All things Mars
ha ! aborted. Countdown activity concluded for today... maybe
Edit: Looks like they are going to give it another crack in 2 hours.
SpaceX attempting to launch and LAND (3rd time lucky hopefully) Starship prototype number 10 aka SN10.
AS you probably know SN8 and SN9 both crashed on landing. If SN10 snaps the landing then its full speed ahead...
Picture below of SN9 on lift-off from Boca Chica Texas (which subsequently suffered RUD - Rapid Unexpected Disassembly)
It did bounce a bit on landing. Not exactly 'soft'.
Probs cracked a bit of the stainless welding somewhere.
Nevermind, SN11 will be rolled out soon as it is ready to rocket and roll.
Wow, what is the cost of these things?! Bit more footage below. Makes you appreciate what a job NASA was doing getting rockets off the ground at the start of the moon program
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-56275483
I think the cost of a starship prototype to Elon Musk is equivalent to the cost of a fire-cracker for almost everyone else.
Progress is rapid - already scrapped 12,13,14 due to improvements in production. e.g they realised that if they built out of 3mm stainless instead of 4mm they could addanother 20 ton to load capacity...and in terms of getting stuff into space, every ton counts.
T minus 5 minutes - Will SN10 make the landing?