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This submission was flagged on HN but it was pointed out. > In addition to the siting and sizing of the pad, SpaceX does not have a flame trench, nor do they h
by almost_usual 3y ago
This submission was flagged on HN but it was pointed out.
> In addition to the siting and sizing of the pad, SpaceX does not have a flame trench, nor do they have a water deluge system used to suppress heat and sound energy from any launches, as the Army Corps of Engineering permitting required to add these civil engineering systems is itself a multi-year process.
> No large rocket complex on the planet: not in Russia, nor China, and certainly not in the US, exists that doesn’t contain one or both of these energy suppression systems.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35590279 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35590279
https://blog.esghound.com/p/spacexs-texas-rocket-is-going-to https://blog.esghound.com/p/spacexs-texas-rocket-is-going-to
- Animats 3y agoBoca Chica now has a better launch pad with a flame deflector and a water deluge system.[1] They really needed that. The first version just fired the entire output of the booster at a flat concrete slab, which destroyed the pad, sending chunks of concrete into the ocean and around the area. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYRJn3uvw3M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYRJn3uvw3M
- skellington 3y agoSpaceX said it was more a question of timing. That the water system would take too long and they were hoping to test before it was fit. The first test involved a subset of all the engines so they hoped the concrete would survive.