r/SpaceXLounge•
ssagg

Did Mary (bocachicagal from NSF forums) spotted part of the dragon wings?

Did Mary (bocachicagal from NSF forums) spotted part of the dragon wings?

Posted Sep 21, 2019, 3:55 AM UTC

24744
LUK3FAULK•

So this is a fairing for the joint?

46
schneeb•

the other ones are way bigger so could be the top canards?

9
ssaggOP•

There is another picture in the NSF post where they show their sides and they are definetly longer than the canards

6
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
naivemarky•

I have absolutely no idea what I am looking at

44
Z1vel•

You and me both bro. I come to this sub daily just to read cool shit about rockets that I have no idea what it means.

30
Smoke-away•

The lounge is the place to be 👌

14
Twanekkel•

I like spacexlounge a lot more than spacex

16
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
bendeguz76•

Cover for the flap hinges. Try to imagine them vertically, makes more sense.

27
BUT_MUH_HUMAN_RIGHTS•

Thanks man, that helped

So it looks like the belly will be flat-ish?

3
ssaggOP•

Yes. Perhaps ala 2017 design

1
PropLander•

I don’t think the flat part you’re looking at is supposed to conform to the fuselage. What makes the most sense is the big triangular sheet extends underneath the base of the fuselage. The the metal ribs behind the triangular sheet are what actually get attached to the curved surface.

3
bendeguz76•

I wouldn't be surprised if this piece would be covered with the hex tiles...

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
kerbidiah15•

I thought it was some tent that had too many drugs inside

2
ssaggOP•

I don't know if it's correct to post the link to the post (if there is a copyright issue) but here it is. If it's not ok I'll delete it: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48895.80

(It's after posting the image that I realized the Copyright footnote)

40
erathostenes•

That is actually the preferred way, link directly to their forum so they can benefit from extra visitors!

So excited for this update by bocachicagal

25
andystechgarage•

One of the few residents in Boca Chica expecting to make millions of a tiny little house worth $30,000.

-5
SetBrainInCmplxPlane•

are you taking dragon wings to be a certainty? after one casually musing tweet made after the game of thrones season premiere?

20
_Andreww_•

I'm honestly surprised people still to this day think it was serious despite it being an obvious joke.

15
TheYang•

well, putting a tesla in FH was a joke as well... to a lot of people, so sometimes it's hard to tell.

11
_Andreww_•

No there is quite a big difference between saying what you're putting inside a fairing and joking about adding huge aerodynamic surfaces which do nothing except add useless weight and make the vehicle more unstable.

And trust me, the roadster wasn't a joke, no one thought it was a joke when he said it. I thought it was a cool idea and looked forward to it happening the moment he tweeted it.

9
TheYang•

washington post reported the encapsulation pictures as proof of it being not a joke, and state that it definitely seemed as one.

Personal memory also clearly tells me that a lot of people definitely considered it a joke. (for example because cars aren't really made to withstand launch stresses/vibrations, and you don't want your payload to disintegrate during launch, that would be bad for the rocket. Also there were people concerned with outgassing of materials and unintended pressure vessels once in vacuum, and probably much more that I can't remember from the top of my head)

I'm not arguing which was more clearly a joke or anything, just that it sometimes is difficult for at least some people to discern if musks tweets are jokes or not.

7
PropLander•

I don’t think the people being serious mean that they would actually be adding wings to Starship in tandem with the aft fins. What Musk most likely was hinting was the aft fins fold in the middle instead of at the attachment point. This design has been widely agreed to be superior and there’s a good chance it could end up being true.

Calling the folding leg fins “dragon wings” is a bit of a stretch, but if you imagine a head-on view of the ship with the aft flaps folded up, you can kinda see the resemblance.

4
brickmack•

Yeah, like a flying watertower

2
Chairboy•

I'm honestly surprised people still to this day think it was serious despite it being an obvious joke.

So this comment didn’t age very well, what with the big wing-looking things being installed today.

0
_Andreww_•

Those my friend are not the dragon wings. Those are the landing legs and flight surfaces in order to control, the ones we saw from the render over a year ago.

The 'dragon wings' are supposedly a third set of aerodynamic surfaces that looks like Dragon wings and flap around, complete nonsense.

1
Chairboy•

He never described them in the way you are, sounds like you are presenting a community theory as if it was a statement from musk.

That happens a lot in this community, fan theories being upgraded to “fact“ status. Unfortunate.

He made it off the cuff reference to Dragon wings and for all we know, he was just talking about the extended strakes/fin arrangement we’re seeing today.

0
ssaggOP•

I never took it seriously but I was confused by the ondulatiins of the upper edge. Now that I look at it again I realized it may be just the natural ondulations between the internal ribs before the final welding to the main body

2
Piscator629•

I think the pipe is a stand in gauge for the actual wing components.

Clear view of pipe in relation to leg mounts.

2
scottm3•

first thing i thought was aerospike lmao.

12
avibat•

Don't let Tim see this.

19
JohnsonHardwood•

This looks like the cover for the two hinges for the “wings”. The side that is closer together would go on the starship main stack and it would cover the hinges.

7
doodle77•

Looks to me like a protective cover for the rotating joint.

7
scarlet_sage•

The wing-like things (are they the things that they call "flegs"?) seen and much debated in previous pictures ... has anyone compared the curvature of their rounded ends to the curvatures of the corners here, and the widths there to here?

6
edflyerssn007•

These look like surfaces to blend the legs into the bodies and yeah the hinge area loks about right sized for the big surfaces.

8
ssaggOP•

There is another picture in the NSF post where they show their lenght and they are really long. Perhaps comparable to the "flaps" already in place.

5
puppzogg•

Shrouds for the bow control surfaces

4
jstrotha0975•

Looks like fairings to cover the flap hinges.

3
CyriousLordofDerp•

Gotta be the outer hull parts/mounting hardware for the lower fins. The curvature on the inside of these means that's really the only place to put them.

2
robertmartens•

I don't know, did Mary spotted it?

2
Speak_Plainly•

This looks like it would require more complex heat shielding tiles than the simple hex-tiles.

2
Leaky_gland•

Rivets eh? I thought this entire structure would be welded together.

1
pillowbanter•

I believe what you’re seeing are spot welds. Similar to the type of welds that fix auto body panels onto their frames

6
benz650•

It could be the fins for the top of the rocket.

1