https://zettelsraum.blogspot.com/2021/05...e-auf.html#more

Eigentlich gehört das in den SpaceX-Kommentarstrang - aber weil das hier mit dem 60. Jahrestag des ersten amerikanischen Raumflugs zusammenfällt, gebe ich das mal hier:

Zitat von Spaceflight Now, 5 May 2021

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"Upgraded Starship prototype makes first soft landing after test flight"
May 5, 2021

SpaceX launched and landed an upgraded prototype for the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle in South Texas on Wednesday, the company’s first Starship test flight since winning a $2.9 billion NASA contract to use the craft to land astronauts on the Moon.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO tweeted: “Starship landing nominal!”

The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) stainless steel rocket flew to an altitude of about 33,000 feet (10 kilometers) over SpaceX’s rocket development and test facility in Cameron County, Texas, after lifting off at 6:24 p.m. EDT (2224 GMT). Around six minutes after takeoff, the rocket landed vertically back at the same test site at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville.

Three Raptor engines consuming methane and liquid oxygen propellants powered the rocket into the sky, before the engines shut down in a staggered sequence as the Starship neared the high point of its trajectory. After the final engine switches off, cold gas control thrusters and body flaps maneuvered the vehicle to a horizontal orientation for the descent back to the ground.

SpaceX has successfully launched four Starship prototypes on atmospheric test flights since Dec. 9, but all four rockets exploded during or shortly after landing.

A hard landing on an otherwise-successful Dec. 9 Starship test flight was caused by low pressure from header tanks feeding the vehicle’s Raptor engines for the critical burn just before touchdown, and one of the Raptor engines failed to reignite for the landing burn on a test flight Feb. 2.

The SN10 rocket achieved the first successful landing of a full-size Starship vehicle at the end of a March 3 test flight, but the rocket exploded minutes later after a harder-than-intended touchdown. And the most recent Starship test flight ended with an explosion moments before landing March 30, an accident caused by a methane fuel leak in one of the rocket’s Raptor engines.

Elon Musk said the SN15 prototype introduces “hundreds of design improvements” in structures, engines, avionics, and software.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/05/05/st...15-test-flight/

PS. Nach den jetzigen Planungen soll der erste Start eines Starship mit SN20 im Juli 2021 erfolgen.

Nachtrag von Dienstag, in Sachen Starlink. 8. Start der Erststufe B1049, 100. erfolgreicher Start in Folge.

Zitat

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The launch Tuesday was the 25th Falcon 9 flight dedicated to hauling operational Starlink satellites, known as Version 1.0, into orbit, and the 28th Falcon 9 mission overall with Starlink payloads on-board.

Last April, SpaceX requested approval from the FCC to operate its Starlink satellites at lower altitudes than initially planned, all between 335 miles (540 kilometers) and 354 miles (570 kilometers). The FCC approved the request last month.

With the commission’s approval, SpaceX will now operate its first 4,408 satellites at altitudes between 335 miles and 354 miles, instead of flying more than 2,800 of the spacecraft in orbits as high as 800 miles, or 1,300 kilometers, above Earth.

The FCC approval clears the way for SpaceX to start launching more Starlink satellites into polar orbit later this year. The polar orbiting satellites will give the Starlink network complete global coverage.

The updated Starlink network architecture has 1,584 satellites at 341 miles (550 kilometers) altitude and an inclination of 53 degrees, 1,584 satellites at 335 miles (540 kilometers) and an inclination of 53.2 degrees, 720 satellites at 354 miles (570 kilometers) and an inclination of 70 degrees, and 520 satellites at 348 miles (560 kilometers) and an inclination of 97.6 degrees.

SpaceX still has regulatory authorization to launch more than 7,000 additional Starlink satellites beyond the 4,408 spacecraft covered in the recent FCC approval.

The next Falcon 9 launch is scheduled for 2:42 a.m. EDT (0642 GMT) Sunday from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying the next batch of Starlink internet satellites.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/05/04/st...rocket-failure/

Guten Tag,

vielleicht darf ich mich kurz vorstellen: ich besuche dieses Forum schon seit Jahren und habe die Beiträge meistens mit Interesse gelesen, aber noch nie selbst kommentiert. Napoleon Bonapartes 200. Todestag mag als passender Anlaß dafür dienen.

Insbesondere die Frage des US-Soldaten "In what way was he different from this guy Hitler?" Für jeden historisch Interessierten bedarf sie einer konklusieven Antwort, denn die Ähnlichkeiten zwischen diesen beiden Figuren springt natürlich ins Auge, insbesondere was ihre militärischen Ambitionen betrifft. Aber auch der Umstand, dass beide das Produkt revolutionärer Zeitläufte waren, insofern als beider Karrieren im jeweiligen "Ancien Regime" völlig undenkbar waren.

Daher habe ich versucht, eine endgültige Antwort in aphoristischer Form zu formulieren:

Napoleon gelangte durch einen Militärputsch gegen ein demokratisches Terrorregime an die Macht, um danach die Gesellscheft von der Barbarei in die Zivilisation zu führen.

Hitler gelangte demokratisch an die Macht, um danach ein Terrorregime zu errichtten, das die Gesellschaft von der Zivilisation in die Barbarei führte.

Herzlichen Dank für die Aufmerksamkeit,
Saki