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Every launch pad in the US is a de jure or de facto wildlife sanctuary. Launch pads need a large human keep-out zone. Keeping out humans is great for wildlif

Every launch pad in the US is a de jure or de facto wildlife sanctuary. Launch pads need a large human keep-out zone. Keeping out humans is great for wildlife. The site was chosen because it was it could launch East over water. The rotation of the earth gives a boost to easterly launches. Boca Chica isn't a great launch location because there's a fairly narrow window of directions it can launch in without overflying land, requiring expensive dog legs to hit different inclinations. They might have been better off with a piece of coastline in Maine, but try and find a piece of Eastern coastline in the US without any development in a 4 mile radius around the site...

panick21_ 2y ago
Being so far South is quite nice, gives you quite the performance boost, do you have any analysis on what the dog legs cost compared to more Northern launch sites? Would be interesting to consider. Clearly Florida was the right place to do this for the US in the 1960s.
- eastbound 2y ago
  Noob question: How comes hurricanes aren’t a problem?
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > How comes hurricanes aren’t a problem? They're slow and unsurprising. You don't launch in a hurricane.
    - dylan604 2y ago
      You just launch the day before... https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/10/european-mission-departs-earth-to-investigate-an-asteroid-wrecked-by-nasa/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/10/european-mission-depar...
  - euroderf 2y ago
    You launch in the eye of the hurricane: "Marooned" m.imdb.com/title/tt0064639/
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> Every launch pad in the US is a de jure or de facto wildlife sanctuary. Launch pads need a large human keep-out zone. Keeping out humans is great for wildlife. Would note that ULA's Vulcan 4 October launch test at Cape Canaveral sprayed debris and presumably propellant around the same area [1]. Vulcan's GEM SRB burns a perchlorate fuel [2]. Perchlorates are toxic [3]. SpaceX isn't taking any crazy risks, particularly relative to the technology risk and potential pay-off, with its IFTs. [1] https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/10/04/ula-launches-second-vulcan-flight-encounters-strap-on-booster-anomaly/ https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/10/04/ula-launches-second-vu... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite-Epoxy_Motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite-Epoxy_Motor [3] https://wwwn.cdc.gov/tsp/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=893&toxid=181 https://wwwn.cdc.gov/tsp/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=8...

panick21_ 2y ago

Being so far South is quite nice, gives you quite the performance boost, do you have any analysis on what the dog legs cost compared to more Northern launch sites? Would be interesting to consider. Clearly Florida was the right place to do this for the US in the 1960s.

eastbound 2y ago
Noob question: How comes hurricanes aren’t a problem?
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > How comes hurricanes aren’t a problem? They're slow and unsurprising. You don't launch in a hurricane.
  - dylan604 2y ago
    You just launch the day before... https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/10/european-mission-departs-earth-to-investigate-an-asteroid-wrecked-by-nasa/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/10/european-mission-depar...
- euroderf 2y ago
  You launch in the eye of the hurricane: "Marooned" m.imdb.com/title/tt0064639/

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

> Every launch pad in the US is a de jure or de facto wildlife sanctuary. Launch pads need a large human keep-out zone. Keeping out humans is great for wildlife. Would note that ULA's Vulcan 4 October launch test at Cape Canaveral sprayed debris and presumably propellant around the same area [1]. Vulcan's GEM SRB burns a perchlorate fuel [2]. Perchlorates are toxic [3]. SpaceX isn't taking any crazy risks, particularly relative to the technology risk and potential pay-off, with its IFTs. [1] https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/10/04/ula-launches-second-vulcan-flight-encounters-strap-on-booster-anomaly/ https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/10/04/ula-launches-second-vu... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite-Epoxy_Motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphite-Epoxy_Motor [3] https://wwwn.cdc.gov/tsp/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=893&toxid=181 https://wwwn.cdc.gov/tsp/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=8...