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Qantas South Africa flights delayed by falling debris from SpaceX rockets
- JoeAltmaier 2y agoSounds like tracking would help. If the re-entry is controlled, why not broadcast transponder info from the reentering parts so they appear on airplane displays? Then they can adjust course, just as they do any other aircraft in their flight path.
- bagels 2y agoPlasmas are going to block the signals for at least some of the phases.
- wkat4242 2y agoYes and also, these parts are not made for pristine reentry, it's very likely they'll split up in different parts. How do you make sure every part has a transponder and it doesn't burn up?
- DiggyJohnson 2y agoLast launch had no blackout period, why would this one?
- bagels 2y agoTransponder signals don't get transmitted on starlink, which transmits in the shadow of the plasma, towards space.
- russdill 2y agoThe south indian ocean is the re-entry site for the 2nd stage of their next starship flight test, which will (should) re-enter in one piece so the risk of falling debris is certainly not trivial and unfortunately the size of the hazard region is also not trivial. They've rescheduled a few times now and each time operators flying in this region have to shuffle things around.
- phkahler 2y agoThey're also going to deploy several fake starlink sats which will re-enter in the same area but with no control AFICT so those will cover more area.
- BurningFrog 2y agoAre they maybe small enough to disintegrate before reaching human altitudes?
- m4rtink 2y agoNormal starlinks are built like that and it is not easy. Could be just not worth it for one-off mass simulators.
- JoeAltmaier 2y agoMy point exactly. Airplanes are big too, and there are existing procedures to avoid collision with marked objects in the sky e.g. other planes. By listening to the transponder messages which give altitude, GPS location, velocity and call sign you can 'see' the stage as it moves through the air like any other vehicle traffic.
- adolph 2y ago> why not broadcast transponder info Do rockets broadcast ADS-B? Trad terrestrial ADS-B: https://www.flightaware.com/adsb/ https://www.flightaware.com/adsb/ Space-based ADS-B: https://aireon.com/its-just-ads-b/ https://aireon.com/its-just-ads-b/
- JoeAltmaier 2y agoThey do if they install one.
- adolph 2y agoKinda hard to do now
- JoeAltmaier 2y agoConfused. There are rockets we can't work on somewhere now? I think SpaceX has them all where they can work on them.
- exabrial 2y agoThis is comically common, but because it has SpaceX in the name, it makes headlines.
- baq 2y agoSpaceX is also like 99% of all launches, so…
- throitallaway 2y agoAnd with that the total number of rocket flights per year has ramped up due to SpaceX. Same thing applies to Starlink satellites "ruining" the night sky. It was a bit of an issue before, but now that there are thousands of satellites up there from one company, they're making headlines for similar reasons.
- sapphicsnail 2y agoI've talked to people that live in dark areas and they've never seen anything like the Starlink satellites before. People are definitely after Elon but he really brought that on himself.
- ryan_j_naughton 2y ago> they've never seen anything like the Starlink satellites before By that, do you mean they can't see the starlink satellites now with their eyes, despite the number of them? Or do you mean that before they didn't see anything and now it is a problem and they are seeing things with their naked eyes?
- sapphicsnail 2y agoThey've never seen satellites that bright before
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
- yokem55 2y agoThe solution here is for Spacex to tighten up their planned reentry corridors. At this point they should have more than enough experience in their ops to narrow down the likely debris field to a narrow strip that can be easily flown around instead of the huge swath of Indian Ocean they'd been allowing for.
- russdill 2y agoIt's for the starship test flights. Given the nature of the program, the areas are currently "large": https://x.com/planet4589/status/1765586241934983320/photo/2 https://x.com/planet4589/status/1765586241934983320/photo/2
- zardo 2y agoDon't they typically dispose of falcon 9 second stages over the Indian Ocean? That would be happening much more often than test flights.
- echoangle 2y agoThose probably already have the tight reentry corridor the parent comment requests
- zardo 2y agoI don't think they can get that tight, it's impossible to predict exactly how it's going to break apart.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoSecond stage and satellite disposal target is typically Point Nemo in the Pacific Ocean, 2688 kilometers away from the Pitcairn Islands, Easter Islands and Antarctica. Nobody is flying or sailing at Point Nemo. The keepout zone typically has a massive 1000km diameter, but approximately 0 impact on anybody.
- 2y ago
- Zealotux 2y agoIn such cases: would airlines be entitled to compensation from the companies blocking their operations? Or do they just have to deal with it?
- ghxst 2y agoIs it typical that anyone gets compensated for a temporary road closure? From what I understand this is one of the safest areas for space debris to re-enter, so likely it's justified and just part of having both spaceflight and aviation industries.
- buyucu 2y agoIf you block the road with your car, then you can be sued for damages in many jurisdictions.
- jccooper 2y agoNOTAMs are all over the place for all sorts of reasons. This is a "deal with it" scenario.
- Axsuul 2y agoHow is this debris tracked – NORAD?
- whataguy 2y agoNo, it's tracked by the Space Surveillance Network (SSN) operated by the U. S. Air Force. They have satellite and ground sensors around the world.
- kylehotchkiss 2y agohttps://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA63/history/20250114/2240Z/YSSY/FAOR https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/QFA63/history/202501... This is one of the more remote flights humanity operates. What even are the diversion points on this route, McMurdo airfield? I'm not an Elon shrill but this seems as an ideal place for SpaceX to be re-entering things as they can choose with minimal damage to ecosystems.
- bmitc 2y agoWhy is that anyone else's problem besides SpaceX's? Are they going to pay for it?
- _bin_ 2y agoWhy would Qantas have the implicit right to the airspace first? Space travel and air travel are both value-added human activities. I can't see why we would always prioritize air travel (particularly in very remote locations like this) over space travel. Most flights will never be impacted this way.
- rising-sky 2y agoYou're kidding right? This is space debris. If a Qantas flight crashed into your neighborhood, you know who's responsible right?
- IncreasePosts 2y agoAre international waters in the southern Indian ocean Qantas' neighborhood?
- bmitc 2y agoIt's not the waters that's important here. It's the debris passing through the flight path.
- blackholesRhot 2y agoThis is only for Starship testing and should go away as an issue after a few more Starship tests.
- blackholesRhot 2y agoThis is only for Starship testing. The issue should go away very soon, after at most a few more Starship tests.
- tjpnz 2y agoThe article doesn't explicitly mention it but this debris will be from spent Falcon 9 upper stages which aren't reusable. The area will continue to be a dumping ground for space junk regardless of Starship, but less of it will be coming from SpaceX.
- bpodgursky 2y agoThe odds of damage are essentially 0 even if there was no diversion. The background risk of a plane crashing with mechanical failures may dwarf this risk. It's hard to emphasize how comically vast the region described is. Its like... shooting two marbles across Manhattan and colliding.
- paulg2222 2y ago[flagged]
- marcusverus 2y agoSeek help.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]