[Starlink] saving ship 20

[Dave Taht]

(is there a good email list for spacex, rather than starlink stuff?
I'm really not into twitter, reddit, etc)

After watching elon musk's presentation thursday night I was struck by
the symbolism of ship 20 behind him and wondering why the planned
flight was to attempt a splashdown at the end.

https://starshipcampaign.com/starship/ship-20/

I could think of a more leapfrog-like approach where they left it in
orbit, to analyze the effects of a longer term stay there, testing
restarts, or vacuum welding problems on the engines, using as a
agena-like target for rendezvous maneuvers, trying out repairing or
replacing various parts...

Do they not have enough thrust, even with an empty payload bay, to
stay up there?

Is there a dummy payload planned? I was thinking of one of bigalow's
demo inflatable habs, and along that rathole was, why not just cut a
hole in the side and spray in insulation...

Not even sure if there is a working door...

-- 
I tried to build a better future, a few times:
https://wayforward.archive.org/?site=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.icei.org

Dave Täht CEO, TekLibre, LLC