SpaceX’s Starship launches at the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, have allegedly been contaminating local bodies of water with mercury for years. The news arrives in an exclusive CNBCreport on August 12, which cites internal documents and communications between local Texas regulators and the Environmental Protection Agency.

SpaceX’s fourth Starship test launch in June was its most successful so far—but the world’s largest and most powerful rocket ever built continues to wreak havoc on nearby Texas communities, wildlife, and ecosystems. But after repeated admonishments, reviews, and ignored requests, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have had enough.

  • @zalgotext
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    329 days ago

    Why would you wait to have something else ready if you think what you have is going to work?

    Because it might not work, and we’re talking about millions of dollars worth of rocketry here, not a bottle rocket launched in your back yard.

    These people are launching and landing rockets at a pace never done before, they know how to model these kind of things.

    Obviously not, or the pad wouldn’t have blown up.

    Now obviously something went very wrong here, but it wasn’t just a willy nilly choice.

    Which is why you implement backup/alternative systems.

    • @[email protected]
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      29 days ago

      Because it might not work

      LOL. Dude, they weren’t even sure that the ROCKET wouldn’t destroy the pad (edit: as in, the WHOLE launch pad including the tower). They’re literally making the largest most advanced rocket ever. There are countless unknowns until you test it.

      • @zalgotext
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        129 days ago

        Exactly, which is why implementing backup systems or planning for catastrophic failure modes is a Really Good Idea.

            • @[email protected]
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              29 days ago

              I just find it hilarious that your trying to say people shouldn’t test things all their tests and modelling says should work, because this OTHER thing, that’s also never been tested at the same extreme levels, might work better, but you know, maybe not.

              I’m done with this conversation before I feel more inclined to violate rule 1.