Disastrous SpaceX launch under federal investigation after raining potentially hazardous debris on homes and beaches

Apr 26, 2023
3
1
15
Visit site
Here we go. Disastrous SpaceX launch!

Look people even if you hate Musk, and lots of people do, he is smart enough to build a flame trench to divert the rocket engine exhaust. So let's think about this, just a little more. If you're going to send a big rocket to land and launch on the Moon and Mars you going to have to land and launch on a rocky surface that hasn't been built up like an Earth based launch complex.

There have been 10's of thousands of launches on a launch pad. So there was really nothing to learn from a launching on a traditional launch pad. No real time data ever for a launch off of the type of pad that just launched the Super Heavy/Starship. While not exact, it does simulate, in a way, launching off of the Moon/Mars.

Also launching the 1st Super heavy with some engines out at the launch and most likely due to damage to the bottom of the rocket is also the perfect way to test the robustness of the system. Especially during the 1st launch test when changes will be much easier to make moving forward.

It isn't like SX doesn't know how to launch and land rockets. If you don't believe me, do a quick search for the Falcon 9 rocket. The great unknown is how to land & launch big rockets (The LEM was small) on places like the Moon & Mars. Addressing this in the 1st test, is smart. Because it will be the fastest and cheapest way to a working solution. Addressing the challenge, of debris kicking up 2 years from now, at the end when everything else has been finalized, is the path to billions of costs over runs and delays of decades.

Also, similar to the testing of the Apollo F-1 rocket engines, some windows were broken. It doesn't seem like history looks back at the Apollo program as a Disaster due to a few broken windows. I also don't think the Sea Turtles were nesting at this time. Was the launch complex damage worse then expected, it sure seems like it was but, this why test flights are done, right? To find the unknowns.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phil M
Apr 26, 2023
1
0
10
Visit site
The trouble is, Philly, that Elon has upset journalists because of his antics on twitter - the platform that the journalists thought belonged to them. So almost to a man or woman, they don't like him. Notwithstanding his degree in Particle Physics (see what Sabine Hossenfelder has to say about Particle Physicists) I think Ben is more of a journalist now and engineering is not his purview. I agree with all that you say and would add that the engines technology and the fuel used were also novel for such a large rocket. I do admit that the destruction of the stage 0 flooring did seem somewhat inevitable but there's nothing there that going to poison any flora or fauna. The birds returned pretty soon after launch. Far more environmental damage is done by beach-goers driving their gas guzzlers over the beach or driving their mal-maintained boats on the sea. As for a bit of dust wafting over a settlement 6 miles away - surely a Texan windstorm does far more damage. So yes, SpaceX employees were quite right in their applause - it was a staggering success. Had the separation occurred at 37km the mission could well have succeeded completely.
 
Apr 26, 2023
1
0
10
Visit site
They don't even fire single engines at the ground without a diverter, let alone 33 of them. this is the most powerful rocket ever flown, it's not a 15d chess move to test and see if it doesn't suffer from a problem that's been around since the V2, it's wishful thinking.

And it was over a concrete pad and held off the surface on a rather substantial launch platform that won't be available on mars either.

That's nothing but a rationalization for rushing a launch and causing tremendous environmental damage in an environmentally sensitive area because he wanted to make a pot joke.
 
Apr 26, 2023
2
0
10
Visit site
These are all petty complaints by malcontents. Alleged broken windows, but no pictures. Ash on their cars, but was any saved? And as always, damage to the environment but also no pictures. Are these the same people who are jealous that he was born in an emerald mine (sarcasm)? Or are they the alleged environmentalists who hated him for offering to pay for a climate change solution that threatened their income from complaining, writing useless petitions, and begging for donations? Like F.O.E. Friends (foes) Of the Earth. The faux environmentalists.
Uh oh. I see a bird has pooped on my car. It must be Elon's fault because of his rocket. Gotta go complain to the government to shut him down.......(more sarcasm)!!
Note. I am a life long environmentalist and thoroughly disgusted at what it has become!