Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

More Flight 13 scenes:

(As Elon says, SpaceX exists to take the fiction out of science-fiction.)

Photo from the ship, looking back at the booster, right after stage separation. (A photo from the booster around the same time is in post #1785 a few posts back.)



During reentry. Not too long ago, space vehicles suffered a plasma communications blackout during reentry while everyone waited anxiously to know whether the astronauts survived. Now we get live video of the streaming plasma beamed to Starlink satellites up above. Which I'm sure pleases the engineers no end since computational fluid dynamics models will never replace seeing what the plasma does with their own eyes.

Ship 40 is still floating in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX says, "The Starship Recovery team has continued gathering imagery of the vehicle, which is still afloat in the Indian Ocean."

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2082186802912207064

To which Elon added, "We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship."

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2082244164197183805

Elon says, The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2082367610835157028

Normand Ranger, a large Norwegian-flagged ocean-going tug/supply ship has left Western Australia and is heading to where Ship 40 and Go Australis are located. At its current speed, it should arrive on Friday. Expectation is that it will attempt to take S40 under tow and haul it back to Australia.

It's six days since S40 splashed down off the coast of Australia. It's currently drifting with the current away from Australia, while Go Australis continues to accompany it.

The ocean-going tug Normand Ranger should arrive on scene about noon US time tomorrow. And another ship called Skimmer Tide is headed out and should arrive about 12 hours after Normand Ranger.

Normand Ranger is believed to have the gear aboard to tow the spaceship. So hopefully by this time tomorrow or early Saturday we should know how its going. The tow will probably be slow and it will take days to get back to Australia.

I'm guessing that SpaceX will fly out a planeload of engineers and examine 40 there. It just isn't practical to return it to the United States. So I hope that they eventually remove the ITAR-sensitive stuff (stuff with technology we don't want places like China to get, even though Beijing probably already hacked the engineering drawings long ago) like the rocket engines and the flight computer, then give S40 to Exmouth, the tiny Australian port that the SpaceX recovery team has been using as its base. (If Flight 14 and subsequent flights are full orbital and return to Starbase, this might be the last time.) Exmouth is remote desert scrub and only has about 2,800 people but really wants to be a tourist destination (it does have good beaches), so give it 40 to be their unique attraction as a thank you from SpaceX.

(Jul 31, 2026 08:10 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]I'm guessing that SpaceX will fly out a planeload of engineers and examine 40 there.

That's what I assumed.

Quote:So I hope that they eventually remove the ITAR-sensitive stuff (stuff with technology we don't want places like China to get, even though Beijing probably already hacked the engineering drawings long ago) like the rocket engines and the flight computer, then give S40 to Exmouth, the tiny Australian port that the SpaceX recovery team has been using as its base. (If Flight 14 and subsequent flights are full orbital and return to Starbase, this might be the last time.) Exmouth is remote desert scrub and only has about 2,800 people but really wants to be a tourist destination (it does have good beaches), so give it 40 to be their unique attraction as a thank you from SpaceX.

It would be a good tourist attraction. Be able to see the size up close.

Normand Ranger has arrived and met up with Go Australis which has been accompanying S40 as it drifts away from Australia. Skimmer Tide is still about 18 hours away. I believe (not certain) that it is still nighttime there, and they might be awaiting sunrise before doing anything.

Interesting video from an experienced ocean tug guy, who believes that towing 40 back might be harder than people think.

Both Normand Ranger and Skimmer Tide have arrived. SpaceX isn't saying anything, but there is satellite imagery.

I couldn't make it out, but some people are saying that Normand Ranger appears to have attached a line to S40's rear end, so there's speculation that they might plan to tow 40 stern first. At first thought, that sounds impossible given the shape of the partially submerged engine bay. But perhaps they could do it if they place some of those salvage air-bags underneath to raise the engine bay out of the water. Certainly towing stern first would provide them with attachment points (the engines, thrust vector control actuators etc) for the tow lines.

Whatever they are doing, they must have devised a plan before they got there. Unfortunately, nobody outside SpaceX (and their salvage contractors) currently knows what the plan is.

I didn't think there would be any hard anchor points available on the bow, but yeah, the engine bay scooping water wouldn't make stern an obvious choice either.

Satellite photo

They do seem to be towing it stern-first. I'm guessing they have inflatable floatation airbags under the engine bay, to lift it up out of the water