YazataJan 28, 2021 04:22 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2021 07:56 PM by Yazata.)
9:17 am cst -- Mary and the locals have left the village. Video feeds are up. Roadblocks are up but 'soft' as yet, deputies are still letting SpaceX employees in. Pad is not clear yet. Workers appear to be arming the flight termination system. Flaps were seen flapping earlier as they tested their motion. Sheriffs are patrolling the beach to ensure there's not somebody still out there. Bluto remains by the other test stand, but its boom has been lowered.
11:00 am CST -- Appears that the tfr (temporary flight restriction) for today has disappeared from the FAA website. Looks like the flight has been scrubbed, speculation is that the problem is wind. 20 mph sustained and 26 mph gusts. May be stronger upper level wind shears.
11:54 am cst -- This from the FAA. "Rocket launch from Boca Chica TX has been scrubbed, rescheduled for tomorrow."
12:16 am cst -- Boca Chica resident Nomadd says that SpaceX is telling Boca Chica residents that they are working with the FAA and still hope to launch today (so don't try to come back yet). The pad has been cleared of workers. There's a new tfr for today, but it's a low altitude one that might be for a 7.2 test or a static fire or something.
Suspicion that the problem today might be the FAA not approving a flight. They are seemingly willing to accept a pressure test or static fire that doesn't leave the ground (since that's not technically aviation), but no flight until Washington DC bureaucrats approve.
12:48 pm cst -- Looks like the problem is indeed bureaucratic. Elon is not happy.
"Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure. Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars."
C CJan 28, 2021 07:25 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2021 07:26 PM by C C.)
(Jan 28, 2021 04:22 PM)Yazata Wrote: 11:54 am cst -- This from the FAA. "Rocket launch from Boca Chica TX has been scrubbed, rescheduled for tomorrow."
Fully expect it to be next week, if even then. I don't envy these enthusiast documentarists and volunteer commentators having to repeatedly be on their toes for every "cry wolf" test and launch incident that fizzles out.
YazataJan 28, 2021 08:59 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2021 09:37 PM by Yazata.)
1:56 pm cst - propellant loading appears to be underway. I don't know what's happening, maybe a wet dress rehearsal. Elon's probably working the phones to Washington.
2:32 pm cst - unconfirmed rumors that the FAA has relented and Sn9 might fly today. People are trying to verify this. There is still no flight tfr in effect and there would need to be one if a flight occurs.
(Jan 28, 2021 04:22 PM)Yazata Wrote: 12:48 pm cst -- Looks like the problem is indeed bureaucratic. Elon is not happy.
"Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure. Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars."
1:56 pm cst - propellant loading appears to be underway. I don't know what's happening, maybe a wet dress rehearsal. Elon's probably working the phones to Washington.
2:32 pm cst - unconfirmed rumors that the FAA has relented and Sn9 might fly today. People are trying to verify this. There is still no flight tfr in effect and there would need to be one if a flight occurs.
Well, this is the era of Biden henchmen taking over agencies like the FAA.. Elon's going to have to get used to excessive red-tape and the bureaucratic delays of Adult Daycare micro-analyzing everything to be sure it's safe at NASA and AOC standards. `
This morning Mary and Jack Beyer rented a small plane to get some aerial photographs of 9 and 10 at the launch site. Mary (a very accomplished photographer) says that it was her first try at aerial photography. Judging from the photo in the tweet below, she did very well.
C CJan 30, 2021 08:03 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 30, 2021 08:03 PM by C C.)
(Jan 30, 2021 06:29 PM)Yazata Wrote: This morning Mary and Jack Beyer rented a small plane to get some aerial photographs of 9 and 10 at the launch site. Mary (a very accomplished photographer) says that it was her first try at aerial photography. Judging from the photo in the tweet below, she did very well.
Might be a whole fleet of spaceships standing there by the time Biden's cronies get done illustrating publicly that their token jobs in _X_ agency actually have a justified function. In the only highly visible way they can: By holding up big projects with lengthy, officious procedures and evaluations.
YazataFeb 1, 2021 03:12 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 1, 2021 03:26 AM by Yazata.)
(Jan 30, 2021 08:03 PM)C C Wrote:
(Jan 30, 2021 06:29 PM)Yazata Wrote: This morning Mary and Jack Beyer rented a small plane to get some aerial photographs of 9 and 10 at the launch site. Mary (a very accomplished photographer) says that it was her first try at aerial photography. Judging from the photo in the tweet below, she did very well.
Might be a whole fleet of spaceships standing there by the time Biden's cronies get done illustrating publicly that their token jobs in _X_ agency actually have a justified function. In the only highly visible way they can: By holding up big projects with lengthy, officious procedures and evaluations.
The shipyard in Boca Chica looks like it can currently crank out spaceships at about one a month. If the federal government works at bureaucrat-time (spend months writing new regulations, hold a succession of public hearings, then a lengthy appeals process) as opposed to Elon-time (we'll be on Mars next week!!) there could be a dozen of these babies backed up all waiting to fly.
So perhaps best to wait the Washington suits out while applying public relations pressure. (Elon is hugely popular and has an army of supporters, even inside the FAA where there are still lots of real aviation guys who love what's happening at Boca Chica.) There's indication that the FAA is already feeling the heat and somebody has anonymously leaked a self-serving version of what's happening to friendly media. There's talk that they are working through the weekend on the SpaceX case and there's speculation about a flight being approved next week. I expect that SpaceX will have to make some sort of change just to allow them to save face.
After taking down the flight tfrs on Friday, they have just put up new unlimited altitude flight tfrs for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
So... if the tfrs are indicative of what's happening on the regulatory level in the FAA (they may not be), a flight might happen on Tuesday. I hope so...
Jan 28, 2021 04:22 PM
(This post was last modified: Jan 28, 2021 07:56 PM by Yazata.)
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