusability #Falcon9 #RocketScience

#SpaceX #Starship #IFT3Review "... During that flight, SpaceX also attempted a soft landing of the Super Heavy first stage. After its separation from the Starship upper stage, as intended, 13 of Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines successfully relit to make a controlled flight through the lower atmosphere. During this boostback burn, however, six of these engines shut down early. Later in the descent, as the rocket neared the sea surface, the rocket was supposed to use the same 13 engines to make a final landing burn. "The six engines that shut down early in the boostback burn were disabled from attempting the landing burn startup, leaving seven engines commanded to start up with two successfully reaching mainstage ignition," the company said in its recap of the flight. "The booster had lower than expected landing burn thrust when contact was lost at approximately 462 meters in altitude over the Gulf of Mexico and just under seven minutes into the mission." The cause of this failure was traced to blockage in a filter where liquid oxygen flows into the Raptor engines. Notably, a similar problem occurred during the second test flight of Starship in November 2023. SpaceX says it implemented "hardware changes" to address this blockage issue for the third test flight. Now, the company said, "Super Heavy boosters for Flight 4 and beyond will get additional hardware inside oxygen tanks to further improve propellant filtration capabilities." It will be interesting to see whether the company's engineers have successfully addressed this issue. As for the Starship upper stage, the vehicle began losing the ability to control its attitude during its coast phase in space. This was found to be due to clogged valves used by reaction control thrusters on the upper stage. The company's update notes that "SpaceX has since added additional roll control thrusters on upcoming Starships." But it is not clear that they will be available for Flight 4. Indeed, the fact that SpaceX is not attempting an in-flight relight of Raptor engines on the Starship upper stage suggests these new roll control thrusters are not yet in place. Ultimately this lack of attitude control during Flight 3 resulted in a non-nominal reentry to Earth's atmosphere. SpaceX was able to maintain contact with the vehicle down to 65 km in altitude before telemetry was lost due to excess heating. On Flight 3, SpaceX achieved some important milestones, including the opening of the Starship payload bay door in space and a small propellant transfer demonstration. Due to the loss of attitude control, however, a planned Raptor rocket engine re-light test was not conducted. This is an important test, as Raptor ignition is needed to perform a controlled reentry—essentially to ensure that Starship returns to a remote section of ocean rather than land. For the next flight, SpaceX is focused on solving the technical issues observed on Flight 3: the filter blockages observed during Super Heavy's boostback ..."