Here is what SpaceX has to prepare for to enable Artemis 3 human lunar landing -
Launch a storage depot to Earth orbit.
Launch tankers to carry propellant to the storage depot (Falcon or Starship?).
Launch the uncrewed Starship human landing system (HLS).
Refuel in earth orbit.
Travel to lunar orbit.
Transfer crew from Orion to HLS (Orion with crew was launched by SLS).
Land.
Liftoff.
Transfer crew to Orion.
We have a long way to go, Baby.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/marshall/artemis-iii-nasas-first-human-mission-to-the-lunar-south-pole/
#spacex #Artemis
3/n
@planet4589 posted these maps from NOAA of the debris field in space from the Starship RUDs today. These were posted on his twitter site.
I added some annotations to the first map.
Not clear when and where the debris will enter the atmosphere. Most likely it will burn up rather than reach the oceans.
#starship #spacex
5/n
@AstroMigration
This blog post by Dr Marco Langbroek (who posts on twitter) indicates that the 2nd stage exploded over the Gulf of Mexico, halfway to Cuba, at an altitude of 148 km.
He also calculated estimates of where debris would fall as s function of the size of the debris pieces. The info is shown on the map below.
https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com/2023/11/where-did-starship-fragments-end-up.html
#starship #spacex
6/n
The planned orbit for Starship today was 250 x 50 km (not circular LEO), with reentry and crash into the Pacific ocean near Hawaii 90 minutes after launch, without performing a landing burn.
SECO was planned for T+8:33, but all 2nd stage engines got turned off at T+8:03. The 2nd stage explosion occurred around T+8:06 at altitude 148 km.
Achieved orbit was -1740 x 148 km (negative meaning it would crash into earth).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship_Second_Integrated_Flight_Test
#starship #spacex
7/n
A fairly comprehensive breakdown of what went wrong with the Starship IFT-2 launch, based on publicly available info. And the difficult road ahead to meet the Artemis 3 schedule and contractual obligations.
Also, points out that SpaceX was unaware of any stage 2 self-destruct trigger, manual or automatic. The stage 2 was tumbling, likely in 2 pieces, with all engines off.
Let's hope that SpaceX does not sue these guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka5id7ZQKL4
@AstroMigration @Powareverb #starship #spacex
8/n
I have a lot of criticisms of this video, starting from its admission that it's working with limited information before charging right ahead despite that vacuum.
But mainly it seems especially unaware of the relevant R&D processes at play here, while jumping through hoops to insist on pretty unreasonable definitions of failure.
Two ships instead of one? Why would that be anything but an artificial metric?
It sounds like this video is just a big exercise in the creator stretching to confirm their biases, for some reason.
@AstroMigration @Powareverb
