this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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Like heavy then, why did they not use an actual test payload before now already being done with starship v1? Hypothetical payload to orbit doesnt count if you never done it ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Why would they need to prove anything? SpaceX knows how much the vehicle can lift. They will be their own first customers with Starlink when they finally go into orbit. The re-entry and recovery systems are much more important to SpaceX and since they haven't inserted into a full orbit yet, what would it even prove? The haters are wrong on one more weird conspiracy?
If you're insinuating I'm a hater or something, tell me why not prove your rocket with a simulate payload? Your takeoff TWR varies, fully load your thrusters and figure out your orbital injection trajectory for the future. It seems like a win-win-win for fully proving a system.
Starship is a test program right now. SpaceX are not in a rush to sign on customers. They are operating the most prolific and heaviest launch system right now. They can handle the avionics and understand the launch trajectory better than anyone. Why waste time making test masses to throw in the ocean? There's no benefit to doing that with these prototype vehicles. When they are satisfied with recovery testing and go orbital, they'll launch a load of Starlink sats and no-one is going to care that they launched a banana first.
For that matter, Blue Origin are launching a tiny space tug on the first launch of their giant rocket. They don't need to demonstrate the maximum take-off weight of the vehicle. Demonstrating that they understand and can fly the thing all the way to orbit is fine. That will bring customers, which Blue really wants - they don't want a drawn out development campaign like Starship is having.
I'm not calling you a hater, I just don't see how launching a banana could be evidence of some fatal flaw with Starship when it's only flying sub-orbital test missions right now. Some people seem to think SpaceX is doing all this work just to perpetrate an elaborate scam to fleece American taxpayers. There's surely much easier scams than doing actual rocket science.
Actually, with regards to payloads - a bigger issue is how are they are going to deploy customer payloads. Unless they have flat-pack sats in the Starlink form factor, there's no way to get them in or out of a Starship. I think solving that - without compromising the structures or heat-shielding is a bigger concern. Which is why testing the vehicle with a lower mass, more aggressive launch to find out what is actually needed to survive re-entry, comes before actually loading the thing up.