*** Official Space Flight Discussion (Non-political Only) ***

[dafarmer]

Yikes.

Have to put this on a loop, SpaceX done got blowed up.

 

[simply1]

That's part of it - higher tech requires expanding the envelope, which is messy. It gets complicated when the agency is funded by tax dollars, and people want to see a return on their investment. That will drive towards more conservatism (which actually INCREASES costs).

I don't mind SpaceX blowing up rockets because it's beneficial for learning. I just wish it weren't so disastrous for the environment and disruptive to the locals. There are better ways than just building bigger fireworks...

This one will be interesting because of what phase it actually blew up in. You’d have to think they’d be past the blowing up during a static fire test.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Disruption to the locals I understand. That's definitely an issue. I don't agree that it's "disastrous for the environment". Bear in mind, every rocket ever built either lands in the ocean, or blows up on land, other than the space shuttle (booster still went into the ocean) and the falcon 9 boosters. I'd argue that if (and that's a big IF) Starship is successful, it'll be more environmentally friendly long term due to not throwing rocket parts into the ocean every flight.

Valid point. Some of NASA's stuff was recoverable after water landing (manned capsules), but a lot wasn't. I would argue that a huge debris field potentially still containing combustibles is worse than a pair of spent boosters, but neither is clean.

Still it's a net win for society to have reusable rockets.