Perseverance will begin landing on Mars tomorrow at 3PM EST. Here's a link to watch the landing. https://www.floridatoday.com/space/

I recently watched a clip of Musk speaking, he was saying at this point in development they are more surprised when it goes right.

I want to agree
 

People who make statements like this help any project. On the one hand, these positive statements probably help to preserve the team spirit and so on. On the other hand, if you don't expect success, then why continue wasting resources on launches? Wouldn't it be better to spend the same time and money on improvements? Of course, tests are needed. But there is no logic in the statement.

Failing is learning. He claims they are still 2-3 years away from this being reliable.

He who has never made a mistake...
Has never made a discovery!

Btw, Perseverance lands at around 3:55pm Eastern Time today. Here's the "live" stream link.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/live-la...everance-rover

I am sure his investors would prefer he not fail so much with their money :bonk:

Nailed it!

https://blogs.nasa.gov/mars2020/2021...ce-has-landed/

This might be "ingenious" if I understand your meme correctly.

Yeah. Sky crane is old news. Gimme some of that aerial action!


...It was exciting to see the crew's relief. Still a HUGE deal.

I want to agree
 

I did not say that I disagree with this statement. I just don't understand how it works now. It looks like some kind of strange PR campaign.
In any case, over 18 years of existence, starting from scratch, they have achieved a lot.
Interestingly, there are now over 60 private space companies. And they are all successful in their own way. But no one makes PR on mistakes.
Recently I found out about an interesting space company that is working hard to launch its own space tugs to clear debris from orbit. It is called Skyrora.
So they make press releases only after they succeed in their tests.
For example, after successfully testing their Skylark Micro rocket.
And there are many such examples.

Given the nature of rockets, it will never be trivial.

The Falcon9 has proven itself, its configuration is locked (block5), nuff said.


Now what is going on in south Texas, that is all iterative testing. If one thinks they are wasting money or overall failing, then more research into past outcomes using this method needs to be done.


It is not PR, they are really just breaking records every day. Look into their methods, materials, processes, and procedures.
SpaceX is just more open with their projects. Contrast them with Blue Origin, both private, but one keeps its IP under much tighter wraps.

I just got it.

https://media.giphy.com/media/vLruErVSYGx8s/giphy.gif

Oh, God... I'm an idiot. Sorry, Spuds. That must have been disappointing. :(

RocketLab announced a new rocket today:Neutron. Set to launch in 2024, human capable!!



Obligatory quirky announcement video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1366358673522499588


https://youtu.be/agqxJw5ISdk

They also merged with a SPAC. So you can own a piece of Rocket Labs now.

SN10 went to 10k and then stuck the landing this time. Pretty neat.


Edit: Holy crap, methane leak, it exploded on the pad 10 mins after landing.

Hopefully nobody had approached it.

I would assume they have some kind of cooldown period before letting people get going to inspect it.

Hopefully.

This is SpaceX we are talking about lol.

I'm guessing they knew it was venting methane. I do think it's interesting SpaceX stops their replay after the successful landing but before the explosion.

It also looked like it was listing a bit, maybe less than 5 degrees after landing. That could be an illusion I suppose.

For sure it was leaning. It was on fire for a while too right after landing. It really looked like it did the flip a lil too soon, leaving the single raptor stressed on touchdown. Not sure if it's lil landing legs deployed either.


Helluva testing ground. SN11 is in the hanger waiting.

There were flames quite a while during the landing. Not sure that's planned. Still a heck of an accomplishment to get this far this quick.

I think so. It looked like something was off as soon as it shutdown one of the engines. The video feed I usually watch runs a procedure timeline on the screen ticking off milestones. Today was the first time they checked off "Landing." Then they listed "Safe Vehicle. Then came back and inserted "Or Not." Then "rapid oxidation of unused propellant."

I laughed when the little garden hose started squirting. "Oh, yeah. That's gonna do it."

Here is the video.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...oving-forward/

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-conte...-2021-0025.jpg

https://youtu.be/iUJif0_vhLs

Was that a bird on fire flying away from the explosion?

Kinda looked like it huh

Maybe I can get a discount on those Mars tickets now.

Scott Manley did a deep dive, looks like the tank ruptured before it exploded. So likely a heavier landing than desired. It bounced as it touched down... I'll be interested in updates from spacex on the cause though, if they decide to share.

SN11 moving to the launch pad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UynhUVEkpg0

When does that one blow up?

Two weeks, I think.

Nice snippet that puts the size of SN11 into prospective.

People on pad while Sn11 is put into place.

YOu can see the video here. Sorry, couldn't find a youtube version of it for direct link.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/...366829570?s=20

Reports of SN11 venting tonight. Tomorrow should start the cryo/pressure tests, then raptor tests. Hopefully another hop as soon as this weekend.

Elon mentioned that the SN10 single engine lost some thrust during the landing causing a harder landing, crushing the landing legs, which did deploy.

I am looking forward to this! Things will start getting much more spicy!! The numbers are not set yet, but lets just say 'lots' [~28] of raptors will be in this booster.


Reports that stacking of BN1 has started!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwR4b8cX...g&name=900x900

SN11 tested this AM. It was very foggy at the site, not many visuals. No landing, a lot of falling debris. Looks like the flight termination system was used.


NSF's remote cam survived:
https://youtu.be/cN7855POvJ8

Were they using the Autopilot software in the fog? Maybe that's the problem.