4 ms·

Starship has still not successfully flown once, so ten times a day seems like pure fiction in the near future.

valianteffort 3y ago
It's not for lack of trying. The FAA is the only thing holding them back from testing more often and their speed is atrocious and concerns are totally baseless. It's clear the current government, who Elon is at odds with, is weaponizing that over him along with the justice departments bullshit lawsuit about SpaceX not hiring enough foreigners (ITAR regulations specifically ban hiring of foreign nationals). Whatever you think of Elon, or even people like Trump for that matter, you'd have to be an idiot to cheer this kinda stuff on.
- martin8412 3y ago
  That's what SpaceX gets for their recklessness. It's not a software product where move fast and break things can be fine. It's damn rockets where even following the regulations it can cost a significant amount of human lives. Their last launch attempt, they couldn't even get a tank of fuel to explode reliably for crying out loud.
- gamblor956 3y ago
  The last failed launched caused a bunch of damage to the surrounding neighborhood...and the worst part is that SpaceX didn't even expect that sort of damage could happen. And that's why they're currently being held back. It's not related to some silly DOJ lawsuit. It's because they messed up the basic rules governing their primary business.
  - marcusverus 3y ago
    > The last failed launched caused a bunch of damage to the surrounding neighborhood... You seem to be suggesting that residential areas were impacted, which was not the case. > and the worst part is that SpaceX didn't even expect that sort of damage could happen. While it's true that they didn't expect the launch pad to shatter, the damage was all contained within the evacuated 'hazard area' and their mistake did not endanger the public: "Chunks of material were blown high into the air, with debris striking at least one car near the pad. Although that sounds wild, this appeared to be within the known danger zone of the rocket, called the hazard area, which is an area along the rocket’s planned flight path that is cleared for safety." [0] > It's because they messed up the basic rules governing their primary business. Which rules did they break? [0]https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/26/23699365/spacex-starship-damage-launch-pad-debris https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/26/23699365/spacex-starship-...
    - gamblor956 3y ago
      residential areas were impacted, which was not the case. Objectively false, reporting by NYT, WaPo, and the DO confirm that debris from the explosion blanketed residential and commercial areas as far away as 6 miles, and the protected nature area surrounding the launchpad. Which rules did they break? A lot of them, which is why they haven't been able to conduct another launch since then, despite originally planning a launch to have had several additional launches by now.
- nickik 3y ago
  I'm a big fan of SpaceX, but don't just make baseless assumptions that you don't have evidence for. > bullshit lawsuit about SpaceX not hiring enough foreigners (ITAR regulations specifically ban hiring of foreign nationals). Matters are more complicated. Many companies are sued by the justice department, it very common. Its just not news usually. And very often its pretty baseless, just as with SpaceX.
avmich 3y ago
Starship has still not successfully flown once - if you disregard those testing flight to some 10 km height a few years ago - and yet the matter of the problem and the pace of the company still makes it quite comfortable to talk about multiple launches per day. More so, not talking about several launches per day is becoming more and more naive. Do you remember the Lockheed's ad where the page was vertically split, and on one side there was a rocket and on another - similarly scaled image of microphone, with wording like "while classical rocket companies launch, Elon Musk talks"? People rarely remember that ad, Lockheed is quite small in launch business these days in comparison to SpaceX. So, when - and if, if you want - those 10 launches per day will be achieved, will you get caught empty-handed? Or do you start preparing for that "pure fiction" right now, even just in case, so you'd have a viable business plan, a product riding on the possibility of massive and frequent launches, or will you retire at that time, as somebody who's left behind by the pace of the progress, with stories for grandchildren about how you programmed equivalent of COBOL on equivalent of DEC? Our days pure fiction has a habit of becoming reality unexpectedly fast. Better be prepared.

It's not for lack of trying. The FAA is the only thing holding them back from testing more often and their speed is atrocious and concerns are totally baseless. It's clear the current government, who Elon is at odds with, is weaponizing that over him along with the justice departments bullshit lawsuit about SpaceX not hiring enough foreigners (ITAR regulations specifically ban hiring of foreign nationals). Whatever you think of Elon, or even people like Trump for that matter, you'd have to be an idiot to cheer this kinda stuff on.

martin8412 3y ago
That's what SpaceX gets for their recklessness. It's not a software product where move fast and break things can be fine. It's damn rockets where even following the regulations it can cost a significant amount of human lives. Their last launch attempt, they couldn't even get a tank of fuel to explode reliably for crying out loud.
gamblor956 3y ago
The last failed launched caused a bunch of damage to the surrounding neighborhood...and the worst part is that SpaceX didn't even expect that sort of damage could happen. And that's why they're currently being held back. It's not related to some silly DOJ lawsuit. It's because they messed up the basic rules governing their primary business.
- marcusverus 3y ago
  > The last failed launched caused a bunch of damage to the surrounding neighborhood... You seem to be suggesting that residential areas were impacted, which was not the case. > and the worst part is that SpaceX didn't even expect that sort of damage could happen. While it's true that they didn't expect the launch pad to shatter, the damage was all contained within the evacuated 'hazard area' and their mistake did not endanger the public: "Chunks of material were blown high into the air, with debris striking at least one car near the pad. Although that sounds wild, this appeared to be within the known danger zone of the rocket, called the hazard area, which is an area along the rocket’s planned flight path that is cleared for safety." [0] > It's because they messed up the basic rules governing their primary business. Which rules did they break? [0]https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/26/23699365/spacex-starship-damage-launch-pad-debris https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/26/23699365/spacex-starship-...
  - gamblor956 3y ago
    residential areas were impacted, which was not the case. Objectively false, reporting by NYT, WaPo, and the DO confirm that debris from the explosion blanketed residential and commercial areas as far away as 6 miles, and the protected nature area surrounding the launchpad. Which rules did they break? A lot of them, which is why they haven't been able to conduct another launch since then, despite originally planning a launch to have had several additional launches by now.
nickik 3y ago
I'm a big fan of SpaceX, but don't just make baseless assumptions that you don't have evidence for. > bullshit lawsuit about SpaceX not hiring enough foreigners (ITAR regulations specifically ban hiring of foreign nationals). Matters are more complicated. Many companies are sued by the justice department, it very common. Its just not news usually. And very often its pretty baseless, just as with SpaceX.

avmich 3y ago

Starship has still not successfully flown once - if you disregard those testing flight to some 10 km height a few years ago - and yet the matter of the problem and the pace of the company still makes it quite comfortable to talk about multiple launches per day. More so, not talking about several launches per day is becoming more and more naive. Do you remember the Lockheed's ad where the page was vertically split, and on one side there was a rocket and on another - similarly scaled image of microphone, with wording like "while classical rocket companies launch, Elon Musk talks"? People rarely remember that ad, Lockheed is quite small in launch business these days in comparison to SpaceX. So, when - and if, if you want - those 10 launches per day will be achieved, will you get caught empty-handed? Or do you start preparing for that "pure fiction" right now, even just in case, so you'd have a viable business plan, a product riding on the possibility of massive and frequent launches, or will you retire at that time, as somebody who's left behind by the pace of the progress, with stories for grandchildren about how you programmed equivalent of COBOL on equivalent of DEC? Our days pure fiction has a habit of becoming reality unexpectedly fast. Better be prepared.