[Starlink] saving ship 20

[David Lang]

On Sat, 12 Feb 2022, Dave Taht wrote:

> (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.

they need to test reentry and the heat shield.

> 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?

'space junk', the powers that be frown on putting stuff in orbit. many shuttle 
flights had the delta-v to take the external tanks to orbit, but they 
deliberatly had them burn up instead.

hopefully, once commercial stations become a thing, they will be interested in 
accumulating 2nd stages and other things that we currently are deliberatly 
deorbiting.

> 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...

No door at all on ship 20-24. there is a barrel section that has a door cut in 
it, but that's it so far.

David Lang