On 18-03-13 11:53 , Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

On 2018-03-12 20:37, Alain Fournier wrote:

Elon Musk said at South by Southwest that his Big Falcon Rocket
would start doing small test flights early next year.
...
Or must one assume that a test flight will be raptor engines on a BFR
stage 1 (even if it is topped by a cone instead of stage 2) ?

I believe BFS will be tested first. It has fewer engines than BFR.

For small, Grasshopper-like hops, it would be enough to mount just one
of the two (or are there now more than two?) BFS sea-level engines.

From a light load point of view, is it a problem of the methane and LOX
tanks are only partly fueled since this is such a short flight? or would
this require smaller tanks?

You can do a partial fill for short "hops". Does your car's gas tank
need to be full to make a trip to the grocery store?

The BFS has the smaller "header tanks" (inside the main fuel tank). If
only these tanks are used in the hops, the unused volume is not so large.

--
Niklas Holsti
Tidorum Ltd
niklas holsti tidorum fi
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