OliverClothesoff70
122162
1293
65
"...rapid unscheduled disassembly..."
It was an unmanned launch, so the good news is no one was injured or killed.
Apr 20, 2023 1:54 PM
OliverClothesoff70
122162
1293
65
"...rapid unscheduled disassembly..."
It was an unmanned launch, so the good news is no one was injured or killed.
haitamimama
Oh, just say the damn thing went *pouf* and call it a day.
elbowdeepinawhateverthatis
As everyone else has pointed out, it cleared the tower so successful test. I’d like to add that it didn’t just randomly explode, but tumbled around for several minutes, with working engines, before they self-destructed it. Which, if something similar happened in a crewed vehicle, they’d have a lot of time to work SOMETHING out, whether that’s ejection, regaining control, or radioing to tell their families they love them if nothing else. Point is, it didn’t fail suddenly, which I think is neat-o.
stronomer
They pressed the kill button, because the rocket was completely out of control. Mr M*sk didn't look very happy. Also at least 5 engines didn't work.
ComradeJenkens
Needed more struts.
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
RIP Jeb
Bhurano
I hate Musky with the passion of a thousand suns, but I'll give the engineers and scientists of SpaceX their due. This was a great thing they achieved. A few more start and they'll nail it.
prettydumb
it was absolutely expected to fail guys lol they had no illusions here. they immediately cheered when it exploded cause it got far
SmashedYourGlasses
You and every fanboy have reminded us of this fact a hundred thousand times over the past decade. We know dude. We fucking know you love that elon dong.
BlueDsc
Neat
neptix
I'm looking forward to when the rediscover the term lithobraking.
DancesWithBikers
One of my favorite words.
DancesWithBikers
An expert view: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/so-what-was-that-was-starships-launch-a-failure-or-a-success/
unmuted
Mewmus
they have lots of new data to comb through and figure out what to do better for the next launch. failure is the best teacher (or something like that)
natabus
I see some chortling over Space X's failure in the comments, and just feel like we should all be reminded of how many rockets NASA and the USSR blew up pioneering their use. This is hard stuff. Rockets are really just well aimed Bombs.
dronir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayu0GsrvKQA
primathon
That was a fun tune - thanks
tounushi
It cleared the launch tower. That was the plan, and it succeeded. Anything else is a bonus and getting ahead of schedule.
NomadUniverse
I watched it live and it was magnificent.
theInfinitelyProlonged
"Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure"... Douglas Adams & Terry Jones - Starship Titanic
TheBlueMuppet
Sudden and Gratuitous Total Existance Failure isnt it?
theInfinitelyProlonged
Not according to the book or radio show
TheBlueMuppet
Then you have the wrong radio show, mine says that.
theInfinitelyProlonged
Oh, my bad.... I only have the radio show written by ADAMS, and the book written by Terry Jones, based on ADAMS notes.
TheBlueMuppet
I have the original 1970's Hitchhiker's Guide radio show with the eagles intro, and he says "sudden and gratuitous" in that. The black ship they steal is a Haggunenon vessel that takes them to an intergalactic war. Also the Restraunt at the End of the Universe is on Magrathea, and the Total Perspective Vortex is on Frogstar World B. I've listened a hundred times, lol. The books read by Adams have some of these things in other places.
ThongsAreFootwear
...with a simultaneous thermal event.
WoodHandle
Once it started to spin it was over lol.
TheBlueMuppet
It was over well before that. The hydraulic pumps failed, and so the computer can control it, but the craft was paralyzed.
LiterallyNothingAvailable
Why post this is you don’t understand what the test was for? This was a great success.
kaijuuGold
WhatAreYouTalkingAboutEh
it's a test launch, if it blows up it's succesful, then they know what to fix for the next test launch
3nd3rwiggin
pookerbug
Yeah, I still don't understand the dumb fuck decision to not put in a flame trench or a deluge system. I'm willing to bet all the flying concrete and debris damaged the engines that flamed out and the HPU that exploded resulting in the loss of control authority.
primathon
Already got a head start on digging a flame trench
faithydiesalot
also the big tanks nearby took damage
Melonfish
Space X are just playing kerbal space program irl.
FnordGallop
Not enough stages, no asparagus happening, but the flipping was very kerbal.
Noevilgifs
Not enough struts
ComradeJenkens
The flipping.... Oh god that's happened to me so many times.
FnordGallop
So. Many. Fing Times. Not enough command authority - though, in this case, my guess is that they forgot to check their staging.
insegrevious
It was just the kraken
zalurker
It cleared the launchpad and flew beautifully. But in the process the backblast terminated the cement floor, throwing debris up, damaging the some of the engines. Then something failed when they were attempting the most batshit maneuver ever imagined. The more you look at it - the more it looks like a massive disaster was avoided by sheer luck. Still. Getting to orbit is hard, so it was a beautiful failure with great data.
ImNotActuallyEvilAfterAll
What maneuver were they attempting?
FnordGallop
Their stage separation is a very special maneuver where the whole stack flips part way before stage separation.
kerrigan778
The stage seperation and boost back are all just larger scale and more advanced versions of the falcon flight. Not sure what you mean?
zalurker
You didn't wonder why it started flipping over? That's stage separation for Starship. Nothing like Falcon.
kerrigan778
It started flipping over because of a loss of control, I'm not certain what the planned pitch maneuver during separation will look like but I know it will not happen under full burn, with so much of the fuel remaining, still well within thick atmosphere.
zalurker
Just wait until they try and catch the booster when its falling back.
IainG101
It didn't explode due to luck; it was self-destructed to prevent a disaster.
zalurker
I didn't say it exploded due to luck. The only bit that did work as planned was the self destruct. Everything else was a near disaster.
IainG101
Most of the engines worked, the steel chassis worked, the launch tower worked. And finding out which bits don't work and why is a VERY important step of engineering.
TheobromineAddict
Odd, I would have thought stage separation was pretty well dialed in these days. Some engines were not lit, don't know if that's intentional or accidental.
ScottimusPrime
That's interesting. We can see that there are 6 rockets off in the photo, but only 5 are out in the diagram at the bottom.
Windborne
Nice catch!
Einbrecher
Given the limited scope of the test and the fact that "success" had little to do with stage separation, even just setting stage separation up was likely little more than an afterthought
NomadUniverse
Brand new vehicle with new tech though.
NomadUniverse
The flameouts, 3 flamed out on launch, 2 flamed out on ascent, and two flamed out intermittently on ascent.
SIGMA920
Defective part?
Shrike99
SpaceX were actually trying a novel new method of passive staging. I'm not convinced anything went wrong with the mechanism though, rather the stage couldn't separate because the booster engines never shut down, so the booster was constantly pushing up into the second stage. Anyone who's ever hit spacebar in KSP while the previous stage was still running has experienced this exact problem.
TheobromineAddict
Interesting. I look forward to the failure analysis.
Shrike99
Ditto. People are already piecing together clues on the SpaceX sub and NASASpaceFlight forum. Current leading hypothesis is that one of the hydraulic power units failed, resulting in loss of steering control. I'd then guess that the engines never shut down because they didn't reach the required altitude/speed. This is all conjecture of course.
Ijustwantquiet
Reminds me of the Soviet N1 rocket failure for similar reasons.
FnordGallop
The difference here is that these engines probably shut down when there was an issue, rather than blowing up the rocket, as in the N1 failure.
natabus
More Engines vs. Bigger engines trade off? So far as I know, The Saturn V never blew up. Seems like a better direction.
FnordGallop
True, though that's because they blew up a bunch of test articles first though.
BTanner13000
Well, I give you the SLS. Anyways, the reason the Saturn V had a few massive engines (with literally millions of failure points) is because they didn't have computers to control the plumbing. It had to be mechanical and that would have been impossible, as the N1 displayed.
DancesWithBikers
Yes, SLS. Almost a decade for the first launch. Launch cadence appears to be a minimum of three years. Billions and billions over budget for the project. 4 billion per launch. It almost seems like there might be a faster, cheaper method of development.
ImNotActuallyEvilAfterAll
Losing an engine or two out of 30+ is no biggie, mission will complete just fine. Losing one giant engine means instant failure.
natabus
Losing an engine or two out of 30+ is also instant failure, if they blow up when they fail.
ImNotActuallyEvilAfterAll
Well that's an if and a possibility, not assured by any means. We just saw half a dozen fail without blowing up.
kerrigan778
Yes but we have advanced computers controlling and monitoring the flow to every engine now. Our ability to shut off an engine before it explodes is pretty solid now it seems.
tinydog
FYI, it exploded because they engaged the fight termination system when staging didn't happen. Otherwise it would have continued flipping through space until in came back down... somewhere.
HaraldFriis
FYI, its also interesting they let the thing spin out of control for ~4 loops before they blew it up https://www.youtube.com/live/uouujjgkR3A?feature=share&t=29046 . Normally they abort pretty quickly when things go out of control
tinydog
It was definitely a unique launch.
OOSpaceDwarf
Technically the FTS engaged itself when the tumbling rocket went far enough out of the launch path iirc
cyberimg
Checked it out, but this terminology has existed for a while: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=rapid_unplanned_disassembly&action=history
MoistyFart
I've become quite fond of that term since learning it!
sirava
It's a running joke in the industry.
craque
in many industries, not exclusive to space bois
redsmerf
"Underwent a thermal event" = caught fire, according the my engineer buddy
Tarmaccian
I have a colleague who worked on an airship that had a “unscheduled descent to land followed by a runaway thermal event”. He is quite adamant that his blimp did not “crash and burn”.
Einstein9073
The incident report is quite clear. It crashed, and then burned
Tarmaccian
As I understand, the FAA report doesn’t cover the burning, and the ground report doesn’t cover the crashing. The crash actually caused structural damage that didn’t start a fire until the power systems energized the next day.
somethingsomethingwittyhere
DdCno1
Huh, looks like it's real: https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/23021/is-this-attach-orbiter-here-note-black-side-down-sign-on-the-shuttle-carrie
colsanders2002
See also: Lithobraking
Micro2112
Asking the same lines as percussive maintenance, thermal reconfigured, and high impedance air gap
themikep
my favorite is "magic smoke" -- as in if you short something while soldering a circuit board "all of the magic smoke escapes" and the device no longer works
Alfadorfox
Or lithobraking.
OddOod
My fave is "failed injection orbit and impacted planetary surface due to imperial-metric mixup"
Micro2112
#MarsOrbiter Unintentional deorbit is the listed cause on Wikipedia lol
alwaysupvotefuturama
Okay, what's high impedance air gap?
Micro2112
Forgot to plug it in
OddOod
As a pretty techy guy, this was my most embarrassing call to IT...
Micro2112
It happens to everyone. 😂
Nubsva
Actually if you listened to the broadcast they were very clear that if they got the thing of the launchpad and clear of the tower they considered the test a success. They got way further than that and got some great data. Whatever you might feel about Elon you have to consider that tests like these are going to be extremely important if we ever want to colonize space in any capacity. Today was a good day.
SmokeyIsTheBandit
Why would we want to colonize space? Aren't we happy fucking up 1 planet? The arrogance of humanity really gets to me anymore
YeetTheR1ch
If we can make it to Mars and Terraform it, we should be able to do the same thing to earth. All Elon cares about is more taxpayer $$$
Sakkura
They set the expectations a bit too low IMO. This outcome is still pretty good for where their development program is at, but not fantastic. Would have liked to see fewer Raptor engines malfunctioning also.
chufly
Don’t agree with Elon on politics at all and think he is a fascist fuck. Though I want space x to succeed in every way possible.
Nubsva
100% agree.
Apothecarius
I'm sorry, I know rocket science be hard and shit. But, "As long as it doesn't immediately vaporize itself when we turn it on, it'll be a success" sounds like a low ass bar to set.
InspiredForestRaptor
It's important to have incremental success in testing
Bytencoder
Colonize Mars? With those things running around???!! You can count me out!!!
Gunslinger2071
Let's rephrase from "however you might feel about Elon" to "however much of a cunt Elon factually proved and continues to prove himself to be"
Nubsva
That would have been a better way to put it yes, if only we could edit comments :D
SmashedYourGlasses
You and every single elon musk fan boy has been reminding us of this since the fraking falcons. Give it a rest dude.
Nubsva
Not a Musk fanboy, but the fact you made that assumption tells me everything about your moral character.
gradeD
Space colonization is an extremely far-fetched fantasy peddled to the masses to launder the image of defense contractors, the surveillance state, and industrial concerns who's continued status quo operation further dooms the future of humanity in this, the only planet we'll ever habitate.
Ploty
I hope we fail trying to colonise space. We're bad at taking care of planets
amb1021
We are never going to colonize space. We are much more likely to become extinct than to spread in any meaningful fashion outside this planet.
HEARTSOFSPACE
You're right. People who believe sci-fi is non-fiction usually aren't big fans of reality.
whitey211
I want space x to succeed, but I don't want them to go through with any of Elon's Mars plans. They are stupid. No; fucking stupid.
FlavorIntensifies
Colonization shouldnt be the goal, why look for another planet when we are royally fucking the one we already have. Any long lasting colony would require some level of "terraforming", but if we were capable of doing so, why not invest in reversing the damage we have done here
Nubsva
Because the terraforming methods we're even theorizing right now are fucking brutal and take ages. Stuff like blocking sunlight, smashing meteors into planets and fun stuff like that.
n0n53n53
Elon is about as influential to what's going on at SpaceX as I am.
Nubsva
Not the take I was going for, quite the opposite actually.
n0n53n53
your take was wrong
Nubsva
That people shouldn't hate on SpaceX just because Elon is involved with SpaceX? That is a wrong take?
n0n53n53
no that Elon is remotely involved in making space ships fly, other than financially
SomeDetroitGuy
We will never, ever colonize space in any significant capacity.
IlluminaBlade
Detroit is more of an inhospitable wasteland than anything in space and yet here you are.
gradeD
It's not though, and to think so is the domain of sci-fi. Do you know anything about space. Radiation. Vacuum. Distance. Extremely sparse resources. Like more sparse than in Detroit or even in your moms house.
HEARTSOFSPACE
It's sad that you got downvoted, because you're right. Idiots will continue to believe in science fiction nonsense, because thinking critically about things isn't in style right now. Sadly, there's not a whole lot that can be done about it at this point.
Mitchz95
Not with that attitude!
gradeD
Not with that physics and biological reality!
hardytardigrade
*altitude
HEARTSOFSPACE
I don't know why people think we're ever going to colonize space. Humanity seems to think space is meant to be traveled, but it's actually the opposite. The vast distance coupled with speed limitations mean that our short lifespans and fragile anatomy cannot feasibly traverse any meaningful distance. Even if we could, what then? Can't communicate with Earth. Barely any useful supplies to build anything with. It's just silly and unrealistic. Sci-fi has made our expectations unrealistic.
amb1021
Yeah, it's total bullshit.
BTanner13000
Interstellar colonization, possibly, but you are overstating the difficulties of colonizing this solar system.
HEARTSOFSPACE
Well yeah, local colonization is certainly easier, but there are plenty of hurdles with that, too. We need to develop a much more efficient way to move mass at speed for much less money, because rockets aren't it.
Mokelzwerg
Ok lets just wait then for the next meteor to finish us.
Valaar
Let's not forget about the cosmic rays and solar winds, high energy particles, that will irradiate us greatly on any long-term (few years) journey. At this moment, any person who would go to Mars would have a great probability to die from radiation damage or cancer before arriving there or shortly after.
Shoutrr
you can say with almost absolute certainty that elon have nothing to do with any technical related stuff in spacex. he is the money, that's it
Nubsva
Oh I agree, I didn't mean that bit as "Elon did this" but rather like "let's not shit on SpaceX just because Elon is involved with the company". Bad phrasing.
Mokelzwerg
Nope. Thats plain wrong.
BTanner13000
He's not wrong. Musk is a financier and a marketer. He doesn't know shit about rockets aside from what the engineers explain to him patiently. He pretends he's an engineer, but that's just his ego talking.
Mokelzwerg
He did study physics. And without him there wouldn’t be SpaceX or reusable rockets.
Blaza612
You mean the fake degree?
Shoutrr
he got a bachelor degree in physics and finance, that's it. and he won't let you suck his dick, stop trying.
TheJuiceLoosener
Uh, couldn't the rocket also not have blown up?
gardengnomeii
not really, since that is what the rocket is doing the whole time. Blowing up in a slightly controlled manner.
HootSloot
Rockets burn fuel, it's not combustion so they are in fact not blowing up at all unless they fail.
gardengnomeii
what is burning if not combustion?
Nubsva
It definitely could have made the whole trip yeah. However that would have been quite a remarkable achievement when developing a new type of rocket that it functions 100% the way you want to on it's first ever test flight.
GWJYonder
SpaceX's philosophy on this has basically been "hey we could work on this rocket for 7 or 8 years until we are totally sure it won't blow up. Or we could work on it for 2 years, then do a test that will blow it up, then blow up another one a year later. By year 4 we'll actually have a working rocket for way less money than the slow way would have caused."
jackwagon311
Fuckin Elon cronies are the worrrrse. You actually think that fascist had anything to do with today's "success" besides all the toxic elements released into the air/water?
artwalk2019co
seriously. Rocket explodes and you have these choads going ACTHUALLY and "Masterful gambit, sir"
Nubsva
I would appreciate not to make assumptions about me and my views. Now kindly fuck off.
InspiredForestRaptor
Spacex succeeds despite him...
Nubsva
Yeah I agree, it just seems like a lot of people want SpaceX to fail because of Elon.
msporkboy
Not really. No other space launch company would try the frankly ridiculous things that spacex succeeds with without musk's brand of crazy.
Mokelzwerg
You cab feel about him any way you want. But he did create SpaceX. He pushed space tech with his will. If you can’t give him credit for that for political reasons then you are unable to look at things factual. I don’t like him or his attitude, but I can accept what he has accomplished.
CocaineOrRaisins
He's an asshole, but do you people like you think it's literally a wild coincidence he's started 2 wildly hard industrial companies that are miles ahead of competition in transforming both industries? (Space & cars)
jackwagon311
First part of username checks out.
f3n1x187
In the case of Tesla, he didn't start shit, he invested then proceeded to fire the two people that came with the concept and had a working prototype. If we take investment as creation of the idea not even Zuckerberg would be the creator of Facebook (Sean Parker and Peter Thiel were the early investors)
f3n1x187
in the case of Space X, I'd put my chips on Tom Mueller before Elon.
Maelwrath
He hasn't done shit and he has nothing to do with any success those companies might have. In fact, him being involved is a great hindrance because he can't stop himself from being a massive twat for even a single day.
Einbrecher
TBF, he did more or less start SpaceX and transform that industry. But he did not start Tesla - he bought it - and really didn't transform anything there. Car manufacturers were already shifting to EVs.
BTanner13000
I know he didn't start Tesla, but other car co.psnirs were not shifting to EVs. Come on. The Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt were about it, and they are little POS jokes made just as virtue signals to Greens.
InspiredForestRaptor
Do you believe yhat one person should get all the credit because they were the money that started something? He gave the directive. Given what we know, he doesnt deserve the credit. Just like Bezos or other big corporations. Some work despite their CEO. The pure blunders that they produce when the project isnt managed by competent individuals, is proof of that. So no what aboutisms. SpaceX succeeds depsite Musk. Tesla got its position despite him too
LuminoZero
Elon didn't start SpaceX or Tesla, he purchased them from people far smarter than him.
loma45
He definitely founded SpaceX. He didn't found Tesla, but he was employee #5 and was responsible for most of their early fundraising and financing. He's a twat, but he was definitely a key figure in the rise of both companies to industry leaders.
Vaenaemoenen
Imgur is such a waste. He might be dick, but he just magically, because of his large dickness, has had practically a touch of Midas as far as business goes. But if denial and bitterness keeps you guys alive, then please continue. I'm very happy for you.
armagetz
Tesla yes. SpaceX no. That has always been his baby. He founded it, and hired management to staff it.
Ghlargh
It clearly states in Musks purchase contract for Tesla that he's allowed to tell people he started the company...
Kingoftheblind
If you think that Tesla is miles ahead in the car industry you are wrong. They had a good start, but that’s about it. The quality of their cars (experienced it myself) is not comparable with BMW, Mercedes etc. They had some technological advantages but since then a lot has happened.
BTanner13000
You have had an unusual experience. My Tesla is nicer overall than the Audi and BMW my wife has had. Not by a lot, but we both prefer the Tesla's amenities. We just like to keep one ICE car around.
Kingoftheblind
Can’t imagine actually. A friend of mine put about 10k into his Tesla Model 3 (the more expensive performance edition) to make the interior nice. And it still feels like sitting in a public train to be honest.
TurboPuns21
If you're looking for quality, it's not going to come from BMW or Mercedes... unless your definition of quality disregards reliability that is.
Kingoftheblind
Last 2 BMWs lasted 400.000 kilometers before sold. No issues at all. Meanwhile people report that their steering wheel on a model s plaid is starting to crumble after a few months.
Crowlands
And one of those things that happened was Elon buying Tesla. Now I'm not saying Tesla failing to keep up is Directly caused by Elon taking control from the original creators, but it might be.
[deleted]
[deleted]
Kingoftheblind
Why would I lie? It’s well known that Tesla has huge quality issues. Just look it up on YouTube… also their self driving technology which is only relying on cameras is not state of the art.
Vaenaemoenen
It's imgur. The fucking bitterness is so fucking deep it's hilarious.
TheGrantAlexander
Started?
Mokelzwerg
*made them a success
loma45
SpaceX: yes. Tesla: no.
junkgoof
Spacex succeeds because the US government seems to like giving Musk huge subsidies. Lots of great people there, terrible Musk, and mind boggling amounts of US tax money.
BTanner13000
Not subsidies, sales and service contracts.
Goldensands
Oh boi you're going to want to read up on that because you are piss ignorant at present.
killernerd
And also subsidies, one does not exclude the other.
drbwaa
I don't have to like Elon to like space, or even SpaceX. The fact that SpaceX has been so successful despite Elon is incredible.
IlluminaBlade
They probably have dozens of people dedicated to keeping him from screwing with the real work.
Mokelzwerg
You’re speculating. Benatar you hate him. I don’t like him either but this bullshit made up stuff is childish tbh.
Comet260
They probably have someone to dangle keys in front of him or something.
pandaonfire
Insiders have said they have people who are essentially Elon-wranglers, to keep him away from any actual work.
WeekendWarriorMark
Conspiracy theory: one or two of these came up w/ the idea he should buy Twitter to keep him preoccupied
Mokelzwerg
He is part if that success whether you like it or not. Entrepreneurs who push boundaries are almost never saints. Why can’t you people accept that?
im2short2die
Because rich man bad
OffTheGrid99
“Just accept that people who lucked into success are often assholes” -some idiot
Mokelzwerg
I’m sure you would do as impressing things with money to get you started.
OffTheGrid99
I’m sure you should have spell-checked your insult before posting it.
PaintedSlate
I mean, I don't disagree, but I feel like "saint" isn't the question at all. Just like minimally decent person is the bar. But I imagine they were mainly questioning his leadership, as opposed to his prior marketing success and risk-taking, which did help propel SpaceX to be in a position for doing this kind of thing with huge government contracts.
paddenstoel
If only we had a planet that was already perfect for us for thousands of years to come, if we could save it from climate change RIGHT NOW..
flexibleocelot
Improving our launch capability and access to space will be critical if we want to fix our planet. Do you really want to be dependent on Russia and China to get our sensors and assets up there?
Zincee
Humanity's future is invariably amoung the stars. I agree we need to focus a lot of effort in taking care of what we have now, but it would be silly to abandon space entirely. An entire solar system of exploration, scientific potential, and resources is waiting for us out there.
paddenstoel
We're closer to becoming space dust than to becoming space explorers.
FiveShiftOne
Humanity's future is meaningless if we don't secure humanity's present.
Mitchz95
"Fix Earth first" is a fallacy. We are more than capable of doing multiple important things simultaneously.
JustLikeAMetaphor
I'd take it a step further. 'Do this thing first' isn't how civilization works. We're six billion people of different skillsets, and while some things can and should be emphasized, we explore in all directions simultaneously. And in THIS case fixing earth and colonizing space are the same thing, it's not one or the other.
paddenstoel
We could, but we don't.
tesseract4d2
Not a fallacy, an opinion. We have a moral duty to maintain our own environment before we attempt to spread to others.
fishbicyclerepairman
I don’t think it’s a fallacy, more a description of priorities. And if the tech to do both is actually the same, pumping out the boat is more important than building a raft
ThankYouForYourTime
I wonder how much pollution space tourism will contribute to climate change or these explosions harming critical habitats around the launch
SIGMA920
Space tourism won't be a thing anytime soon. Putting factories and polluting industry into space when possible will be.
FnordGallop
That's a great question the answer is: Launch areas typically result in protections to large areas of wildlife land. The methane/ liquid oxygen cycle used by in this rocket is pretty environmentally friendly compared to earlier liquid fueled rockets, and its carbon emissions are equivalent-to-or-lower than those from hydrogen/oxygen cycle.
ThankYouForYourTime
Thanks! That’s interesting, the information I’ve read claims that both launch sites and fuel have quite an environmental impact.
Mitchz95
It's not even a rounding error compared to the aviation industry. And they do environmental reviews before each launch.
Vaenaemoenen
Yeah, i bet these are at the top. Straight past China's ever increasing amount of coal plants. Or the coal plants in the US powering cryptomining.
ThankYouForYourTime
China is also launching rockets.
stoutde
It did go as planned. The mission scope was "clear the launch tower without damage to the pad", and they did.
Darkstar2380
No it wasn't. The mission scope was reach space, orbit the earth for 90 minutes, and return. Clearing the launch pad without destroying it was a success, but the mission itself was not. Please don't reflexively defend Elon Musk.
3nd3rwiggin
illumiel
That looks at least 40% wrecked.
svga
they expressed it early on and warned throughout the web stream of the unknown that could follow. RUD is a term that a rocket company who does a bunch of test launches would have as they happen often and not all should have alarm
awesomecat42
RUD goes back to NASA days IIRC
AlexVanPutten
Without it we would have never made it to the moon.
davdeMoonQueen
The reason why NASA made it to the moon was von Brauns ingenuity and the 100.000 Americans spending a decade of their life's on it.
Sakkura
They set the expectations very low, but even ignoring that this was still a pretty decent result. Making it through stage separation would have been fantastic on the first full-stack launch.
idontlikepickingusername
Yeah, made it through maxQ even.
otherJeffsarefalseJeffs
Uh, they wrecked the pad. If no damage to the pad was a success criteria they failed at that. Likely lost a couple engines to the chunks of pad material they blew off.
noonannight
Crazy how life really is just like Kerbal missions for these guys
kawaiimoogle
Courage and Stupidity ftw!
PTNLemay
Yo when the rocket started tumbling mid flight I swear I was like "Check your center of lift!"
ApplesdaKitty
The way i was told, "yeah even as rocket scientists, at the end of the day we really are making our best guess & pushing a big red button."
blamiesnotfree
Yeah but KSP method means a dude in his underwear can go from "zero knowledge" to "understands Δv, orbital mechanics, and can put the parts of a rocket together to make it to another planet in a pretty good simulation" over the course of a day. Think about what getting to do that does for the engineers that are doing it.
myotheralt
NASA plays KSP. Rocket science on their budget.
MasterMookie
You think NASA was successful at the first try?
PirateRubberDuck
NASA does not do rapid prototyping like this. Which is a pity as they would be better for it, but too much politics get in the way for NASA to do that.
MasterMookie
They're not going to make stupid mistakes like getting the launch order in the wrong order. Activates parachute then swivel engine then disengages booster then activate boosters xD But mistakes will still happen. Even more in an unsimulated environment.
stoutde
Yep. Baby steps! Can we clear the tower? Can we separate the main stage? Can we land the first stage? Can we separate the second stage? Can the ship make it into space? Can it maneuver in space? Can it land? Etc
NinjaCongo
Will Elon fuck it up?
itsallaboutthecones
It seems like SpaceX might be well enough insulated from his shenanigans?
myotheralt
There is a special team just for that.
LiterallyNothingAvailable
Would you rather them do it all at once and stick people inside?
EricPisch
That’s how my first 100 kerbals died …
BurningVeryImportantThings
can we build it?
Sticklebrickk
Vixess
"I uh.. Uh.... I think so..."
Jatok
Will they come?
NuclearMonk
I don't think they loaded it with real Kerbals though.
Enoan
I use probe cores if possible, keeps hiring costs down.
Rubblebubble
MechJeb 4 life!
TheRealFireFrenzy
if they kill valentina Jeb is going to WRECK THEIR SHIT
NuclearMonk
Doubtful. I think he's currently stuck in high orbit.
Richter12x2
High orbit rescue in KSP is still one of the most awesome game experiences I've ever had.
TheRealFireFrenzy
dude he can deorbit without a spaceship as long as he lands on his head
toyrobot
They blew the hell out of the pad, so not exactly a success. Not sure why they don't use a water dampening system they way most large rocket launches do.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
Preserving the pad was not a key goal (wrecking the launcher tower might have thrown a wet blanket on things)
tounushi
There was debris flying up from the pad at launch, so I'm iffy on the part where it's undamaged.
TheBlueMuppet
Uhh, the "without damage to the pad" absolutely did not happen, lol. The pad is absolutely destroyed. Parts of it smashed a NSF camera van.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
The tower seems unscathed though, and it's way more expensive than the concrete stool.
TheBlueMuppet
Yeah, but if anything major is cracked it's going to be unusable, so now you gotta throw the whole damn site away.
zalurker
What pad?
iamjackscompletelackofcompassion
Pad got kinda fucked up and did throw shrapnel pretty far
MAN9000
Did anyone see those broken chunks of the LaunchPad the size of a van flying up is high as the top of the launch Tower?
CowboyScientist
I mean, yeah, but a 747 worth (300 tons) of stainless steel and ceramic tiles exploded 24 miles above the Gulf Coast of Texas. Some of the chunks were ~500 lbs. Maybe we don't do launches where the debris field includes a few thousand square miles?
FartSymphony
That wasn't a launch, it was a landing. You can't land from orbit without your potential debris field being very long. For launches, including this one, all American launches are over water specifically for public safety.
PirateRubberDuck
They needed data on aerodynamics and flying with a lot of engines. Doing flips in the air gives them data. If it went perfectly they wouldn't learn as much from it.
Bludabeagle
Looked like the Soviet N-1 rocket launch.......didn't go well for Them either.
giordanom
My tax dollars at work.
TheBlueMuppet
I mean...kinda? Some of it.
giordanom
No. The majority of it. Not only is the United States his largest customer by far, paying SpaceX instead of launching with their own systems, SpaceX ALSO gets direct government subsidies. Without money from the US government, MY TAX DOLLARS, SpaceX would not and could not exist.
CloseupCaptionReaction
I hope we'll get some pictures of the launch mount. I'd love to see if there was any damage after they reinforced many parts of it
stoutde
I am in a conference at JSC and the presenter at the time is a flight director. She paused her presentation, we watched the feed, and she said the cheering and dancing of the launch ops team would be a good preliminary sign that there is minimal or no damage.
AfterMidknight
This seems to have turned out wrong. Massive damage lol
3nd3rwiggin
flyingaardvark22
That's a a big hole. They're going to need water or a way to redirect the exhaust for the next one.
IconicM
"Unscheduled" typically indicates unplanned.
TheMiamiVicePresident
I have the same attitude tbh. Did I end up in jail? Sure, but I got out of the house today, which was my real goal
Sinisfun
potshot
But this really is how R&D goes for space launches...
thegrimtrigger
For us alcoholics, it's "did I drink today? No? Successful day". Really simplifies things.
3nd3rwiggin
Well, they did dig a huge crater over the OLM so they will have to work out a solution for that.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
Trench, water or both? Who's running the betting pool?
INeedMoreGifMeMoreJustOneMore
There's plenty of solutions for that, they just wanted to go so fast that now they've damaged their launchpad and will have to do extensive reparations and improvements.
deux1123
On the bright side, half their flame trench is already dug out!
atomfixes101
And in this one launch, more pollution was generated then teslas electric cars have prevented since the company was formed…just Elon saving the planet some more
MileHighLivin
I bet you did a lot of reading to come up with that statement
shiahalud
Look I hate Elon too, but this is just flat out inaccurate. EPA estimates tesla saves 52000 tons of CO2, per year. Each launch generates less than 3000 tons. Yeah its still a good chunk though.
atomfixes101
Rocket launches release 1 gigagram of black carbon in the air each year, a steadily increasing number. I don’t know how much pollution this particular rocket gives off, but since it’s the biggest ever, I doubt it’s only 3k tinned And by the time he has a working one, I have no doubt he will have released more then 52k tonnes. My initial comment was more of a sarcastic jab, but regardless, people should stop defending the ones polluting our thin layer of air, it’s like shitting in the bathtub
atomfixes101
I wonder if that includes the generation of the electricity or not and if we track the actual numbers or not
yoyo42
Build fast, fail fast, learn fast. Works better than spending ten years trying to make something guaranteed to work but then finding something you never thought about.
Da3n
This is a software development mantra. It only works because the bricks, mortar, and rubble involved with software is covered under personnel and is a sunk cost given. Look at the F35 debacle if you want to see the disaster that is Agile trying to do real work.
oblimo
Agile does not work when lives are on the line.
Ninjainslippers
Can't imagine a way that applying the model of facebook to space travel could be problematic. Facebook only caused a small number of genocides and a teensy bit of harmful disinformation leading to mass shootings and horrendous policies.
organiclife3
I'm not sure I agree with this across all industry sectors
PirateRubberDuck
As long as you have good risk management this is good in most areas. If it takes you 10 years to make each generation of something you will learn very slowly. This is why simulations are great, you can build before you build.
Ninjainslippers
It's most common in tech and even there it's fucking stupid. This is how we get facebook being largely responsible for at least one genocide because their content moderation staff was shit.
FiveShiftOne
Great! I love seeing them blow up millions of dollars of resources so they can "learn fast" about how to spend more taxpayer money getting to a worthless empty planet! We definitely don't have problems on Earth to prioritize and watching tech billionaires applaud themselves for blowing up a rocket doesn't feel like watching them furiously masturbate on the poor.
BTanner13000
People have a very poor understanding of what this means. Let's put it another way - NASA is the biggest customer of SpaceX, paying for services they either cannot get anywhere else or can't get nearly as cheaply, and account for about three quarters of SpaceX revenues. They aren't just giving money to SpaceX for nothing.
FiveShiftOne
They are. Mars is nothing. Don't get me wrong, the nine year-old in my heart is like "SPACE, YEAHHHH!" but the beaten-down millennial pragmatist in me is like "mmm, it's hard to watch them applaud themselves for blowing up enough money to feed every hungry person in Florida". Mars should not be a priority right now, even if it makes nine year-old me sad.
Trinik
But it's not just about Mars. These developments are a stepping stone towards many things, including working in space, space exploration, and planetary protection (not from aliens, just rocks). We NEED to one day be able to move beyond Earth. That could be thousands of years from now. Could be sooner. But it has to start somewhere.
listenupbuttercup
Great! I love seeing them throw away millions of maravedis of resources so they can "learn fast" about how to spend more crown money finding a faster route to India! We definitely don't have problems in Spain to prioritize and watching wealthy monarchs applaud themselves for sending sailors into the jaws of sea monsters doesn't feel like watching them furiously masturbate on the poor.
FiveShiftOne
So your response to me saying "hey let's not waste tons of taxpayer money on this" is "imperial colonialism was good, actually"? You're not making this seem better to me.
listenupbuttercup
You made a funny copypasta, don't look too deep into it. Was taxpayer money 'wasted' on NASA's 'failures'? A lot of people thought so. The inventions and discoveries made in that process have improved human life immeasurably. There are always shortsighted detractors who can't see the massive potential benefit for all of humanity.
MileHighLivin
Something tells me, if Elon had nothing to do with SpaceX, people like you would be celebrating right now or have no opinion at all.
FiveShiftOne
I don't like Elon, but I also don't like seeing my money wasted on ambitious space projects while no one is doing anything about climate change here on earth.
MileHighLivin
Who and what would you like to see being done instead?
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
NASA doesn't pay per spent rocket - these contract has a fixed amount for a goal. With “old space” aka ULA the contracts tend to be “cost plus incentive” so those are the one pissing away money.
FiveShiftOne
I don't know what gave you the impression that my only problem with NASA giving a private company a bunch of our money for this is that the rocket blew up.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
Just how do you think that spacecraft are made?
Kaitaro
I thought that SpaceX was entirely privately funded except when NASA paid for Commercial Resupply Services. I looked into it and found out I was wrong. HOLY CRAP, 85% of their funding is from NASA. Consider my mind BLOWN.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
NASA's contract have specified amounts for _deliverables_, regardless of how many rockets or infrastructure they take.
BTanner13000
It is private funding when you sell goods and services, even if the customer is a government entity.
FiveShiftOne
Bending over backwards to justify massive waste of taxpayer funds because you think the way they're wasting my money is cool. A'ight.
RedIronCrown
They did not plan to have it explode before stage separation. They planned to have it separate and the upper stage to continue on a suborbital path, splashing down near Hawaii. That was the plan. That they still consider it a success despite not going as planned doesn't mean it went as planned.
stoutde
They specifically said that was just icing for a cake. It would have been great to have, and they "planned it" in that you don't just launch a rocket and forget about it once it clears the pad, but the mission criteria was simply, "clear the tower".
RedIronCrown
The explosion was not planned, full stop. Again, that the mission is considered a success is not synonymous with it going as planned.
FiveShiftOne
I do not know why you're being downvoted, they literally used the word "unplanned" to describe the explosion.
stoutde
They didn't use just that word, they used am engineering term "rapid unplanned disassembly" which is actually defined in an engineering scope.
BTanner13000
No, you are wrong. This is how it works: 1. Set a goal that signals success - launch and clear the pad with enough engines firing. 2. If it continues flying, make a plan for what to do and what may happen minute by minute. 3. Whether or not it continues flying, collect telemetry data and analyze.
stoutde
You get it. Rockets don't just disappear once the mission has succeeded!
RedIronCrown
Sure. The rocket did not do what was planned for it after mission success, thus the flight was not according to plan even though it was successful.
RedIronCrown
No, you are wrong. SpaceX themselves called it "rapid unplanned disassembly". Unplanned, by definition, is not according to plan. I do not say that the mission was unsuccessful, just that it did not go as planned.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
The plan had a primary objective (clearing the launch tower) and stretch goals, the last of which were stage separation and a hard splashdown in the ocean. The thing reached 39 km and either it broke apart in the tumbling fall or the self-destruct charges were fired.
stoutde
Don't get too stuck on the meanings of individual words in a term used to describe a particular event during launch.
stoutde
In this case, the plan was always to blow up the starship. They just wanted to get it as far as it would go before doing so, and at least clear of the tower.