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Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

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Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#12
Can someone tell me why they didn't just build a flame diverter and/or a water supression system?

From someone who knows nothing about this stuff, these seem like very simple things to solve given the vast complexity of the rest of the system.

And they also don't seem like massively expensive investments.

> In a tweet from October 2020, Musk wrote "Aspiring to have no flame diverter in Boca, but this could turn out to be a mistake."

Why? What is the aspiration for?

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#13

Compared to making life multiplanetary, destroying one van seems inconsequential.

I think it's a little annoying how avoidable it was though. Aside: by chance I happened to be in the area so headed down and saw the launch. That was a trip. A guy I chatted with told me we were 5 miles from the launch. He said that 10 miles is the typical viewing distance for the Florida launches. NASA apparently, he said, has an observing facility that is 3.5 miles from the Florida tower but you pay dearly for a se…

If you watch an old Saturn V launch video, they have the same slowness at liftoff. Really gives a sense of of how gigantic the thing is. You've stuck rockets onto the bottom of a skyscraper and are trying to loft it into the air.

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it was a bit more than one van. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enB2QL9Ulus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGLfs376wXE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnMM1lObp0Y

You might want to fix the first link. It's a video of a cats weight loss journey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enB2QL9Ulus

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#15
post #12

Can someone tell me why they didn't just build a flame diverter and/or a water supression system? From someone who knows nothing about this stuff, these seem like very simple things to solve given the vast complexity of the rest of the system. And they also don't seem like massively expensive investments. > In a tweet from October 2020, Musk wrote "Aspiring to have no flame diverter in Boca, but this could turn out t…

People have been saying that the permits to install a flame trench would have taken years.

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#17

Compared to making life multiplanetary, destroying one van seems inconsequential.

Isn’t life already multiplanetary? There’s no way we are the only planet with the only life. Seems like we are just destroying vans for no reason. Also seems like we are destroying this planet for no reason.

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a little annoying how avoidable it was though. Aside: by chance I happened to be in the area so headed down and saw the launch. That was a trip. A guy I chatted with told me we were 5 miles from the launch. He said that 10 miles is the typical viewing distance for the Florida launches. NASA apparently, he said, has an observing facility that is 3.5 miles from the Florida tower but you pay dearly for a se…

If you watch an old Saturn V launch video, they have the same slowness at liftoff. Really gives a sense of of how gigantic the thing is. You've stuck rockets onto the bottom of a skyscraper and are trying to loft it into the air.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/exped...

Tyranny of the rocket equation

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#19
post #12

Can someone tell me why they didn't just build a flame diverter and/or a water supression system? From someone who knows nothing about this stuff, these seem like very simple things to solve given the vast complexity of the rest of the system. And they also don't seem like massively expensive investments. > In a tweet from October 2020, Musk wrote "Aspiring to have no flame diverter in Boca, but this could turn out t…

They are unlikely to launch Starship from Mars with a flame diverter or water suppression system, so determining what they can "get away with" with Raptor is relevant. But obviously 33 of them is different than 6.

Re: Exploded SpaceX rocket devastated a town and a wildlife reserve

#20
post #12

Can someone tell me why they didn't just build a flame diverter and/or a water supression system? From someone who knows nothing about this stuff, these seem like very simple things to solve given the vast complexity of the rest of the system. And they also don't seem like massively expensive investments. > In a tweet from October 2020, Musk wrote "Aspiring to have no flame diverter in Boca, but this could turn out t…

Starship is intended to span uses ranging from putting huge amounts of stuff, like 40,000 Starlink satellites, each weighing 5X what the first gen satellites weigh, into orbit, and it will go to the Moon and it will ship supplies and people for a Mars colony.

And Elon wants it fast. That means anything that would require tearing down and replacing the launch mount is off the table. So, next up is the water cooled steel wedge. You are right that relative to space explorations budgets, a flame trench and a deluge system are small potatoes. But it feels like they are tangled up in sunk costs and a desire to find the fastest solutions.

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