Starship flight 4

[Dr Mordrid]

Flight 4 should come in within the next few weeks. The mission this time is to get the orbital velocity and have Ship survive reentry. If that is accomplished, the next mission should be in operational flight, probably dispensing Starlink gen 3 (larger, more powerful) satellites.

SpaceX is also testing their D2D (direct to Device) service, allowing starlink satellites to communicate directly with unmodified cell phones and tablets. Essentially, orbiting cell towers.

Time in this test notice is Central, so 1100 to 2300 Eastern.

For those overseas, a Texas County Judge is essentially the chief County Executive.

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Sheriff Eric Garza@SheriffGarza
UPDATE: Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. has extended the temporary closure of Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4 from FM 1419 to the beach entrance due to SpaceX testing. New closure hours: 04/05/2024 - 10 am to 10 pm.

[Dr Mordrid]

Booster 11 static fire test on x

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1776412650836251053

[Dr Mordrid]

Starship made it through reentry, both it and the booster did soft water landings. Not without some excitement though, one thin almost burned through on Starship but the stainless steel hung in there and she made it all the way down. Great shots of reentry.

Flight 5 is coming up, and they are going to try catching the booster with launch tower robotic arms. They were practicing today.

US Transportation Command & Air Force Research Laboratory are advancing plans for Rocket Cargo, launching supplies from one point on Earth to another in under an hour.

Starship and Super Heavy booster will be getting a stretch, lengthening from 120 m to about150 m. Cargo to low earth orbit on the fully advanced vehicle should be over 200 metric tons.

[Umfriend]

I just read that Bezos (Blue Origin) is suing to get limits on the number of launches by SpaceX. Environmental activists I could perhaps understand but this?

[VJ]

Apparently, megaconstellations impact the ozone layer:

https://www.space.com/megaconstellations-threat-to-ozone-layer-recovery

(a bit worrying how those constellations treat satellites as relatively short term objects: 5-6 year lifetime of 40000 satellites implies almost 8000 satellites per year returning to earth...)

[Dr Mordrid]

Apparently, megaconstellations impact the ozone layer:

https://www.space.com/megaconstellations-threat-to-ozone-layer-recovery

(a bit worrying how those constellations treat satellites as relatively short term objects: 5-6 year lifetime of 40000 satellites implies almost 8000 satellites per year returning to earth...)

Starlink and Starshield (military) aren't the only ones. China, Amazon (Kuiper), AST Spacemobile, Europe and several other nations are all putting up megaconstellations. The trick is formulating the satellite bus to be less metal and more easily decomposed materials. Some are going towards composites, some are talking about using wood.

[Dr Mordrid]

Video of the flight 4 launch, ending after the booster water landing

https://youtu.be/INUZ9-8p24o

[Dr Mordrid]

Starship reentry and Landing.

Because there are Starlink transmitters on the vehicle, they can send back images of the reentry plasma. The signal goes straight up, through a hole in the plasma, to Starlink satellites where it's laser linked around the world and then back down.

Tiles on one of the front fins came off, allowing the plasma to hit that fin which is stainless steel. It started burning away, but held in there all the way through to the landing. The images are freaking amazing. SpaceX is reinforcing the heat shield in those areas, and moving their fins more leeward to get them out of the plasma flow.

The flight 4 vehicle is 120 m tall. Starship will be growing to add more propellant and engines, with a planned total height of almost 150 m. Fully evolved payload to orbit would be over 200 metric tons

https://youtu.be/8ya9_v74Vdo

[VJ]

Starlink and Starshield (military) aren't the only ones. China, Amazon (Kuiper), AST Spacemobile, Europe and several other nations are all putting up megaconstellations. The trick is formulating the satellite bus to be less metal and more easily decomposed materials. Some are going towards composites, some are talking about using wood.

Japan has launched a wooden test satellite, but still... With all those constellations, and the example of Starlink's 8000 deorbiting satellites per year (I haven't read numbers of the others, but if a 5 year life span for a satellite is normal, then you are basically replacing your entire constellation every 5 years), will the operators of the constellations make the step to more easily decomposed materials? It seems a bit worrying that such side effects are just now being considered, when most of those operators most likely have the design of their satellites finalized for the next couple of years.

[Dr Mordrid]

...you are basically replacing your entire constellation every 5 years), will the operators of the constellations make the step to more easily decomposed materials? It seems a bit worrying that such side effects are just now being considered, when most of those operators most likely have the design of their satellites finalized for the next couple of years.

FCC is starting to regulate satellite decomposition, and wood or composites are options for some satellites. Starlink is a little ahead of the curve on this and for good reason; the Gen 3 satellites for Starship will be getting much larger, about 7m. Starship will open a slot like door on the side and spit them out like a Pez dispenser