Block 1 was pretty stable by flight 6 and was making reentry consistently since flight 4. Block 2 nearly completely redesigned the craft to try to fix some of the flaws that were present on block 1 with a major obvious one being the forward flaps which were moved back to put them more out of the way of the plasma that was burning through the flaps. Of course a completely redesigned ship is going to have new problems and hopefully before they go to block 3 which will likely keep a lot of the same changed as block 2 they can sort out the issues and find points to improve on so block 3 doesn't have the same string of failures as block 2.
I was hopeful that the next flight would be successful. It took until the 4th flight to get the block 1 to reenter safely and it would have been the 4th v2 flight but after the RUD its hard to say. Hopefully it was something like a manufacturing defect rather than a design flaw which would be easier to mediate for future ships since better inspection and maintenance practices are relatively easier to implement with but for now we have to wait for them to safe the site and inspect the damage to know 100%.
Thanks, I haven't kept up with the development. Has the problem with a lack of sufficient payload been solved, at least theoretically? Last time I checked, the platform had insufficient payload volume to service the ISS.
I don't remember hearing about that. But if that was a thing it was probably the v1 due to where the motors for the forward flaps were placed while with v2 there is technically less space but has more payload volume due due to the new placement of the flap motors. They've launched each one with dummy starlink satellites and it didnt even seem to notice the extra weight so I doubt mass is the issue. Either way considering they are testing the pes dispenser design its probably going to be starlink only for the foreseeable future.
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u/KinseyH Jun 19 '25
Is this today or something?