Stories
I took these photos of Starship’s flight from Isla Blanca Park at South Padre Island, TX.
The remains of SN9 continue to smoke.
With only a single engine running, SN9 had too much momentum to correct with a single engine, and tipped too far the other way. At the moment of impact, SN9 was rolling and yawing far beyond the control authority of the single running engine.
Two engines should be running, and SN9 shouldn’t be quite this close to the ground.
Taken moments before engine ignition and (failed) flip maneuver.
SN9 vents liquid oxygen at apogee.
Flying creatures unite!
SN9 is visible in the center of frame.
SN9 has cleared the tower (aka SN10.)
Taken moments after liftoff. SN9 is on the right, and slightly higher than SN10 at this point.
How to use Blender Cycles volumetrics to make realistic-looking rocket exhaust.
So, I bought a van. It’s a 2017 Ford Transit, and now I need to return this van to a pristine, near-factory state; a blank canvas to build upon, if you will. Here’s how I did it.
I created a font based on my handwriting. Here’s how I did it.
I built a powerful static site generator for hackers and builders. It’s more configurable and extendable than any SSG I’ve ever used.
I took these photos of Starship’s flight from Isla Blanca Park at South Padre Island, TX.
The remains of SN8 (still smoking on the landing pad), and the build site to the right.
The fireball produced by the impact continues to burn itself out; this photo was taken about 7 seconds after impact.
The fireball produced by the impact; this photo was taken about 3 seconds after impact.
The moment of SN8’s impact against the landing pad. A lone RCS thruster (or LOX header tank tank vent) is visible at the nose.
Unlike the Falcon 9’s Merlin engines, Raptor does not use TEA-TEB ignitor fluid. On Raptor, green is the color of burning copper.
Two Raptor engines relight to flip the spacecraft from horizontal to vertical in preparation for landing.
A single Raptor engine relights from the header tanks to flip the spacecraft from horizontal to vertical in preparation for landing.
A pair of flying machines; one small and lightweight and covered in feathers, one not.
Starship descends while flipping forwards onto its belly, with residual liquid oxygen venting (or maybe Raptor venting?) still underway.
Starship SN8 hovers on a single Raptor engine while dumping liquid oxygen.
As SN8 ascends, engines are shut down to reduce acceleration and keep top speed manageable.
SN8 flies in the background as a bird casually glides by
Taken about 15 seconds after launch, while the vehicle slowly ascends.
Note the interesting lighting effect on the ice-coated tanks.
SN8 stands tall after the first day of flight windows ended without a launch.
Vertex Oven is an addon for Blender 3D that bakes ambient occlusion to vertex data.
Three months later, for my birthday, my parents’ gift was a lizard – a bearded dragon. My parents had even gotten a terrarium with a layer of store-bought gravel, and my dragon looked happy to be sunning on the gray rock under the heat lamp. In a fit of giddy irony, I named her Clyde.
On May 2, 2017, Tom Mueller, propulsion CTO at SpaceX, conducted a speech/interview with some members of the New York University Astronomy Society. This was streamed live on Twitch; I’ve transcribed it with the help of u/dansemacabred2, u/jclishman, and u/Zucal. Many thanks!
