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Jim Bridenstine on Twitter - "I had a great phone call with @elonmusk this week, and I’m looking forward to visiting @SpaceX in Hawthorne next Thursday. More to come soon!"
https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1179853879418052608

Submitted October 03, 2019 at 10:43PM by jclishman
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Elon Musk on Twitter: Super Heavy grid fins will be made of welded steel
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1179799146464628736?s=19

Submitted October 03, 2019 at 11:57PM by thomastaitai
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Starships should stay on Mars
There is an ever-recurring idea that Starships have to return to Earth to make colonization of Mars viable. Since Elon has announced the switch from carbon fiber to plain stainless steel I'm wondering whether it will be necessary to fly back such "low-tech" hardware. (By "low-tech" I mean relatively low-tech: no expensive materials and fancy manufacturing techniques.) In the early phase of colonization, most ships will be cargo-only variants. For me, a Starship on Mars is a 15-story tall airtight building, that could be easily converted into a living quarter for dozens of settlers, or into a vertical farm, or into a miniature factory ... too worthy to launch back to Earth. These ships should to stay and form the core of the first settlement on Mars.Refueling these ships with precious Martian LOX & LCH4 and launching them back to Earth would be unnecessary and risky. As Elon stated "undesigning is the best thing" and "the best process is no process". Using these cargo ships as buildings would come with several advantages: 1. It would be cheaper. It might sound absurd at first, but building a structure of comparable size and capabilities on Mars - where mining ore, harvesting energy and assembling anything is everything but easy - comes with a hefty price tag. By using Starships on the spot, SpaceX could save all the effort, energy, equipment to build shelters, vertical farms, factory buildings, storage facilities, etc. And of course, the energy needed to produce 1100 tonnes of propellant per launch. We're talking about terawatt-hours of energy that could be spent on things like manufacturing solar panels using in situ resources. As Elon said: "The best process is no process." "It costs nothing." 2. It would be safer. Launching them back would mean +1 launch from Mars, +3-6 months space travel, +1 Earth-EDL, +~10 in-orbit refuelings + 1 launch from Earth, + 1 Mars-EDL, Again, "the best process is no process". "It can't go wrong." 3. It would make manufacturing cheaper. Leaving Starships on Mars would boost the demand for them and increased manufacturing would drive costs down. 4. It would favor the latest technology. Instead of reusing years-old technology, flying brand-new Starships would pave the way for the most up-to-date technology.

Submitted October 05, 2019 at 04:52PM by Col_Kurtz_
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The Fairing Catcher fleet photographed in Port Canaveral. GO Ms Chief on left, GO Ms Tree on the right. Credit: theresacross on Twitter
https://twitter.com/THERESA35906612/status/1180498280658149376?s=19

Submitted October 05, 2019 at 07:22PM by retiringonmars
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Interesting data on 301 stainless at cryogenic temperatures.
Found a pretty good paper on the strength of various stainless steels at cryogenic temperatures.Page four has a good graph of the data on 301, but other grades are discussed. The increase in strength is pretty dramatic. Temps are also keyed to the boiling point of methane and oxygen (along with other common cryo fluids). The strength increase is more dramatic than I anticipated.

Submitted October 05, 2019 at 11:39PM by Drop_Tables_Username
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Elon Musk’s future Starship updates could use more details on human survival
https://ift.tt/30LiTKn

Submitted October 06, 2019 at 05:08PM by EricFromOuterSpace
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Hans Koenigsmann shows Recap video of DM1 at NAE 2019
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Submitted October 07, 2019 at 05:47PM by sn__parmar
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How will Starship's re-entry tiles handle metal-expansion?
From my limited understanding, the heat-dissipating re-entry tiles will be bonded to a steel hull. That hull will be cryo-cooled by the fuel on liftoff, and will then heat up to something on the order of 900°C during re-entry. Since steel expands when heated, wouldn't that expose gaps between the tiles? Is this an issue, and if so, how is it addressed in the design?

Submitted October 07, 2019 at 09:31PM by carlesque
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Elon Musk on Twitter: For what it’s worth, the SpaceX schedule, which I’ve just reviewed in depth, shows Falcon & Dragon at the Cape & all testing done in ~10 weeks
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1181579173388673025

Submitted October 08, 2019 at 04:37PM by OccupyMarsNow
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"It looks like SpaceX is now prioritizing Crew Dragon—which is great for NASA" -Eric Berger, ARSTECHNICA
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Submitted October 08, 2019 at 07:10PM by Hirumaru
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Elon Musk on Twitter: Updates on Earth-to-Earth on Starship at the next Starship update.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1181980074037301248

Submitted October 09, 2019 at 07:38PM by ArthurThebault
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Should SpaceX Hold Off Mars Missions for "Planetary Protection"?
The article published on Space Flight Now: https://www.space.com/elon-musk-starship-threatens-alien-life.html advocates holding off human mars missions to protect possible microbiological life on Mars....The author concludes in the closing paragraph " Regardless of the thrill and feelings of hope this kind of adventure brings, just because we can do something, doesn't mean we necessarily should, now or in the future. "While the article has valid points, I think the article misses the main point in going to Mars....it is not the "thrill and feelings of hope".....it is for "human spices protection"....in case Earth ....runs into big trouble.Yes human migration has caused death and environmental disruption over thousands of years of human existence. Yes reasonable precautions make sense but to think freezing things as they are now is the answer .... falls way short.Thoughts

Submitted October 09, 2019 at 07:10PM by WindWatcherX
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