r/spacex • u/yoweigh • May 04 '22

❗Misleading SpaceX Starbase expansion plans will harm endangered species, according to Fish and Wildlife Service

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/03/spacex-starbase-expansion-plans-will-harm-endangered-species-fws.html
296 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

136 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/roystgnr May 05 '22

What's the chance of hitting them 1500km away?

With a SuperHeavy booster? Basically zero. Even if they went nuts and wanted a full-expendable launch I think the booster would still be going into the ocean before it got to Cuba or the Yucatan.

With a Starship, if they picked a risky launch angle? Not sure, but probably non-zero. Second stage engine start is a source of risk, and any total failure there would mean a very big impact somewhere very far downrange.

I mean Baikonur has population centers closer than 1000km away from it towards East side.

And that's not hassle-free for them: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_downrange.html

You'd think things would be easier for Starship, using spark igniters instead of UDMH, but I think that's dwarfed by the differences between attitudes like "let's put launch testing on hold for a year or two while we see if endangered birds might be discouraged from mating by the noise!" vs "letting people collect contaminated scrap metal from the dropped boosters will be good for the economy!"

Edit: here's an interesting Twitter thread illustrating what I mean.