7 ms·
The most interesting hypothesis I've heard is intentional sabotage, like with a sniper rifle shot. Snipers have been known to hit human targets from 1.5 miles a
by imaginenore 10y ago
The most interesting hypothesis I've heard is intentional sabotage, like with a sniper rifle shot. Snipers have been known to hit human targets from 1.5 miles away. It seems like a huge rocket can get shot from a much larger distance.
- hood_syntax 10y agoIt's possible, and there could be motive from competing companies, but frankly it seems a bit far-fetched.
- imaginenore 10y agoNot just companies, countries like Russia. SpaceX is eating their space lunch.
- wyager 10y agoThere's also the whole conspiracy theory with Israel not wanting the launch to go through because it was a condition for the sale of the Israeli Spacecom to the Chinese, and Israel wanted to maintain control of their space industry.
- dogma1138 10y agoThe Israeli government approved the sale, they could've said no if they wanted too. If some one doesn't want Israel to transfer satellite technology to China it's not really the Israeli government. Also Spacecom is just a satellite operator, the satellite was built by IAI and other contractors, IAI is a state owned corporation which builds Israel's satellites and space launch vehicles. For the most part Spacecom doesn't have anything of real worth the transfer (other than their commercial operations), they do not operate Israel's military satellites they do not even operate Israel's commercial dual-use earth observing satellites.
- olalonde 10y agoEven more far fetched, someone shorting a large amount of SpaceX stock. That would make for a decent movie plot though.
- dogma1138 10y agoSpaceX isn't publically traded IIRC, so shorting the stock isn't really possible.
- samcheng 10y agoHow big is the upper-stage cryogenic helium tank? I imagine not very large, and it's not obvious to me exactly where it is placed. The hypothesized saboteur would have to be an amazing shot!
- lvs 10y agoThe volume of a rocket is predominantly composed of fuel. And even if a puncture doesn't cause an anomaly at sea level, it most certainly will upon some flight condition.
- ygra 10y agoYou don't shoot the rocket in a static fire I'd you want it to explode in flight, though.
- imaginenore 10y agoThey don't have to hit just the helium tank to cause the explosion. Any fuel tank would probably do.
- samcheng 10y agoIf the failure has been isolated to the helium tank, that further debunks the 'sniper' hypothesis, right?
- imaginenore 10y agoIn what way?
- samcheng 10y agoWell, if any tank failure would cause an explosion, wouldn't the hypothetical sniper aim at a big tank? Not a tiny flask located inside another tank.
- 10y ago
- wojciem 10y agoWell with the rifle there is a problem that bullet would be left on the stage. Not sure whether would it be possible to do it with for example laser.
- jsprogrammer 10y agoHow is that a problem? What about the giant debris field left?
- freehunter 10y agoWith an explosion that large, you would never find the bullet.
- douche 10y agoAlright, everybody, start looking for the grassy knoll...
- pavelrub 10y agoWhat is it with HN and belief in various absurd conspiracy theories? Is it an American thing?
- burkaman 10y agoIt's a human thing
- api 10y agoNit: the contention that the world's leaders are shape shifting alien reptiles is an absurd conspiracy theory. This one is just extremely unlikely in the absence of direct evidence.
- bdcravens 10y agoMusk is the new Jobs on HN. His company is beyond failure for he is a holy figure to be worshipped and everything his company does is not the result of the employees, but of his blessing and ability.
- grkvlt 10y agoInterestingly, I have noticed a tendency for positive stories and statements about SpaceX (and, if I wanted to be contentious, I could even call them 'fanboy' originated) to refer to him as 'Elon', whereas negative or neutral commentary uses the less familiar 'Musk' instead. I'm not quite sure what conclusion to draw from this, though. As for the 'ElongatedMuskrat' user on Reddit, I have no idea...
- imaginenore 10y agoYou're confusing a hypothesis and a belief.
- optforfon 10y agoI think there is a big cultural element. Not to say other cultures are immune to conspiracy-theory thinking, but something about American exceptionalism seems to encourage it.
- gozur88 10y agoThat could certainly be done, but I don't think it could be done in a way that wasn't obvious to investigators.
- dogma1138 10y agoYou do realize they are launching from a military base right?