Starship!

[jfb]

Center of mass is going to be relatively low, and the legs will almost certainly be self-leveling.  I wouldn’t take any concept renders as gospel at this point - I’m pretty sure the design is still in flux, and will probably be tweaked further after they start flying and attempting to land orbital prototypes. 

[Peter B]

Center of mass is going to be relatively low, and the legs will almost certainly be self-leveling.  I wouldn’t take any concept renders as gospel at this point - I’m pretty sure the design is still in flux, and will probably be tweaked further after they start flying and attempting to land orbital prototypes.

How would that work?

Legs touching the ground cant upwards as the spacecraft descends, and only lock when all the legs are touching the ground? Something like that?

[cjameshuff]

Center of mass is going to be relatively low, and the legs will almost certainly be self-leveling.  I wouldn’t take any concept renders as gospel at this point - I’m pretty sure the design is still in flux, and will probably be tweaked further after they start flying and attempting to land orbital prototypes.

How would that work?

Legs touching the ground cant upwards as the spacecraft descends, and only lock when all the legs are touching the ground? Something like that?

There's many ways to implement self-leveling. Even the quick and dirty crumple legs they have on the prototypes can handle some degree of ground variation, and a similar approach was used on the Apollo landers. An active hydraulic or electromechanical system using pressure and attitude sensors might be worth the mass for the moon and Mars versions.

[Peter B]

Here's an article from our Australian ABC about Starship:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-30/elon-musk-starship-to-get-back-to-the-moon-and-on-to-mars/100498076

Nothing particularly quote-worthy, just a backgrounder on SpaceX's achievements and plans, and a bit about BO's gripes.

The article is related to an episode of the ABC's "Foreign Correspondent" show which should be available on catch-up TV in the next day or so.

[molesworth]

Arise, necro-thread!!

Looks like things are moving again in Starship-land, with news that they're planning for an orbital test launch in August. There are a lot of rumours about it, but I can't find anything official from SpaceX - which means it may not be true. Still, it looks like the orbital test flight might not be too far away now.

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/starship-orbital-flight-test/

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-rollout-launch-pad-photos

[bknight]

Arise, necro-thread!!

Looks like things are moving again in Starship-land, with news that they're planning for an orbital test launch in August. There are a lot of rumours about it, but I can't find anything official from SpaceX - which means it may not be true. Still, it looks like the orbital test flight might not be too far away now.

https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/starship-orbital-flight-test/

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-rollout-launch-pad-photos

They have always played it close to the vest, only giving last minute details about tests.  On the other hand Musk it seems publishes ambitious time goals, very few of which is met.  But at least it keeps the troops moving ahead.