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Comparison between the design (right) and where they are on the starhopper test article. They haven't actually merged the top and bottom parts as yet, and there's a degree of buffing and infill to go on, but Dan Dare would be proud. Note the three engines, which there is a lot of debate over if they are operational or not. Note also the 'man for scale'

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...a9ad44c867.jpg

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OK, one is the 'completed' prototype, and one is the design render, which is which?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...0a4ef4ba18.jpg
Not that difficult, but they have seriously motored to get this done in the time they have, and Elon says the orbital class prototype (which won't have the wrinkles) is planned to be ready for June. That means orbit, in theory, could happen this year, or early 2020. That would put them ahead of the SLS, which has been plodding along for 8-10 years now, and still hasn't flown.

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NASA are finally getting out the way sufficiently for the uncrewed test of the crewed dragon spacecraft to take off in ... about and hour and a half from now.


Keep a look out both for 'Ripley', and for the high tech zero-g demonstration device that has been specially added at an extra few million dollars to the launch bill:


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...a128baad6c.jpg

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^^^ What he said.

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The high tech zero-g indicator in action :


Actually, it turns out the main thing it demonstrated is how smooth the flight up was. It stayed firmly in the seat till separation and zero-g.

Docking with the ISS is due in another 4-8 hours (ish).

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Wait till StarHopper starts jumping (which last I heard was a month or two away). They will be bouncing off the walls if that doesn't blow up/crash/tip over/etc.

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They finally lit the blue touchpaper underneath Dennis - complete with fart noise.

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Elon has released info on the first Starlink launch, currently scheduled for this Wed.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...5b13002d42.jpg


60 flat pack satellites, launched in one go. With Starship they can put the 12,000 of the constellation up with less than 20 launches. Even F9 would only take 200. A lot of competitors will be worrying tonight - people were expecting 25 satellites. Oneweb started first, but to date only have ..... six satellites in orbit. SpaceX will leapfrog them on their first launch.

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In case you haven't seen it, SpaceX have released video from the fairing they managed to catch recently, showing the reentry ionization plasma etc. and finally capture in the net of the Ms Tree.

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Like most things SpaceX does, that is another astonishing achievement. I presume the fairing is not guided in anyway, so for the ship to be in just the right spot is amazing.

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Small degree of steering, but mostly the ship has to do all the hard work.

I can see 'space surfing' being a thing in future years.

Starhopper is finally due to hop untethered, up to 20m on the first go, but 20km within 'a' few months'. And it's due to do so on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch (Tues/Wed)..