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NASA after watching Starship IFT-5
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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Timeline for StarShip delivering a payload of at least 25 tons to orbit and returning from orbit intact, as in, it can be repaired in one to two months and then reflown again?
6 to 8 years, assuming Trump and Elon win the election and Elon just gets to throw infinite taxpayer money at SpaceX via NASA. And it won't be called StarShip, Elon will change its name a few times.
If Trump and Elon lose, probably never, Elon will end up in jail and/or have to greatly downsize SpaceX after NASA stops funding StarShip.
EDIT: You mention orbital fuel transfers.
AFAIK, that hasn't been even designed, at all.
All we've seen are 3D renders.
Oh sure lets mate the fuel booms together at the engines, and then... slosh... the fuel... into the other craft?
Wait, that's a really bad idea? For an astounding number of reasons?
Oh uh, just connect them side to side, sure.
Oh... ok...
Have any actual details of this been explained?
Would that require crew in EVA suits? A fully automatic docking system and fuel connection system?
They did an in-craft fuel transfer during their last test. While it's certainly complex to pump fuel around without gravity, that's only the small first step in actually transferring fuel. Making a connection in orbit that's capable of fully refueling an entirely seperate craft is an order of magnitude harder.
They do have some experience in this area though. Dragon can autonomously dock to the ISS.
Yeah, they could just slap an PMA+IDA port on Starship like the ISS has, but that's just a hole with data and power ports. Those are pretty easy compared to fuel transfer, and they're specifically NOT suited to lateral forces. It also seems a bit unfit-for-purpose to make a big and heavy crew-transfer dock when you don't have to.
True, an IDA port is not well suited for fuel transfer. I was thinking more of the GNC software experience SpaceX have for rendezvous and docking in general. I suspect the ports themselves will look more like the ship and booster quick disconnects we see at the launch site.