Category Archives: Technology and Society

Business, Space, Technology and Society

IFT-5 Tomorrow? (Updated)

38 Comments

I just got this press release from SpaceX.

SpaceX is targeting Sunday, October 13 for the fifth integrated flight test of Starship from Starbase in Cameron County, Texas. The 30-minute test window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT.

Residents of Cameron County and those in the nearby area may hear loud noises resulting from the flight test.

At the time of launch, the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines may be audible while firing upon ignition and as the vehicle launches toward space. About eight to ten minutes after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster may attempt, if strict conditions are met, a return to launch site and tower catch on the pad at Starbase. Residents of Cameron County and those in the nearby area may hear one or more sonic booms during the return to launch site.

A sonic boom is a brief, thunder-like noise a person on the ground hears when an aircraft or other vehicle in the area flies faster than the speed of sound. The sonic boom does not present a health risk and what people experience will depend on weather and other conditions.

SpaceX’s live webcast will go live approximately 30 minutes before liftoff at spacex.com/launches. Live updates will also be available on X @SpaceX.

0700 CDT is 0500 PDT, so I’ll have to get up early.

[Sunday-morning update]

Well, that was pretty amazing. I’d call that a successful catch of the booster, albeit a little fiery. I’m assuming that wasn’t supposed to happen, but they’ll sort it out for the next flight.

Similarly, the explosion of the ship after the water landing probably wouldn’t have happened if it had landed upright on land, so that’s not necessarily an issue. I would think the next goal is to land it intact so they can inspect it to further improve the TPS.

[Update a few minutes later]

If they successfully test the doors on the next flight, this means that the vehicle could be operational for Starlink delivery very soon. I wonder why they didn’t do that test this time?

Education, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Sending Humans Into Space

13 Comments

A professor says to stop doing it, because it’s “imperialist.”

I do sort of agree with this, though: “Mandel said the space industry is ‘highly bureaucratic, highly politicized, and highly technical,’ and the more she learned the more she began to question the utility of continued manned space operations.”

She’s not wrong about that; I question its utility, the way NASA continues to go about it. It certainly doesn’t seem worth the money to me. But that’s a separate issue from SpaceX’s methods and goals which, unlike the government human-spaceflight program, which is run primarily as a jobs program, are focused on actually moving humanity into space in a serious way. But she seems to be damning all of human spaceflight with the bad example set by NASA. And I’m sure that she thinks that Elon is even more “imperialist” than NASA.

[Late-morning update]

Don’t be a puddlefish:

Business, Economics, Law, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Twenty Years On

6 Comments

I wrote a long-form post at X.