Ontopic Mission to Uranus

Nah. They didn't.

Jenkum is right. As a species we have literally forgotten more about concrete than we know. There exist tables upon tables upon tables that depict load calculations and how concrete will perform under those loads.
Them (Elon) saying "we thought it would hold" means the people in charge of those decisions should be fired. "We thought it would hold" means a factor of safety of around 1, give or take 10%. The amount of damage shown? The massive fucking chunks of concrete shot off everywhere? The damage to the Liquid Oxygen tanks from that concrete?

Nah, broseph. They didn't think it would hold. Not anyone worth their salt at least.
Nobody could have known. It's literally impossible, and even NASA has no idea how to build a launchpad out of concrete.
 
Roger Boisjoly (RIP) gave a talk at my university shortly before I graduated. The Challenger disaster was the direct result of engineers, with valid concerns, getting overruled by management. I walked out of that talk afterwards angry and pissed off at the world.

Now I'm sure there's a difference in ethics/engineering rigor/whatever between a crewed and an uncrewed launch, and it was only really a bunch of SpaceX money that got lost in the end as a consequence of "yeah we left out this important part of the launchpad, let's fuckin send it anyway" and there was no loss of life or anything, thank fuck.

But the whole thing still feels pretty fucking reckless.
 
Now I'm sure there's a difference in ethics/engineering rigor/whatever between a crewed and an uncrewed launch, and it was only really a bunch of SpaceX money that got lost in the end as a consequence of "yeah we left out this important part of the launchpad, let's fuckin send it anyway" and there was no loss of life or anything, thank fuck.

But the whole thing still feels pretty fucking reckless.
The nearby town was covered in dust and grit. The EPA can't tell the residents if it is harmful or not because they haven't tested it (because they didn't think they would need to.)
 
Such a drama queen
Cameron County Emergency Management Division has confirmed that the dust that fell this morning in Port Isabel was sand and soil from near the Space X launch site that was lofted into the air by the force of lift off
 
Such a drama queen


Yup. Thats why the FAA has grounded the program and is investigating the environmental impact.


Fly:
Get8NzU.jpeg
 
Yup. Thats why the FAA has grounded the program and is investigating the environmental impact.


Fly:
Get8NzU.jpeg
This is not shocking. What also isn't shocking is that over dramatize everything that SpaceX does.
 
Honestly, I'm torn. While I know its effecting astronomy, I also know that connecting the world is a good thing.
China has the largest amount of neo space garbage. Just not as cool as pissing on starlink.
 
China has the largest amount of neo space garbage. Just not as cool as pissing on starlink.
I'm not sure how you attribute a bolt or other random garbage to a nation. Either way, these are way bigger than garbage, and very reflective (but much less so once they get up into their actual orbit).