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SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

floridatoday.com

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Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#131

Post by schiffern »

Animats wrote: post #38

Space-X was supposed to be building their own launch facility in Brownsville, TX, and it was supposed to be open now, but it's still just a vacant lot. They brought in some tracking antennas and some dirt fill; that's it.[1] [1] http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/spacex-progress-...

>They brought in... some dirt fill; that's it.

They're doing soil surcharging, so that's intentional. Don't want the castle sinking into the swamp (it's on 300+ feet of silt[1]).

The steps for soil surcharging are:

1. Pile extra dirt on top of your fill.

2. Wait a sufficient amount of time (usually months/years; it's important to wait long enough[2]) as the dirt compresses and squeezes out water.

3. Remove the extra dirt (also important[2]), and build your heavy structure on top. Now the pre-loaded ground underneath won't settle, because it already did that.

[1] https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/countdown-to-liftoff/

[2] http://www.straits-engineers.com/publications_pdf/publicatio...

edit: pictures of the site https://imgur.com/a/0OXkB

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#132

Post by mikeash »

Animats wrote: post #38

Space-X was supposed to be building their own launch facility in Brownsville, TX, and it was supposed to be open now, but it's still just a vacant lot. They brought in some tracking antennas and some dirt fill; that's it.[1] [1] http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/spacex-progress-...

Apparently the soil there kind of sucks for heavy construction, so they have to put a bunch of material on top and wait for it to compact before they can start properly building out the facilities.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#133

Post by mikeash »

gnode wrote: post #127
walshemj wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would imagine the launch requires the participation of civil servants from NASA who I assume all the range safety people work for and I assume they use the coast guard to keep boats away from the danger zone two.

The static fire would have to go very wrong to encounter boats.

Part of the job of the launch facility is to keep people safe even when things go very wrong, which happens fairly often with rockets.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#134

Post by mikeash »

kasey_junk wrote: post #121
pjc50 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole setup is stupid, due to a chain of constitutional oddities. There's no distinction between budget votes and other kinds of votes. Most other systems, Westminster-style or otherwise, have a process which results in either a budget being passed or a fresh election being held which should result in a majority capable of passing one. The US system has elevated a denial of service attack (filibuster) to the stat…

To be fair, the US system does have a special class of vote for budgetary issues that defangs the filibuster: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_State...

Yep, and the majority party decided to waste their chance on unpopular tax cuts rather than use it to keep the lights on.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#135

Post by dragonwriter »

freeflight wrote: post #110
moonka wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shutdown started at Midnight Friday though didn't it?

Officially yes, but I can imagine there being some bureaucratic delay until it's in full effect/everybody got the news. Not a lot of time between midnight Friday and Saturday. In German radio news, the US correspondent explained that the weekend should still be fine, with full effects of the shutdown beginning around Monday with the new week.

The bureaucratic prep for a potential shutdown (including identification of essential personnel and functions that are exempt) usually happens in advance; if you missed the memo and you aren't exempt, the whole “not being allowed to work” thing will catch you up on the key relevant bits for you right quick.

> In German radio news, the US correspondent explained that the weekend should still be fine, with full effects of the shutdown beginning around Monday with the new week

That's just a way of saying most (but not all) non-essential functions run on a normal workweek, so are effectively mostly “shutdown” on the weekend anyway.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#136

Post by mikeash »

rsbartram wrote: post #13

Is SpaceX using recycled rockets? They have in the past. https://latechnews.org/spacex-launches-bulgariasat-1-recycle... Government is normally getting in the way or at least slowing down the process of innovation. Hopefully that doesn't happen here at to much a cost to SpaceX and the U.S. tax payers.

Government is a big reason SpaceX is where it is in the first place. They used government facilities on Kwajalein to launch their first five rockets, and have used government facilities in Florida and California to launch all the ones since. NASA’s CRS contract paid for a substantial part of the development of Falcon 9 and Dragon.

If SpaceX had built their own launch facilities instead of using the government’s, they wouldn’t be beholden to the shutdown like this.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#137

Post by nosequel »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #32

I find this article very frustrating. What do they even mean by "key members of the civilian workforce"? I wish they'd include examples of what kind of people aren't working. Since I have absolutely no connection to this industry, I have no way of understanding the impact of a government shutdown on the space industry. Why is it considered reasonable or unreasonable that they halt certain space-related activities due…

If no on is getting paid, they aren't going into work, simple as that. This can be anyone. Fire personnel, security, gate guards, flight-line / launch pad techs & engineers, anyone. Most civilian companies barely function if the office manager is out of the building. The launch pad is private property with a ton of personnel, they can't just launch without the workers.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#138

Post by neolefty »

rsbartram wrote: post #13

Is SpaceX using recycled rockets? They have in the past. https://latechnews.org/spacex-launches-bulgariasat-1-recycle... Government is normally getting in the way or at least slowing down the process of innovation. Hopefully that doesn't happen here at to much a cost to SpaceX and the U.S. tax payers.

The downvotes may be because people see this comment as playing into the narrative that government is inherently dysfunctional.

Here's an opinion piece from WaPo this morning on the subject: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-buy-the-spin-go...

tl;dr: Shutting down the government gives credence to those who base part of their political programme on "government is evil lol", when really they just want less regulation on behalf of wealthy donors -- a fundamentally corrupt bargain.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#139

Post by ars »

mikeash wrote: post #134
kasey_junk wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the US system does have a special class of vote for budgetary issues that defangs the filibuster: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconciliation_(United_State...

Yep, and the majority party decided to waste their chance on unpopular tax cuts rather than use it to keep the lights on.

The tax cuts are actually very popular. And I don't think anyone expected the Democrats to actually shut down the government over illegal immigrants.

Re: SpaceX can't test fire its Falcon Heavy rocket due to the government shutdown

#140

Post by codingdave »

StudentStuff wrote: post #67
bsimpson wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the thing that blew my mind last time: The shoreline of San Francisco is a national park (donated when the military base here closed). There's a restaurant on the shore called Cliff House, whose landlord is the US government. During the shutdown, the government forced the restaurant, a private establishment, to close. The owners and the kitchen staff were not allowed to make a living. And because they aren't…

The upside here is that you can visit national parks for free while the shutdown is ongoing, without the threat of a ranger fining or detaining you! While I don't roll with the A team, I do appreciate some of the philosophy.

But also without the safety net of having rangers around to know you are out in the backcountry, and come looking for you if you get hurt and don't make it back to the main areas. Personally, I carry emergency beacons when I'm out in the wilderness, but that is something the average tourist exploring the parks doesn't have.
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