SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Project at the Boca Chica Launch Site

Re:SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Project at the Boca Chica Lau... by almost_usual on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @10:39PM (#38021060)

This submission was quickly flagged on HN but it was pointed out.

> In addition to the siting and sizing of the pad, SpaceX does not have a flame trench, nor do they have a water deluge system used to suppress heat and sound energy from any launches, as the Army Corps of Engineering permitting required to add these civil engineering systems is itself a multi-year process.

> No large rocket complex on the planet: not in Russia, nor China, and certainly not in the US, exists that doesn’t contain one or both of these energy suppression systems.

https://blog.esghound.com/p/spacexs-texas-rocket-is-going-to

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Re:SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Project at the Boca Chica Lau... by Animats on Wednesday October 25, 2023 @11:30PM (#38021320)

Boca Chica now has a better launch pad with a flame deflector and a water deluge system.[1] They really needed that. The first version just fired the entire output of the booster at a flat concrete slab, which destroyed the pad, sending chunks of concrete into the ocean and around the area.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYRJn3uvw3M

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Re:SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Project at the Boca Chica Lau... by skellington on Thursday October 26, 2023 @12:23AM (#38021574)

SpaceX said it was more a question of timing. That the water system would take too long and they were hoping to test before it was fit. The first test involved a subset of all the engines so they hoped the concrete would survive.

[ Parent | on HN ]