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>In Port Isabel, a city about six miles northwest where at least one window shattered, residents were alarmed. >"There were bowling ball-sized pieces of concre

>In Port Isabel, a city about six miles northwest where at least one window shattered, residents were alarmed. >"There were bowling ball-sized pieces of concrete that came flying out of the launchpad area" >In June, an environmental assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that SpaceX’s plans for orbital launches would have “no significant impact” on the region along the Gulf Coast. There was a thread here [0] a few days ago of a blog post that raised some valid criticism to the way Starbase its conducting its ops and how the EPA is playing dumb around it. Funny thing, it got flagged and hidden almost immediately, even though it was quite active and getting several comments per minute ... What I've found particularly disturbing is how some commenters were dismissing the blog post as ignorant, misinformed, a "breathless doom mongering", etc. I wonder if they're on Musk's payroll or if they just shill for free. I'd like to hear what they say about this but they're, conveniently, no longer around now. A classic. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35590279 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35590279

junofan 4y ago
It’s a big rocket. What do you expect?
- fabian2k 4y ago
  You could expect them to build adequate measures to limit damage like flame trenches and water deluge systems. And to build new rocket launch facilities in suitable areas with sufficient distance to cities.
  - RetpolineDrama 4y ago
    See my above comment, you and a bunch of other commenters are making wildly incorrect assumptions about a huge list of things. It might surprise you that the Engineers running the current leader in space flight (tonnage to orbit, reliability, reusability, cost, pick your metric) aren't complete idiots.
    - fabian2k 4y ago
      So you think they can get away with launching again without a flame trench and a real water deluge system? The debris very likely damaged the rocket engines, that is not something they can tolerate for more tests. This kind of infrastructure isn't built quickly, so if it is needed they should have started building it somewhere 1-2 years ago instead of deciding to try it without it. Because if they need it now, this slows down development significantly as they have to built it starting from now.
- i_am_jl 4y ago
  No, it's the biggest rocket. Normal launch precautions for big rockets would have been a good place to start.
  - tibbydudeza 4y ago
    Not like we have done before - Saturn V launchpad had a water deluge system and a rather concrete bunker under the rocket. I guess Space X will get there when it is more stable and not alpha version - the first few launches are always going to blow up in line with their build fast and break fast engineering philosophy.
    - robertlagrant 4y ago
      Concrete is a major source of CO2, though.
      - barbazoo 4y ago
        So much trolling here recently it seems to me
        i_am_jl 4y ago
        Dude's account is 9 years old with >5k karma. I'm concerned he's having a stroke.
        robertlagrant 4y ago
        I got it by responding to content, not ad hominem nonsense, and occasionally making jokes. Some of the latter will not land, of course.
        robertlagrant 4y ago
        It's not trolling. I was just being light-hearted.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
- TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
  Well if you have A380, you are not going to try to land it on local sports airfield, aren't you?
Etrnl_President 4y ago
All I'll say is Drop Pods. That should be enough of a hint.
RetpolineDrama 4y ago
The article was flagged because the article was trash. Just because it had a few correct points sprinkled in a misleading fashion among the rest doesn't mean the article was overall correct. The damage was expected, no one was hurt. A throw-away obsolete test article that was literally going to be shot full of holes and sunk to the bottom of the ocean was instead blown up and a temporary pad that is being replaced anyways got damaged, oh well. The primary objective of the test was to demonstrate a 33 engine start up and operational run at 100% throttle. There's all kinds of compounding effects that are hard to simulate (constructive interference is a bitch) and at some point the only way to get the data is to test. Even hitting MaxQ was a bonus, although this test article lacked many of the structural enhancements already incorporated into the production articles so it's not as useful as some think. Nothing that you see in Boca chica is in it's final form, almost everything there except the tower structure itself will be ripped out and replaced at some point.
- sidibe 4y ago
  The article was flagged because of fandom. It said there would be a larger radius affected than the environmental impact report and it was right.
andrepd 4y ago
Move fast and break things, as long as it's not your house being broken or your kids inhaling the toxic particulates.

junofan 4y ago

It’s a big rocket. What do you expect?

fabian2k 4y ago
You could expect them to build adequate measures to limit damage like flame trenches and water deluge systems. And to build new rocket launch facilities in suitable areas with sufficient distance to cities.
- RetpolineDrama 4y ago
  See my above comment, you and a bunch of other commenters are making wildly incorrect assumptions about a huge list of things. It might surprise you that the Engineers running the current leader in space flight (tonnage to orbit, reliability, reusability, cost, pick your metric) aren't complete idiots.
  - fabian2k 4y ago
    So you think they can get away with launching again without a flame trench and a real water deluge system? The debris very likely damaged the rocket engines, that is not something they can tolerate for more tests. This kind of infrastructure isn't built quickly, so if it is needed they should have started building it somewhere 1-2 years ago instead of deciding to try it without it. Because if they need it now, this slows down development significantly as they have to built it starting from now.
i_am_jl 4y ago
No, it's the biggest rocket. Normal launch precautions for big rockets would have been a good place to start.
- tibbydudeza 4y ago
  Not like we have done before - Saturn V launchpad had a water deluge system and a rather concrete bunker under the rocket. I guess Space X will get there when it is more stable and not alpha version - the first few launches are always going to blow up in line with their build fast and break fast engineering philosophy.
  - robertlagrant 4y ago
    Concrete is a major source of CO2, though.
    - barbazoo 4y ago
      So much trolling here recently it seems to me
      - i_am_jl 4y ago
        Dude's account is 9 years old with >5k karma. I'm concerned he's having a stroke.
        robertlagrant 4y ago
        I got it by responding to content, not ad hominem nonsense, and occasionally making jokes. Some of the latter will not land, of course.
      - robertlagrant 4y ago
        It's not trolling. I was just being light-hearted.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
TheLoafOfBread 4y ago
Well if you have A380, you are not going to try to land it on local sports airfield, aren't you?

Etrnl_President 4y ago

All I'll say is Drop Pods. That should be enough of a hint.

RetpolineDrama 4y ago

The article was flagged because the article was trash. Just because it had a few correct points sprinkled in a misleading fashion among the rest doesn't mean the article was overall correct. The damage was expected, no one was hurt. A throw-away obsolete test article that was literally going to be shot full of holes and sunk to the bottom of the ocean was instead blown up and a temporary pad that is being replaced anyways got damaged, oh well. The primary objective of the test was to demonstrate a 33 engine start up and operational run at 100% throttle. There's all kinds of compounding effects that are hard to simulate (constructive interference is a bitch) and at some point the only way to get the data is to test. Even hitting MaxQ was a bonus, although this test article lacked many of the structural enhancements already incorporated into the production articles so it's not as useful as some think. Nothing that you see in Boca chica is in it's final form, almost everything there except the tower structure itself will be ripped out and replaced at some point.

sidibe 4y ago
The article was flagged because of fandom. It said there would be a larger radius affected than the environmental impact report and it was right.

andrepd 4y ago

Move fast and break things, as long as it's not your house being broken or your kids inhaling the toxic particulates.