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Is there any reason that these launches can't take place a bit offshore?

• prepend 4y ago
  Yes, of course. Do you think that this expensive and complicated launch platform is built there because it could take place a bit offshore? And all the other launch facilities.
  • kevviiinn 4y ago
    So what are those reasons A reason for not doing it offshore could be just that it's cheaper to do onshore. We live in a capitalistic system after all
    • prepend 4y ago
      I hate to be that person, but feel free to research them. I’m not going to enumerate them here. But perhaps start with the FAA request and resolution. I don’t think it’s smart to assume that just because I’m not aware of some information that it’s unknown. This article [0] describes some of the reasons why spacex is investigating offshore launches, but choosing not to do it, for now. [0] https://maritime-executive.com/article/spacex-suspends-plan-for-rig-based-offshore-launch-platforms https://maritime-executive.com/article/spacex-suspends-plan-...
      • kevviiinn 4y ago
        That article doesn't seem to mention any reasons not to launch at sea and goes on to state: >The concept of sea launch has been used successfully before, and it makes commercial sense for some applications. Orbital launch trajectories are affected by location, and a sea-based launch allows the operator to pick the site to maximize efficiency and payload. The space company Sea Launch used a secondhand MODU to launch Ukrainian-built Zenit rockets for 15 years.
        • prepend 4y ago
          So what else did you find? What do you think are the reasons that SpaceX and other launch centers (NASA, roscosmos, cnsa) use ground based launches instead of offshore?