From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   Snidely pounded on thar keyboard to tell us   
   > JF Mezei wrote on 7/16/2021 :   
   >   
   >> As SpaceX has stopped testing the Starship in preparation for n orbital   
   >> flight later this year, I would have expected the Starship to have   
   >> advanced to a point where it is ready for orbital flight with its   
   >> components having been tested.  Can it really do orbital flighst and   
   >> re-entry with externally mounted naked thrusters?   
   >   
   > Starship does not have externally mounted naked thrusters.   
      
   I believe that Starship has cold gas thrusters using propellants, as   
   we've seen them tested during cryo tests and before hot fire tests.   
   We've seen similar thruster tests during the BN3 cryo test.   
      
   > The externally mounted naked thrusters seen in some pictures have been   
   > mounted on booster segments.  Those were a new design, and they were   
   > preparing to test them on what are stages still under development, but then   
   > decided they weren't ready to test them in flight.  Perhaps plumbing issues.   
   > And the hot gas thrusters were/are, AIUI, to use the same fuel as the   
   > Raptors.   
   >   
   > As for the landing legs, it was already known that the Falcon legs wouldn't   
   > scale to the weight of Starship, and external legs might be a problem for   
   > full re-entry, anyway.  The legs seen on the SN flights have been iterated   
   > (after SN6, IIRC), but were still considered early test models.   
   >   
   > Perhaps the leg problem has taken more design time than expected, and with   
   > Raptors no longer being the long pole in the tent (in the context of Gantt   
   > charts for the project) and the tanks having iterated so quickly, the leg   
   > design delays are more noticable now.   
   >   
   > I've certainly been on projects where the hard problem of the design was done   
   > on time because it got enough resources, but other parts of the design became   
   > the barrier to shipping, because you still need to have all the screens done   
   > (user interface) and you still need to have the packaging.   
   >   
   > I expect that the heat shield tiles are stable design-wise by now, but the   
   > mounting methods are still being checked out.  So far, we've only had "can   
   > they survive fueling temperatures? can they survive the shaking of liftoff   
   > and landing?"   
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   Yes, I have had a cucumber soda.  Why do you ask?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)