SpaceX's next Starship launch–and first catch–could happen this weekend

arstechnica.com

7 points·amichail··9 comments

>"I think the two-month delay is necessary to comply with the launch requirements, and I think that's an important part of safety culture," said Michael Whitaker, the FAA administrator

Sums up why it's taken so long to get approval.

“Most recently, the FCC’s review of SpaceX's proposed flight plan has focused on the effects of the rocket's sonic boom as it comes back to Earth.”

Interesting, what new effect could there possibly be? Humanity has run tens of thousands of tests over the last <century.

Its probably more about the areas that will be affected by the sonic boom. Generally people don't like them happening over populated areas.

Q: Why are they trying to catch it instead of landing like the Falcon 9s?

To speed up turnaround. Musk used to talk about a goal of having turnaround times including refueling and payload loadout be similar to those of passenger aircraft - much less than a day, not the ~half a week of the Falcon 9.

Also to save weight by not having landing legs

What about the first trip to Mars?

(I guess it's easier to land there bc. reduced gravity?)

The booster is not going to Mars, only the ship which will have legs for the landing. I also think they plan to catch the ship as well so there will be different versions.

Not just Mars, NASA plans to land an upper stage on the moon. I think it will need pretty large landing legs, because there is no flat surface on the moon. And gravity being lower while inertia is the same means that things topple over much more easily than on Earth.

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