NEWS: Elon Musk plans to establish a STEM-focused primary and secondary school, with eventual expansion into a university offering high-level education, featuring traditional and hands-on learning methods.
- The university will employ “experienced faculty” and feature a traditional curriculum “alongside hands-on learning experience including simulations, case studies, fabrication/design projects and labs,” according to the application.
- The plan for this university was formalized in an application for tax-exempt status to the IRS in October 2022, approved by March.
- Elon has prior experience in education, having founded Ad Astra for his children and SpaceX employees' children.
- Elon’s new STEM school anticipates an initial class of 50 students and is in the process of staffing.
Elon's new K-12 school and eventually the university will reportedly be located in the Austin Texas area where Elon is currently based.
YazataDec 15, 2023 09:17 PM (This post was last modified: Dec 15, 2023 09:52 PM by Yazata.)
A whole set of Tower segments were constructed months ago at Cape Canaveral at SpaceX Roberts road. Then they just sat there. Everyone suspects that a hold had been put on Starship launch pad construction at Cape Canaveral until the pad design is tested and finalized at Boca Chica.
Meanwhile some small(ish) tower pieces had appeared at Starbase after being trucked in and a tower construction area seems to have been set aside at Sanchez.
Well, the big tower segments at Cape Canaveral have started to move. They appear to be headed to the Kennedy Space Center maritime turn basin where it's believed they will be loaded onto barges for the trip to the port of Brownsville.
It's still unknown where a new tower will be located at the Starbase launch site, or whether it can be accomodated without a significant expansion of the cramped launch site footprint. That would mean expansion into the surrounding wetlands which would certainly draw opposition from environmental activists.
There may also be tanks on the move from Kennedy Space Center to Starbase. That might be one of them ahead of the tower segment in the photo below.
(Photo from one of Lab Padre's ubiquitous livestream cams)
(Dec 13, 2023 08:40 PM)Yazata Wrote: - The university will employ “experienced faculty” and feature a traditional curriculum “alongside hands-on learning experience including simulations, case studies, fabrication/design projects and labs,” according to the application.
- The plan for this university was formalized in an application for tax-exempt status to the IRS in October 2022, approved by March.
Lots of speculation on X that Elon's proposed new university will be staffed in some large part by older semi-retired SpaceX and Tesla engineers. They represent a resource that Elon doesn't want to lose. His proposed faculty won't just be academics who teach theory from the textbook, but people who will bring with them the accumulated practical engineering experience and culture from SX and Tesla.
(I'm sure theory won't be slighted though, since Elon believes that engineering has to be based on "first principles": Hence his famous saying: "Physics is the law. Everything else is just recommendations.")
And I expect that engineering students will have plentiful real-world internship opportunities at Tesla and SpaceX, and will probably have an inside-shot at future hiring at Elon's companies.
Elon's known for giving interns very responsible roles. When they disassembled the metal fabrication building and reassembled it at Sanchez, it was an intern in charge of the whole project! The move went very well too! So when this young guy applies for a job somewhere, he already has managing a large project on his resume and comes with a personal recommendation from Elon Musk!
YazataDec 18, 2023 05:00 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 18, 2023 05:42 AM by Yazata.)
The Ringwatchers (a famous crew of Uber-Spacenerds) have produced a detailed analysis of how it's believed (by observers outside SpaceX) the propellant distribution system works on Superheavy Boosters. The analysis is illustrated by an astounding collection of photographs of exceedingly cryptic rocket parts whose purpose only became apparent long after they were photographed.
The analysis doesn't include the math -- calculations of flow rates, forces and pressures that SpaceX engineers need to be concerned with. (Let alone the computational fluid dynamics of fuel-slosh in the tanks during various accelerations.)
But when you remember that there are 33 Raptor engines that need to be properly fed -- fuel and oxidizer lines to each engine, no less than 79 propellant flow valves, main and header tanks for both fuel and oxidizer, and fill and drain lines for the tanks, it starts to become absolutely mind-boggling. If you have an eye for engineering, you will start to appreciate the elegance of the observed plumbing architecture.
The Ringwatchers say, "This design has supported a full-duration first-stage ascent already, proving that it is able to adequately supply all engines on the Booster with their propellants."
Any attempt to understand what went wrong with the IFT-2 booster during boostback after stage separation necessarily demands some knowledge of the system and how it's supposed to work.
YazataDec 19, 2023 04:41 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 19, 2023 05:30 AM by Yazata.)
This morning booster B10 rolled out to the Launch Site, to join ship S28 which rolled out a few days ago. So both the booster and the ship for the third Starship flight (IFT-3) are out.
For years people have compared the ships and boosters on the self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) to parade floats in totally unique only-in-Boca China parades. Well, SpaceX is finally getting with it and have decorated both S28's and B10's SPMTs as Christmas floats!
YazataDec 21, 2023 04:41 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 21, 2023 05:07 AM by Yazata.)
Today they conducted a full six-engine static fire of Ship 28, the ship intended for upcoming IFT-3. All indications seem to be that it went successfully.
Then in a surprise bonus, several hours later they tested opening and closing the ship's cargo bay door, suggesting it might be used if S28 achieves orbit. (Ships 24 and 25, the IFT-1 and 2 ships, had their cargo bay doors welded shut.)
And Mary (the BocaChicaGal) reports that another overpressure warning went out for tomorrow as well, so they may be planning to perform a static fire for Booster 10, the IFT-3 booster tomorrow.
They are wasting no time powering ahead towards the third Starship test flight. That's most likely to happen in January, God/FAA willing.
YazataDec 24, 2023 06:54 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 24, 2023 06:01 PM by Yazata.)
The 'Gateway to Mars' sign looks so good that they are doubling down on signs. They are constructing a new gate to the launch area and today they installed the stylized 'SpaceX' company logo above it in giant illuminated letters.
Several ships and boosters were shuffled around - a booster went to Masseys for cryo testing and a ship was moved into the new Megabay 2 for the first time indicating its now in use. The tower segment recently barged out of Cape Canaveral arrived in the port of Brownsville.
And there were no less than two static fires! Both the ship and the booster slated for IFT-3 got fired up. S28 enjoyed a one-engine SF apparently simulating a deorbit burn in space. And booster B10 undertook a full 33 engine static fire. This one seemed longer and more forceful than earlier booster static fires, at least to my non-expert eye.
Check out the incredible shockwaves in this SpaceX video:
Today 25 story tall B10 rolled back to the Megabay for undisclosed finishing touches.
And there was a bit of drama along the way! The SPMTs take up both lanes of the two lane road, and the booster transport stand is much wider than that. And there was a car parked on the shoulder of the road!
People watching on the stream were thinking that there's no way they are getting past that car without scraping and gouging the side and maybe ripping the roof off with the booster stand.
But our hero SPMT crew did it like the professionals that they are, with only inches to spare both on the side and above. Those guys are really good!
Dec 13, 2023 08:40 PM
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