Thanks to Aaron Burnett and the rest of the Mach33 Financial Group team for hosting an engaging live audio chat this morning directly after the exhilerating SpaceX Starship IFT4 test flight. Honored to be a part of the group, and glad we could cover these general topics, as well as others. Participants included: Alexander Darvishian – Mach33, Ryan Duffy – Array Labs, Christopher Reichelt – Mach33, Vlad Saigau – Mach33, Aaron Burnett – Mach33.
Starship IFT4 Conversation Topics
- Flap heating and burnthrough
- Roll controll thrusters
- Increased stringers for rigidity
- Hot staging ring
- Concept that Starship is an experimental platform still – lots of testing
- Starlink utility, advertising, and impacts on the industry
- Starlink direct to device
- SpaceX building demand for commercial launch capability
- Stainless steel durability
- Indusry ripple effects
- Private investment thesis and opportunities
- Impacts of media availabilty on public interest
- Starship vs Starliner streaming audience
- Predictions on activities for IFT5, 6, 7
- Jeffrey Donenfeld’s prediction (as of 2024-06-06 14:49Z is IFT5 will survive reentry heating intact and complete soft water landing, will also demonstrate on-orbit relight, and cycle payload deployment door, IFT6 will deploy Starlink satellites in addition to soft precision water landing, IFT7 will deploy Starlink and make an attempt at chopsticks landing.
Test Flight Briefing from SpaceX:
The fourth flight test of Starship is targeted to launch Thursday, June 6 from Starbase in Texas. The 120-minute test window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. The launch window will open as early as 7 a.m. CT. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for updates.
Starship’s third flight test made tremendous strides towards a future of rapidly reliable reusable rockets. The test completed several exciting firsts, including the first Starship reentry from space, the first ever opening and closing of Starship’s payload door in space, and a successful propellant transfer demonstration. This last test provided valuable data for eventual ship-to-ship propellant transfers that will enable missions like returning astronauts to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program.
The fourth flight test turns our focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy. The primary objectives will be executing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Super Heavy booster, and achieving a controlled entry of Starship.
To accomplish this, several software and hardware upgrades have been made to increase overall reliability and address lessons learned from Flight 3. The SpaceX team will also implement operational changes, including the jettison of the Super Heavy’s hot-stage following boostback to reduce booster mass for the final phase of flight.
Flight 4 will fly a similar trajectory as the previous flight test, with Starship targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This flight path does not require a deorbit burn for reentry, maximizing public safety while still providing the opportunity to meet our primary objective of a controlled Starship reentry.
The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon. We’re continuing to rapidly develop Starship, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible as we build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
To continue with the excitement, a few interesting snippets from around the web:
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