SpaceX Starship & Super Heavy

Expected — probably yes, actually. Desired — definitely not.

And I think I know why SpaceX held off installing the deluge system before the first launch:

There’s now a crater under the launch mount where there was once high-strength, heat-resistant concrete! I suspect that a flame diverter will be high on the list of launch mount changes.

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Another view. Concrete pad? What concrete pad? I could’ve sworn there was one there on Wednesday…

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Well that’s going to be a challenge to fix. Why hadn’t they installed a flame diverter? 33 Raptor rockets guys. It might get a little hot! LOL!

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There were even reports of pulverized concrete particles drifting down over South Padre Island, which is a good four miles away. Once the concrete pad started to give way, SpaceX had the world’s most powerful sandblaster on its hands. Look at that stripped rebar!

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I think we can assume there won’t be another test launch any time soon!

Now they know why NASA pours all that water into their pit at launch!

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Elon said somewhere today that he thinks the pad damage can be repaired in two months or so. But “Elon Time” is often overly optimistic. We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Making the rounds with my aerospace friends:

Starbase flyover from yesterday:

In addition to the pad damage under and immediately next to the launch mount, note the dents and scrapes to a couple of the vertical ground service equipment tanks (neither stored methane, fortunately), a small collapse at the bottom of one of the concreted berms, and what appears to be a ding in Starhopper.

Refresh my memory, they did a test fire of the Raptors, what? Six weeks ago? I wonder how much of this damage was the result of the concrete already compromised from that test. It doesn’t look like they had any fire suppression on the pad. What were they thinking? Did they think all of that heat would just magically go away?

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They’d already done (some) repairs after the static fire. The images dated “April 17, 2020” are clearly from 2023 since they show the additional shielding installed and removal of the handrails on the launch table prior to the first launch attempt. Your guess is as good as mine on whether there were latent issues remaining, or if the doubled thrust and longer duration of the launch was simply more than the pad could take or that SpaceX had modeled.


[Edit] More evidence of concrete flying into the tank farm despite the extended berms:

Adding a flame diverter really needs to be at or near the top of the repair list. I’m looking forward to watching the next CSI: Starbase video!


[Edit #2] Musk referred to “Fondag” as the initial pad solution after the “full” static fire. Fondag® is an extremely heavy-duty, heat-resistant, pre-mixed concrete. That it couldn’t handle Super Heavy’s thrust implies insufficient reinforcement, curing time, thickness or volume laid down, or a combination of all three. Probably the last, given Musk’s push to launch.

Additional post-flight shots around the launch tower:

Starhopper definitely suffered some minor damage

OK, who left the temporary fencing and shipping containers unsecured?

Looks like the suborbital tank farm was dinged, too.

Some of the concrete pad has been found!

The orbital tank farm looks like it took a shotgun blast.

And this is part of the draw-works housing on the side of the launch tower.

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Good Grief! I also saw video of a van getting its windows blown out.

Okay minimum safe distance needs to be extended. If nothing else this proves they need to rework their launch facilities in general. Those tanks can’t be considered safe at this point, for example.

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I’ve seen that clip; I believe the van was for NASASpaceflight’s “Danger Close” remotely operated camera. One has to wonder if “damage caused by debris thrown up by (super-) heavy lift rocket launch” was covered by its insurance.

And this was just for a reasonably successful launch! Imagine what it could be like if a landing/catching goes badly awry in the future.

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Even if Musk can get the damage repaired in two months, which given the extent of damage seems extremely optimistic, there is no way that the FAA gives them approval to launch from there again unless they install a flame diverter, and a water deluge system. Time was the reason Musk did not install them in the first place (he had the deluge system on hand, just did not install is so he could launch on 4/20).

Artemis just got delayed by a couple of years, and there is no one to blame but Musk, and his… IDK, I can’t even say ego with this one, he blew up his pad for a lame joke.

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Ugh. He’s such a child!

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Oof, these launch area photos do not look good. My first thoughts (opinion) is that this looks extremely reckless. If blast debris is the cause for the multiple rocket engine failures, it’s even worse (and possibly could have ended much worse).

Regardless, I would not be surprised if federal agencies get involved to aftermath what happened (especially if concrete dust and debris fell outside the hazard area), and to ensure that this can never happen again.

(I’m not counting that camera truck. If it’s one like I’ve seen before, that’s its job, to be “too close” for safety. Not the first time its owners have found debris near it after previous SpaceX failed landing explosions.)

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It’s significantly worse than we thought-

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A friend sent me this. Interesting breakdown of the issues.

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I think the article’s author missed where one of the hydraulic power units blew, which is clearly visible on one of the streams. So in addition to steadily losing thrust as engines failed, the ability to gimbal the central engines to steer the rocket eventually failed, too. Combined with the thrust imbalance and failed engine shutdown, tumbling was inevitable.

I think it still needs to be said: despite what was a severely FOD-laden liftoff, the majority of the engines continued firing normally. Those things are going to be monsters once the final kinks are ironed out, even if the rest of the system turns out to be a bust. And SpaceX is cranking a new one out roughly every seven days! Blue Origin has shipped, what, a grand total of two flight-rated BE-4 engines in the same period of time it took SpaceX to build 200 Raptors?

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At least Big Bird wasn’t tagged for this flight…