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SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
71–80 of 91 posts
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that plant is just for oxygen and nitrogen (plus the bonus argon for the welders.) Somebody did a calculation that showed that the number of truckloads of methane needed to power the plant was substantially less then the number of truckloads of oxygen that would otherwise be needed.
They might also pull out some krypton for Starlink and Xenon for ion thrusters on other satellites. AFAICT, thescriptkiddie is talking about an electrolysis plant to create hydrogen, and then a Sabatier plant to create methane from that hydrogen and atmospheric CO2 from the air liquidation stack. This would not make sense economically, but they have two good reasons for doing this. 1: using a carbon-neutral fuel woul…
Whatever they use on Mars will need to be lightweight and designed for the application. I can see them building some prototypes, but putting them in the middle of an active launch site seems overly risky. The current distillation plant under construction is second hand and much too large and heavy for being sent to Mars.
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Closeness to the water is a requirement so that if a rocket fails it doesn't land on people. And you don't want to launch to the West so that you can take advantage of the Earth's rotation rather than fighting it. (Launch sites on the West coast are for polar orbits which launch either North or South). Given those requirements, there's no location that isn't vulnerable to hurricanes. Boca Chica actually doesn't get m…
Can you launch over the great lakes? Or a desert? Also, what about the east coast? Sure, there was Sandy, but it was nothing compared to what happens in the gulf with regularity. Part of my hunch is that the regulatory environment is favorable in nowhere, TX to bring in potentially polluting industry. No chance Elon could have had a launch site built on the tip of Montauk, for example, although he probably would have…
I have to imagine one of the reasons you wouldn't launch of the Great Lakes is the absolute insane weather we get up here.
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#74They'll have to pay their engineers pretty well to live down there. Nearby South Padre Island is a decent vacation spot, but not many people want to live on the land that close to the border with Mexico. I know a lot of folks who haven't been to Brownsville will reflexively think that's a racist comment or something, but it isn't. The area is extremely poor with police/border checkpoints everywhere, the land is ugly,…
I know this is a digression, but can you expand on the checkpoints a bit? Are there actually random roadblocks within 100 miles of the border where you get stopped and need to provide proof of residency or citizenship? Just curious as a Canadian.
Also they have these in southern arizona. If you go to Tucson, you'll see them. And you see people driving past them sometimes. They are of questionable legality in practice, but I never was brave enough not to stop. There were endless stories of people refusing to stop & talk to the these border guards, and then there were strange legal arguments in court where the federal govt seemed like they didn't really want the cases to go to trial for not stopping, and I though it was because of the fear they'd lose the court case and set a precident.
They can make life hard for you, search your car for drugs or illegals, harass you for your citizenship details. A scourge on our country - a true "show me you papers" place. I heard from non-white friends that they were a little afraid of being harassed. It was a living embodiment of unfair policing.
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you launch over the great lakes? Or a desert? Also, what about the east coast? Sure, there was Sandy, but it was nothing compared to what happens in the gulf with regularity. Part of my hunch is that the regulatory environment is favorable in nowhere, TX to bring in potentially polluting industry. No chance Elon could have had a launch site built on the tip of Montauk, for example, although he probably would have…
I have to imagine one of the reasons you wouldn't launch of the Great Lakes is the absolute insane weather we get up here.
I imagine the weather at Baikonur Kazakhstan and Vostochny Siberia is no better, and the Russians launch from there.
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have to imagine one of the reasons you wouldn't launch of the Great Lakes is the absolute insane weather we get up here.
I imagine the weather at Baikonur Kazakhstan and Vostochny Siberia is no better, and the Russians launch from there.
Yea I'm not entirely sure. I see that Baikonur doesn't get a lot of precipitation, but that doesn't explain Amur Oblast which looks comparable to a place like Cleveland in terms of temperature and precipitation.
I have to imagine that even if weather wasn't a concern (again no idea here just enjoying the discussion) - it would cost pretty much the same to build and launch from the Gulf Coast, so long as you don't get hurricane-d, and you can launch year-round (can you launch in snow?).
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#77And why not? At the rate SpaceX is moving at, they may have the world's largest orbital launch system by the end of the year. That's not even "Elon-time" anymore, it's totally within reason that they could have their first orbital Starship launch this year. When Starship becomes commercially viable, things are going to change fast for the space industry. And that little Starbase in Boca Chica is going to be a busy pl…
> At the rate SpaceX is moving at, they may have the world's largest orbital launch system by the end of the year.
Bit late for that. Falcon Heavy is already the world largest orbital lanunch system.
Actually, it will be the world largest orbital system ever. And on of the biggest flying machines in human history. Easily the most powerful.
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#78Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#79They'll have to pay their engineers pretty well to live down there. Nearby South Padre Island is a decent vacation spot, but not many people want to live on the land that close to the border with Mexico. I know a lot of folks who haven't been to Brownsville will reflexively think that's a racist comment or something, but it isn't. The area is extremely poor with police/border checkpoints everywhere, the land is ugly,…
One of Elon main points was that you can't have all these ships built in clean rooms by PhDs.
You need a large number of workers, who can weld, move stuff around install stuff onto the rocket.
The most difficult to produce things, like the engine will be delivered.
There will still be a lot of engineers required, but maybe not as much as you would traditionally think.
There is also already a fair amount of heavy industry there so, its not like they are going to some total backwater.
Re: SpaceX reveals the grand extent of its starport plans in South Texas
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm can they stack and fuel and launch multiple in parallel if the pads are so close?
I would say no, but I also was very skeptical about them launching and landing SN9 with SN10 just a stone's throw away, so what do I know.
At Kennedy Space Center, LC39A and LC39B are about 3 km (2 miles) apart. So if one Saturn V blew up, the other pad wouldn't be destroyed. I don't know what would happen if another one was on the pad.