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Sounds dodgy to me … how will you know it actually goes up and returns? And all that will happen is it goes weightless and then comes back down?

NASA has learned its lesson about relying on one provider. Imagine if Boeing was the only commercial crew provider, or when the Space Shuttle was supposed to be the only satellite launch provider in the 80s.

It’s great that SpaceX has succeeded - but you know what’s better? Competition and an equally successful Blue Origin.

My friend Glen does driveways. He could be there tomorrow to bid them a new concrete launchpad. He would be there today but he has a hangover.

2.5 minutes? My watch must be slow.

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For such a test the limitation is not the thrust level, but the facility where it happens yes.

The Marshall test stand is specifically built for handling these kind of tests, with a huge flame diverter, and hold-down systems that are specific for the task.

It will not happen because they don't want to risk the launch table if there is a problem, but you can build the facility to handle the force, no problem. Just a question of funds, location and schedule, not thrust.

That's a lotta thrust!

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Me and you have different definitions of sedate…

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the naming scheme is a bit odd, the full stack is called starship and the upper stage is also called starship.

Yep thank you, cleared it all up for me.

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

|Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |BFR|Big Falcon Rocket (2018 rebiggened edition)| | |Yes, the F stands for something else; no, you're not the first to notice| |ITS|Interplanetary Transport System (2016 oversized edition) (see MCT)| | |Integrated Truss Structure| |MCT|Mars Colonial Transporter (see ITS)| |SLS|Space Launch System heavy-lift|

|Jargon|Definition| |-------|---------|---| |Raptor|Methane-fueled rocket engine under development by SpaceX|

^(3 acronyms in this thread; )^(the most compressed thread commented on today)^( has 36 acronyms.)
^([Thread #8544 for this sub, first seen 11th Feb 2023, 07:55]) ^[FAQ] ^([Full list]) ^[Contact] ^([Source code])

Super Heavy is the name of the first stage of the launch system called "Starship", which evolved in its design from the 2016 ITS and 2018 BFR. The second stage is also called "Starship" (hence the confusion, sometimes) which is stacked on top of super heavy.

Ok, that makes allot of sense, thought there was a new ship called super heavy that I had no clue about and was very confused lol. Didn’t realize they gave the first stage a different name than starship, thought the whole thing was just called starship and it would be stage 1 of starship and stage 2 of starship rather than separate names for both. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

They're testing engines separately at the factory. They've ran hours of tests and most likely have a pretty solid understanding of what thrust each engine gives at a certain "throttle" level. So they'll have precise measurements of things like flow for each engine, and they'll know what each flow setting would translate into thrust. From there it's simple math and some approximation.

It's the Super Heavy - the first stage of the Starship which is the second stage.

So is super heavy a “new” (new to me) rocket separate to starship and falcon heavy?

First stage of the super heavy.

That cool thing that they were flying on 3 engines and bellow flopping before standing up and landing goes on top of this behemoth.

It is going to be VERY large.

Somewhat out of the loop on current spacex news. What rocket is this for, it doesn’t look like the first stage of starship unless the design has changed? Or is it like an upgraded falcon heavy?

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Huh, it’s a new type of concrete since the 14 engine test fire? That’s reassuring

Whew…thought they might actually have to put a human in space for a minute there.

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