SpaceX Starship explosion spread particulate matter for miles

[RussBLib]

First I've heard about windows getting broken from the launch, but I am not surprised at all. Our shook something fierce.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/24/spacex-starship-explosion-spread-particulate-matter-for-miles.html

SpaceX Starship explosion spread particulate matter for miles

snips
Musk and SpaceX did not accurately predict that their launchpad would be destroyed, nor that particulate matter would rain down on residents and habitat as far away as Port Isabel, a town about six miles from the launchpad, and South Padre Island, a few miles up the coast from the site.

Images captured during the test flight show that the SpaceX launch pad also exploded, with concrete chunks from it flying in multiple directions leaving behind a giant crater underneath. According to Dave Cortez, the Lone Star chapter director for the Sierra Club, a 501c4 environmental advocacy group, “Concrete shot out into the ocean, and risked hitting the fuel storage tanks which are these silos adjacent to the launch pad.”

Jared Margolis, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said that in an environmental assessment – which SpaceX completed to obtain a launch license – the company told the FAA and other agencies that in the event of an “anomaly” they expected debris would fall within a limited, 700-acre area surrounding the launch site.

That would translate to a one-square-mile debris field, with debris emanating about three-quarters of a mile away from the site, he said, referencing SpaceX environmental site assessment documents that are public record.

[Mosby]

1. So I guess that's it for the program

The government has opened an investigation.

Now we will have years of litigation and lawsuits.

Oh well.

[RussBLib]

2. Musk could move ops to Florida easily

...SpaceX is building up infrastructure for Starship over there. And they have flame trenches and water deluge systems already in place! Musk could save a lot of $$$ by not building those expensive diverters here in Texas.

[Mosby]

10. FAA sued over SpaceX Starship launch program following April explosion

Five environmental and cultural heritage groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging that the agency violated the National Environment Policy Act when it allowed SpaceX to launch the largest rocket ever built from its Boca Chica, Texas facility without a comprehensive environmental review, according to court filings obtained by CNBC.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/18/musk-calls-plans-truthgpt-ai-to-rival-openai-deepmind.html

[NullTuples]

3. At this point the shouldn't the EPA get involved? I thought those were sensitive wetlands...

[RussBLib]

5. They are sensitive wetlands

...and some National Refuge lands, but you know what big money can do in an area that is rather poor and economically depressed.

[orthoclad]

4. Privatizing space is a BIG mistake

Musk already thinks he owns the skies.

[2naSalit]

6. +1

[NullTuples]

7. He does. Or at least from 1,110 km to 1,325 km and from 540 km to 570 km

The FCC gave those bands of the sky to him to flood with his Starlink Satellites. One would think maybe that would be FAA but they only handle the vehicles. And let's face it, the FCC really only cares about the radio & other communication aspect. Well, that and how much they can auction off public resources for, like frequency bands/channels and now, entire orbit shells, but that's just my opinion.

[Warpy]

8. Most of that stuff has been identified as the pulverized launch pad

which wasn't built to take the kind of pressure those multiple engines generated.

The rocket itself was blown up far out to sea because the stages didn't separate, another thing that was rushed because Musk was in such a huge hurry to test that first stage.

Most of the team expected it to blow up on the launch pad, one remarking during the live stream that anything above the level of the gantry was a successful launch.

This needs to be grounded until Musk realizes there is a whole system and that the first stage rockets are only a part of that system and he can't cut corners on safety and he can't rush his team.

Decent discussion as well as dust analysis from Port Isabel at https://www.sciencealert.com/spacexs-starship-is-grounded-after-reducing-its-launchpad-to-rubble

[RussBLib]

9. It's a good thing that both pieces of that rocket...

...were still able to receive and enact a termination "destruct" signal. The way that rocket was spinning, if the termination command had not worked, that thing could have headed straight for SPI. Total disaster.

At least Musk (apparently) did not cut corners with the destruct mechanism.