SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas • Hacker News Board

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#681

Post by sixothree » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:49 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #61

People want to see 100% success in all things. But that isn't very economical. Compare the SLS to Starship. SLS has had a 100% success rate. One launch, one success. But it costs $2B per launch (and climbing) and has taken 12 years to get here. Plus, it's stealing pieces of the Space Shuttle, which was developed in the 70s over a long period of time. Starship will launch a half a dozen "failures" before they achieve…

I'm not sure why people need to be reminded of this. This isn't a reply to anyone making complaining about the lack of success. It comes off as fanboyism.

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#682

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:51 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #579

nomilk wrote: post #157

Anyone reading the headline could easily be misled: this was a massive success. Some context: - This was the first "integrated test" of the Starship space craft with its booster - The whole thing together was 120 meters tall - It will be one order of magnitude larger than the current largest rocket in terms of carrying capacity (~150 tonnes if it needs to return the booster, 250 if it doesn't) - There's 5 more of the…

What would be a more neutral and accurate headline?

Successful Starship Launch Tempered by Failed Seperation

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#683

Post by friend_and_foe » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:52 PM UTC

stephc_int13 wrote: post #617

s1artibartfast wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the gas lighting? They said getting off the launch pad would be a win going into it and people are pointing this out after the fact. There is no hypocrisy or doublethink involved

This is not a total success. Partial success OK. Calling it a huge success feels super weird for me, but I am not American so maybe this is a cultural thing.

A private company just launched the largest rocket ever built. It was a test. Tests fail, but failed tests aren't failures, theyre learning opportunities.

SpaceX had several of these types of failures when testing and iterating on falcon 9. It now sends people to the ISS.

There is a PR battle going on with this, there always have been but in particular, Elon is associated very publicly with this company and he's no longer a darling due to the Twitter fiasco. SpaceX has to remind people quite strongly that these are tests, failure is a part of the process, and there will be a big push by his enemies to make this out to be some catastrophic failure because some people want to make him look bad.

Its a failure, but it's a testing failure, so its a success. If the entire thing had exploded on the pad I'd agree with you, but it didn't, it made it through several of it's test objectives and was well worth it for the data alone.

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#684

Post by holler » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:55 PM UTC

For anyone curious here's my video from watching the launch live at Isla Vista park on South Padre Island.

It's hard to state just how loud and insanely massive Starship is in general and compared to Falcon 9 (which I was fortunate to see launch twice recently). My bones shook and my ear drums felt like they might burst.

Incredible experience watching and meeting people from far and wide.

Highly recommend getting out to a future launch if you can!

https://youtu.be/1snFbRby7Ew

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#685

Post by physicles » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:55 PM UTC

blake929 wrote: post #494

I get that there are multiple endpoints being tested here and some of them may have been satisfied, but I feel like I'm living in a bizarro world on hacker news where people are arguing that multiple failed engines, a failed stage detachment and an exploding rocket worth millions of dollars and and carrying a large number of limited supply raptor engines is a "massive success". Can we just call it for what it is? Mix…

Yeah it does seem kinda weird. But did you see the SpaceX employees cheering like mad? It’s pretty clear that they think they made a massive step forward today. Are they deluding themselves? They’ve optimized for iteration speed and will have another couple full vehicles ready to go in a month or two. The raptor engines aren’t limited in supply; they’re making 1-2 a day.

My guess is the biggest issue is the destruction of the pad. Building it up so that it doesn’t get destroyed by each launch will be a very expensive challenge.

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#686

Post by sixothree » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:56 PM UTC

hackernewds wrote: post #640

supportlocal4h wrote: post #501

Somewhere there is a team that is over the top happy about an incredibly successful explosion. Their job was to make sure that if flight path deviated beyond some threshhold that the whole vehicle would be blown into tiny parts that would become ballistically safe. They were on the edge of their seats on how well that would work. They saw the lift off team celebrate their success. They saw the booster team fist pumpi…

This reads strangely like a PR damage control post

This thread is absolutely filled with them.

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#687

Post by s1artibartfast » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

stephc_int13 wrote: post #617

s1artibartfast wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the gas lighting? They said getting off the launch pad would be a win going into it and people are pointing this out after the fact. There is no hypocrisy or doublethink involved

This is not a total success. Partial success OK. Calling it a huge success feels super weird for me, but I am not American so maybe this is a cultural thing.

The topic has been beaten to death in the comments, but it comes down to sematics around success and goals.

They didn't meet every goal hopeped for, but how much or which constitutes sucess? This will be in the eye of the beholder. SpaceX said they would consider it sucessfull if it leaves the launch pad/site.

I might call it a failure because it didn't land a human on the moon, and it doesn't matter if that was not the expectation or intent of SpaceX today.

It is ultimately subjective. You might be happy with your life, but I might call it a falure. Is one of us right, both?

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#688

Post by InitialLastName » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:58 PM UTC

samwillis wrote: post #498

soperj wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> compleat Sorry, i've seen this spelling enough to now ask if this is a word that I don't know about or if it's just a mis-spelling of complete. Not trying to pick on you. I've had errors before, especially in space stuff (altitude & attitude).

Typo+iPhone+Dyslexia I usually edit my posts after posting (sometimes multiple times), I find going back and rereading them I always find errors. Will leave that mistake for prosperity and context. Dyslexia is both a gift and a curse, but only if you let it.

> prosperity

Just to help out: you probably mean "posterity" [0]

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posterity

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#689

Post by lostlogin » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

j16sdiz wrote: post #645

wkat4242 wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting article. He doesn't really speak of a large hole in the ground and huge chunks of debris flying around though. More of the effects of the heat and sound energy on wildlife which is not quite as obvious. He raises some good points indeed, not sure why it was flagged at all.

Given what have happened in the past few years, we (as a whole) are less tolerant to alternative ideas. IMO, we (as a whole) should spend less time spreading ANY information online, use more time to think before speak

> we (as a whole) are less tolerant to alternative ideas.

It’s not just that though, certain topics are lightning rods, and Musk is particularly devisive.

Re: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

#690

Post by stephc_int13 » Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:59 PM UTC

friend_and_foe wrote: post #683

stephc_int13 wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a total success. Partial success OK. Calling it a huge success feels super weird for me, but I am not American so maybe this is a cultural thing.

A private company just launched the largest rocket ever built. It was a test. Tests fail, but failed tests aren't failures, theyre learning opportunities. SpaceX had several of these types of failures when testing and iterating on falcon 9. It now sends people to the ISS. There is a PR battle going on with this, there always have been but in particular, Elon is associated very publicly with this company and he's no l…

Again, not complete failure, but partial success.

No matter how you spin it they did not achieve 100% of the objectives.

And yes the media honeymoon with Elon Musk is clearly over, and I think this is for the better (including for his own sanity)