5 ms·
SpaceX is heavily incentivized to launch ASAP after any license is granted precisely because it mitigates the risk that any of the inevitable lawsuits will resu
by gorkish 3y ago
SpaceX is heavily incentivized to launch ASAP after any license is granted precisely because it mitigates the risk that any of the inevitable lawsuits will result in a legal order to suspend it.
Expectations of legal interference are accounted for and coordinated between the FAA and SpaceX during planning, I guarantee it. Personally I think the whole charade is antithetical to the goals of both sides, but you can make up your own mind about whether it's useful or not. The end result won't change: SpaceX will keep launching.
- cogitoergofutuo 3y agoThey were also incentivized to launch on 4/20 specifically https://www.independent.co.uk/space/spacex-starship-launch-date-4-20-elon-musk-b2323352.html https://www.independent.co.uk/space/spacex-starship-launch-d...
- pengaru 3y agoThe timing was also a convenient distraction from the bad TSLA earnings report on 4/19...
- gorkish 3y agoStarship getting high on 4/20 was truly a crime of opportunity. The only victim, however, may be the poor bastard who was forced to write an article explaining the gag.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoThey attempted to launch on 4/17.
- agloe_dreams 3y agoI would also note a darker angle: Starship is now critical path for Artemis so the Fed is highly incentivised to allow it to go.
- justrealist 3y agoThe wheels of federal bureaucracy do not move in sync.
- aksss 3y agoI found Elon’s reaction interesting when a reporter asked about SpaceX being critical path. It’s almost as if Elon sputtered as he stumbled over his usual false starts to answer - no, we will not be the ones delaying Artemis.
- neilv 3y agoBecause the EIS was skipped (creating threat of lawsuit to require EIS), is there increased incentive to also ignore other reasons to delay a launch? (Say, some equipment anomaly was detected, which normally would mean delaying to de-risk a lot of time/money/PR. But in this case, delaying a few days might turn into a delay of months or years, due to lawsuit race condition. So someone brash demands an immediate launch anyway.)
- sebazzz 3y agoWasnt a EIS completed for Falcon launches from Boca Chica?
- gorkish 3y agoI’m just gonna go out on a limb and suggest maybe you wouldn’t just start building a building sized water cooled steel plate if you think your launch pad is gonna do ok without one. May very well have come down to the decision to knowingly trash the pad vs take the risk of getting tied up in court and never get to run the test. Still all terribly unfortunate though. It would have been inspiring to see them pull off the whole show.