Day: August 8, 2021

Earlier today, engineers with SpaceX ever-so-carefully placed a Starship second-stage rocket atop a Super Heavy booster, resulting in the tallest rocket ever built, albeit a rocket that has yet to leave Earth’s surface.

At 394 feet tall, the newly constructed Starship system is taller than NASA’s Apollo-era Saturn V rocket (362.9 feet) and also NASA’s upcoming SLS rocket when stacked in the Block 2 cargo configuration (365.1 feet). SpaceX CEO Elon Musk proudly displayed images of the impressive structure on Twitter, describing it as “Starship Fully Stacked.”

The booster, BN4, was moved to the orbital launch mount on August 3. A stunning photo shows the bottom of the rocket shortly after all 29 Raptor engines were installed. The top and bottom components of the rocket are both 30 feet (9 meters) wide, with the Super Heavy measuring 230 feet (70 meters) tall and Starship measuring 160 feet (50 meters) tall.

SpaceX has since removed the top rocket, SN20, and returned it to the hangar for further work. The private company is hoping to launch the stacked pair later this year, though a firm date has not been established.

But there’s still plenty of work to do before this giant takes to the skies and beyond. SpaceX still needs to conduct ground tests of the system, including fueling, pressurization, and static firing. And then there’s that pesky environmental review currently being prepared by the U.S Federal Aviation Administration, which, until the results are known, means the entire project is in a state of limbo.

This uncertainty hasn’t stopped Musk, who recently tweeted, “Starbase is moving at Warp 9,” in reference to construction work currently underway at the Boca Chica launch facility. The company is building the Orbital Launch Site (OLS), from which the Starship system is expected to both launch and land. The tempo of work at the Texas facility has increased dramatically in recent weeks, with hundreds of workers brought in from other SpaceX sites across the country, as NASASpaceflight reports. That SpaceX was selected by NASA to build a Moon lander for the upcoming Artemis missions might have something to do with the frenetic pace.

During the planned inaugural orbital test of the stacked Starship system, the BN4 Super Heavy booster will fire for 169 seconds before the second-stage Starship section separates. The booster will then fall and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico some 20 miles (32 km) from the launch site. Starship will resume the journey, enter Earth orbit, and re-enter prior to making a full revolution. Starships SN20 will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Once complete, the stainless steel rocket will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever built, capable of lifting 150 tons to orbit. The booster will run on sub-cooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellant, and exert 72 meganewtons of force (16,190,000 pounds of force) during liftoff.

The eventual plan is to have both components perform autonomous vertical landings. SpaceX finally managed to land a Starship prototype on May 5, 2021 after several failed attempts to do so. But those were suborbital tests; Starship will need to survive speeds reaching Mach 25 and the associated heat during orbital re-entry, and then perform a landing. The Super Heavy is designed to land on six legs, but SpaceX is moving ahead with an alternate scheme to catch the booster at the OLS tower.

SpaceX envisions Starship as a reusable system for transporting passengers and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars. SpaceX is currently under contract with NASA, for which they plan to demonstrate a modified crew-rated Starship vehicle for use during the upcoming Artemis lunar landings.

More: SpaceX lays out plan for first Starship orbital test flight.

The Steam Deck, like the Nintendo Switch, can be docked and connected to a TV or monitor. Valve confirmed this back when it was announced. But now the publisher behind Steam has revealed that docking the portable PC won’t lead to any performance boosts in games. This could lead to some issues if you decide to hook up your Steam Deck to a big 4K TV.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Valve’s Greg Coomer explained that when developing and designing the Steam Deck, Valve had thought about adding a “higher power mode” that would be activated after docking the device. However, the company decided against it.

“…We felt that it was actually better all things considered to not modify based on docked status or mobile status,” Coomer explained.

“We really wanted to prioritize for using it in what we thought would be the highest use case, which is actually mobile,” Coomer told PC Gamer. “And so since we were focusing on that, and we chose like a threshold where the machine will run well, and with a good frame rate with AAA games in that scenario. We didn’t really feel like we should target also going after the dock scenario at higher resolutions. We wanted a simpler design target and to prioritize that.”

We know from past interviews that Valve has tested lots of games on the Steam Deck and is shooting for at least 30 fps in as many games as possible. According to the company, they are hitting and exceeding those targets in most games. But that’s in portable mode, running games at 800p. Docking the Steam Deck to a 1080p TV or higher-resolution monitor would require more power and if the dock isn’t going to provide that it’s very likely in that scenario that some higher-end games could suffer performance issues.

Of course, the Steam Deck isn’t a locked-down console. These are PC games and players will be able to change the resolution and visual settings in-game just like they do on a desktop PC. So if something like Control, a game which according to Giant Bomb had some performance issues on Steam Deck, runs even worse on a 4K TV players could lower the settings to smooth things out.

Still, if you were planning on using the Steam Deck as a living room PC and portable console, this might be something to consider before trying to snag one later this year.

As of today, we also don’t even know how much the dock for the Steam Deck will cost, when it will be available to pre-order or purchase, or really any other details for that matter.

The Steam Deck will start shipping to some customers this December, with more coming in the following months. You can pre-order one now, though Valve warns that folks ordering today won’t get one until sometime in 2022.

Giant Bomb’s Jan Ochoa and Matt Rorie traveled to Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington to check out the Steam Deck. The two touched on multiple aspects of the portable PC, talking about things like how new-user-friendly the device is for newcomers unfamiliar with the Steam ecosystem.

In the nearly 20-minute-long video, Ochoa and Rorie, sat crossed-legged on a grassy field in front of some shrubbery, ran through their impressions. They talked about several games they played on the latest prototype, including Control, Doom Eternal, and Hades. Both Ochoa and Rorie said the device is “neat” for the price and functionality, though games can take a while to load.

Still, Valve’s portable device tends to perform better than the Nintendo Switch. In one loading comparison, Hades got to the start screen faster on the Steam Deck than the Switch. How much faster is unknown; the comparison is cut short as the Nintendo Switch continues loading the game.

One of the more interesting tidbits about the Steam Deck comes toward the end of the impressions video. Rorie, a PC aficionado, said the handheld device is a “PC and it works,” essentially underscoring just how familiar PC players will be with the handheld. At the same time, Ochoa called it “dummy friendly.” For him, someone largely unacquainted with the Steam ecosystem, the device is an excellent introduction to Steam and PC gaming in general.

Ochoa and Rorie also captured photos of the Steam Deck in their hands, on a desk, and next to other handheld devices (like the Game Gear and Switch). Additionally, there are images of the portable PC plugged into monitors to illustrate both its functionality and versatility. You can check them out below.

Gallery

The Steam Deck launches this December, with order availability opening after Q2 2022. Check out our Steam Deck preorder guide to stay up-to-date on all the latest information about placing a $5 reservation. Also, the company could be considering other colors for the handheld device.

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