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Some more context. If I understand correctly this gas plant is need to power a desalination plant which is need to produce massive amounts of water which will b

Some more context. If I understand correctly this gas plant is need to power a desalination plant which is need to produce massive amounts of water which will be used to implement a sound suppression deluge system that is required by the FAA. Salt water will corrode everything and there isn't existing water and gas infrastructure in place to lean on. ie they have to build the stack from scratch.

phkahler 5y ago
Or they want a gas well because super heavy and starship engines burn METHANE for fuel.
wolverine876 5y ago
Perhaps there's a more efficient place to build the facility, perhaps someplace with abundant water so that you don't have to spend all this energy to create it?
- justahuman74 5y ago
  Because the rocket is so huge, they need to build it either next to a waterway for barge transport, or right next to the launch pad which has to be on the coast
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    Thanks. Next question: Inland waterways are fresh water, and generally they carry the largest volume of water near the coast, so why not build next to a river?
- speedybird 5y ago
  I guess you're alluding to KSC or Cape Canaveral? As far as I know they pipe their water in from a neighboring town. Do they actually have enough fresh water to support the launch cadence SpaceX is planning for?
- gpm 5y ago
  I don't think there is. You need water to your east (because you can't fly over people for safety reasons), for a really long way. As in launches from texas have to dodge Florida, Cuba and all the other islands over there. You need very low population density (because rocket launches and landings require large exclusion zones). You need to be in the US, because of export restrictions. You want to be as far south as possible, for efficiency reasons (to get as much kinetic energy from the earths rotation as possible). You are looking at this launch site, attempting to acquire a lot of land on Florida's coast (not really feasible anymore, it's all occupied), or launching from tiny islands/ocean platforms which will have the exact same fresh water issues.
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    Thank you! Now I'm thinking of course ... Puerto Rico? I don't know how much fresh water there is, or if there's available and suitable land on the east coast. Are Georgia or South Carolina too far north?
    - gpm 5y ago
      Hmm, no I don't think Georgia or South Carolina are too far north, I'd be more worried that their coasts look pretty populated - and generally I'd expect that to be doubly the case around river mouths. To put some numbers on the "north"ness. Boca chica is at 26 degrees north, which gives you 416 m/s free velocity (1500 km/h) [1]. The southernmost point of Georgia's coast is at 30 degrees or 401 m/s, the southernmost point of South Carolina's coast is at 32 degrees or 393 m/s. Actually calculating payload to orbit is more work that I don't really want to do, but you can find someone else who put in the work on this stack overflow question [2], just for different latitudes and a different rocket. 28 to 30 degrees is roughly a .3% change in payload capacity in their model. You're definitely not the first to suggest Peurto Rico, but I think you have the same problem of there not being enough empty land [3]. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=%28%282+*+pi+*+6378.14+km+%2F+0.99726968+day%29+*+cos%2826+deg%29+*+%281+-+0.0033528%29%29+in+m%2Fs&ei=QkprYZyEC8yMtAap362gCA&ved=0ahUKEwicreHu9c_zAhVMBs0KHalvC4QQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=%28%282+*+pi+*+6378.14+km+%2F+0.99726968+day%29+*+cos%2826+deg%29+*+%281+-+0.0033528%29%29+in+m%2Fs&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsANKBAhBGABQhERYr01g6k9oAXACeACAAV2IAdIEkgEBN5gBAKABAcgBCMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz https://www.google.com/search?q=%28%282+*+pi+*+6378.14+km+%2... [2] https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/998/how-much-of-an-advantage-do-equator-proximal-launch-sites-provide https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/998/how-much-of-an... [3] https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-we-build-a-rocket-launch-site-in-Puerto-Rico-since-it-is-closer-to-the-equator?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-we-build-a-rocket-launch-sit...
cma 5y ago
If it is for desalination why aren't they using solar, which wouldn't even need storage in that application.
- ericcumbee 5y ago
  Because you also get Methane as a by-product of natural gas production and that is the fuel for starship.
  - cma 5y ago
    Methane is typically the vast majority of the gas, I figured they were burning it for desalination too, but it makes sense if they are burning just the other fraction.

phkahler 5y ago

Or they want a gas well because super heavy and starship engines burn METHANE for fuel.

wolverine876 5y ago

Perhaps there's a more efficient place to build the facility, perhaps someplace with abundant water so that you don't have to spend all this energy to create it?

justahuman74 5y ago
Because the rocket is so huge, they need to build it either next to a waterway for barge transport, or right next to the launch pad which has to be on the coast
- wolverine876 5y ago
  Thanks. Next question: Inland waterways are fresh water, and generally they carry the largest volume of water near the coast, so why not build next to a river?
speedybird 5y ago
I guess you're alluding to KSC or Cape Canaveral? As far as I know they pipe their water in from a neighboring town. Do they actually have enough fresh water to support the launch cadence SpaceX is planning for?
gpm 5y ago
I don't think there is. You need water to your east (because you can't fly over people for safety reasons), for a really long way. As in launches from texas have to dodge Florida, Cuba and all the other islands over there. You need very low population density (because rocket launches and landings require large exclusion zones). You need to be in the US, because of export restrictions. You want to be as far south as possible, for efficiency reasons (to get as much kinetic energy from the earths rotation as possible). You are looking at this launch site, attempting to acquire a lot of land on Florida's coast (not really feasible anymore, it's all occupied), or launching from tiny islands/ocean platforms which will have the exact same fresh water issues.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  Thank you! Now I'm thinking of course ... Puerto Rico? I don't know how much fresh water there is, or if there's available and suitable land on the east coast. Are Georgia or South Carolina too far north?
  - gpm 5y ago
    Hmm, no I don't think Georgia or South Carolina are too far north, I'd be more worried that their coasts look pretty populated - and generally I'd expect that to be doubly the case around river mouths. To put some numbers on the "north"ness. Boca chica is at 26 degrees north, which gives you 416 m/s free velocity (1500 km/h) [1]. The southernmost point of Georgia's coast is at 30 degrees or 401 m/s, the southernmost point of South Carolina's coast is at 32 degrees or 393 m/s. Actually calculating payload to orbit is more work that I don't really want to do, but you can find someone else who put in the work on this stack overflow question [2], just for different latitudes and a different rocket. 28 to 30 degrees is roughly a .3% change in payload capacity in their model. You're definitely not the first to suggest Peurto Rico, but I think you have the same problem of there not being enough empty land [3]. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=%28%282+*+pi+*+6378.14+km+%2F+0.99726968+day%29+*+cos%2826+deg%29+*+%281+-+0.0033528%29%29+in+m%2Fs&ei=QkprYZyEC8yMtAap362gCA&ved=0ahUKEwicreHu9c_zAhVMBs0KHalvC4QQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=%28%282+*+pi+*+6378.14+km+%2F+0.99726968+day%29+*+cos%2826+deg%29+*+%281+-+0.0033528%29%29+in+m%2Fs&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsANKBAhBGABQhERYr01g6k9oAXACeACAAV2IAdIEkgEBN5gBAKABAcgBCMABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz https://www.google.com/search?q=%28%282+*+pi+*+6378.14+km+%2... [2] https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/998/how-much-of-an-advantage-do-equator-proximal-launch-sites-provide https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/998/how-much-of-an... [3] https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-we-build-a-rocket-launch-site-in-Puerto-Rico-since-it-is-closer-to-the-equator?share=1 https://www.quora.com/Why-don-t-we-build-a-rocket-launch-sit...

cma 5y ago

If it is for desalination why aren't they using solar, which wouldn't even need storage in that application.

ericcumbee 5y ago
Because you also get Methane as a by-product of natural gas production and that is the fuel for starship.
- cma 5y ago
  Methane is typically the vast majority of the gas, I figured they were burning it for desalination too, but it makes sense if they are burning just the other fraction.