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Despite Musk's whining about the FAA, SpaceX is not facing any difficulties getting its rockets launched from land, so there's no reason, at this point, to add

Despite Musk's whining about the FAA, SpaceX is not facing any difficulties getting its rockets launched from land, so there's no reason, at this point, to add something else with the potential to slow things down. It did not even want to build a proper launchpad at Boca Chica, which did not work out so well.

pfdietz 2y ago
It worked out fine. It's an example of iterative design where you find out the problems of an approach by doing the experiment, rather than by analysis, where you find out and have to address all the nonexistent imaginary problems too.
- philipwhiuk 2y ago
  Except we'd already done a lot of experiments and you don't have to test it at full scale to realise it's gonna be chaos. Yes, there's some interesting papers post-fact on the ejecta but it was still dumb.
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    My understanding is that it was a matter of timeline. They simply did not want to wait and we're willing to trade off the consequences. SpaceX was already shipping a fabricated deluge system to Starbase 3 months before the first flight tore up the LaunchPad [1]. At the end of the day, the rocket did get off the pad. The repair was completed and the ready waiting deluge system installed in less than 3 months. This aspect is always lost in the bluster from Musk, and claims of incompetence from critics. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starbase-starship-deluge-system-florida-shipment/ https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starbase-starship-deluge-sy...
    - philipwhiuk 2y ago
      The alternative view is they got off really really lightly for wrecking wetland and sandblasting the neighbourhood. The reason the deluge system was installed so quickly is exactly the reason you can't argue that 'they wanted to see if they could do without'. They knew a priori that it was necessary, that's why they'd basically already staged the hardware. Installing a deluge system pre-launch would have cost them a month, a month that they wouldn't have spent afterwards, waiting for another round of sign-offs. It was a dumb decision and posting fan-blogs like Teslarati isn't a good argument.
      - s1artibartfast 2y ago
        The blog was refenced for time stamped evidence of what I presented. The fan nature of it shouldn't matter unless you think the pictures are fabricated. That said, I think you are right. Most of it comes down to how much someone cares about debris in the wetland and dust clouds.
dylan604 2y ago
Back then I doubt even Musk thought he was going to become CEO of USofA. If he had known that, I doubt he'd ever have been concerned about having any restrictions from any gov't agency. Now, he's pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants. That definitely makes the need for an expensive ocean platform totally unnecessary. They're trying to make their little slice of land into an actual city. Next stop, carve out that land to become a separate state. Then he can just become governor since he can't be president without having a co- prefix.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > he's pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants SpaceX is waiting for Starship launch authorisation from the FAA.
  - dylan604 2y ago
    I'm sorry, has Musk completed his takeover of the gov't or is he still working?
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > has Musk completed his takeover of the gov't or is he still working? "Pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants" implies the former.
- BurningFrog 2y ago
  There will be a Democratic administration in 4 or 8 years, and they'll want to settle scores.

pfdietz 2y ago

It worked out fine. It's an example of iterative design where you find out the problems of an approach by doing the experiment, rather than by analysis, where you find out and have to address all the nonexistent imaginary problems too.

philipwhiuk 2y ago
Except we'd already done a lot of experiments and you don't have to test it at full scale to realise it's gonna be chaos. Yes, there's some interesting papers post-fact on the ejecta but it was still dumb.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  My understanding is that it was a matter of timeline. They simply did not want to wait and we're willing to trade off the consequences. SpaceX was already shipping a fabricated deluge system to Starbase 3 months before the first flight tore up the LaunchPad [1]. At the end of the day, the rocket did get off the pad. The repair was completed and the ready waiting deluge system installed in less than 3 months. This aspect is always lost in the bluster from Musk, and claims of incompetence from critics. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starbase-starship-deluge-system-florida-shipment/ https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starbase-starship-deluge-sy...
  - philipwhiuk 2y ago
    The alternative view is they got off really really lightly for wrecking wetland and sandblasting the neighbourhood. The reason the deluge system was installed so quickly is exactly the reason you can't argue that 'they wanted to see if they could do without'. They knew a priori that it was necessary, that's why they'd basically already staged the hardware. Installing a deluge system pre-launch would have cost them a month, a month that they wouldn't have spent afterwards, waiting for another round of sign-offs. It was a dumb decision and posting fan-blogs like Teslarati isn't a good argument.
    - s1artibartfast 2y ago
      The blog was refenced for time stamped evidence of what I presented. The fan nature of it shouldn't matter unless you think the pictures are fabricated. That said, I think you are right. Most of it comes down to how much someone cares about debris in the wetland and dust clouds.

dylan604 2y ago

Back then I doubt even Musk thought he was going to become CEO of USofA. If he had known that, I doubt he'd ever have been concerned about having any restrictions from any gov't agency. Now, he's pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants. That definitely makes the need for an expensive ocean platform totally unnecessary. They're trying to make their little slice of land into an actual city. Next stop, carve out that land to become a separate state. Then he can just become governor since he can't be president without having a co- prefix.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> he's pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants SpaceX is waiting for Starship launch authorisation from the FAA.
- dylan604 2y ago
  I'm sorry, has Musk completed his takeover of the gov't or is he still working?
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > has Musk completed his takeover of the gov't or is he still working? "Pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants" implies the former.
BurningFrog 2y ago
There will be a Democratic administration in 4 or 8 years, and they'll want to settle scores.