Altitude and attitude failure, will be the death of SpaceX. Thanks for the illuminating and timely article, Bonnie. You laid the problems and solutions out so well. I was astonished that it did so much damage to the launch pad!
I read a couple of articles about how bad this launch was for the wildlife area it's in, worse than I think most people "on the outside" of the program like you & me expected. I hadn't seen this one about the damage wrought during routine activity. I hope SpaceX will be required to put more mitigations in place before they can carry on.
Cindy has worked in one capacity or another at a number of parks and wildlife areas around the country. She knows a lot more than I ever will about exactly how badly we affect wildlife with such things as the Boca Chica launch site.
Altitude and attitude failure, will be the death of SpaceX. Thanks for the illuminating and timely article, Bonnie. You laid the problems and solutions out so well. I was astonished that it did so much damage to the launch pad!
So was I. There was no good reason for so much damage.
Applauding when a rocket explodes? Insane. This site is also harming sensitive wildlife areas in Texas, both from its daily operations and when its equipment explodes. Irresponsible on so many levels. https://www.tpr.org/environment/2023-04-18/fragile-boca-chica-ecosystem-endures-the-impact-of-spacex-starship-launches
I read a couple of articles about how bad this launch was for the wildlife area it's in, worse than I think most people "on the outside" of the program like you & me expected. I hadn't seen this one about the damage wrought during routine activity. I hope SpaceX will be required to put more mitigations in place before they can carry on.
Thanks for the article; that was one of my first thoughts, as well.
Cindy has worked in one capacity or another at a number of parks and wildlife areas around the country. She knows a lot more than I ever will about exactly how badly we affect wildlife with such things as the Boca Chica launch site.