TexAgBolter said:

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Starship Super Heavy Booster Flight 4 pic.twitter.com/EMGpNVn58Q

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 23, 2024

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Cue environmentalists *****ing about all the hazardous chemicals they let fall right into the ocean...

Until you point out that every space faring nation has been dropping spent boosters and rocket bodies into the ocean for decades. Not that logic is those people's strong suit.

That'll buff out.

Seems like a great idea to hide a small kink in the programming that automatically changes altitude by 25 feet or so. Perfect for these things unless you correct for it, and no one really cares about the 25 feet in the long run of things.

Boeing Death Star

Jock 07 said:

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Until you point out that every space faring nation has been dropping spent boosters and rocket bodies into the ocean for decades. Not that logic is those people's strong suit.

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Yeah. They're the type that think humanity should live on algae.

Why isn't SpaceX pushing harder to launch Starships at KSC? Seems like these EPA battles have already been settled there.

TexAgs91 said:

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Why isn't SpaceX pushing harder to launch Starships at KSC? Seems like these EPA battles have already been settled there.

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I'd guess two big things.

1. Everything related to starship is in TX. Huge time sink to get things from TX to FL, especially with how often they stack and destack, do work on it, test, etc etc
2. Florida is cranking out Falcon launches. Trying to split your focus right now is a bad idea - if Falcon were to have issues, it could take down SpaceX with it. You know there's a huge line of companies and bureaucrats who want nothing more than a reason to clamp down on Musk. It's their bread and butter and until Starship is similarly proven, you need Falcon to be essentially spotless.

How do they manage to do so much without the FAA to guide them properly?

— peolesdru (@peolesdru) September 22, 2024

Well, they do dump rocket fuel and broken rockets all over their citizenry. The correct answer is probably somewhere in between.

Who knew rocketry would become political in this country!

ABATTBQ11 said:

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TexAgBolter said:

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Starship Super Heavy Booster Flight 4 pic.twitter.com/EMGpNVn58Q

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 23, 2024

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Cue environmentalists *****ing about all the hazardous chemicals they let fall right into the ocean...

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Eh! Let 'em. There aren't any large quantities of hazardous chemicals I am aware of in the booster. Just some mechanical lubricants and battery chemicals. They wouldn't have much to go on.

They also don't want to have to rebuild/redesign/adjust the GSE once installed at KSC, nor impact the cadence of F9 in the meantime. I still think KSC will be the primary, once they get the 'kinks' etc. worked out.

Now for those pesky marine lives...

Propellant load test and preflight checkouts complete ahead of Flight 5 pic.twitter.com/JfdQYfYsQZ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 23, 2024

**** the government. Truly. At all levels. Everywhere.

Elon is already working on getting rid of waste in government

He needs to resign https://t.co/pG8htfTYHb

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 25, 2024

Eliminate the FAA

Quote:

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NASA's Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) concept aims to transform our ability to observe distant exoplanets by using the Sun's gravity as a massive telescope. This innovative approach leverages Einstein's theory of general relativity, which predicts that massive objects like the Sun can bend light rays passing near them. The Sun's enormous gravitational field acts as a lens, focusing light from distant objects to a focal line starting at about 550 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. By positioning a spacecraft along this focal line, scientists could harness this effect to create an enormous telescope with unprecedented magnification power, potentially revolutionizing our search for habitable worlds and signs of extraterrestrial life.

Potential Targets and Resolution
The SGL could provide unprecedented imaging capabilities for exoplanets within about 100 light-years of Earth. With its extreme magnification power, the telescope could achieve resolutions as fine as 10 kilometers on the surface of these distant worlds. This level of detail would allow astronomers to:
[ol]

Observe continents, oceans, and large-scale topography

Detect seasonal changes on exoplanet surfaces

Identify potential signs of habitability or even civilization

Study atmospheric composition through spectroscopy

[/ol]
Prime targets for the SGL would include Earth-like exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zones of their stars, particularly those already identified as intriguing candidates by current telescopes.
Timeline and Feasibility

While the concept is promising, turning the Sun into a giant telescope is still years away from becoming a reality:
[ol]

NASA physicist Slava Turyshev's proposal was selected for Phase III of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program in 2020.

The mission concept aims for a potential launch by 2035.

Using solar sail technology, the spacecraft could reach the focal point at 547 AU in about 17 years.

[/ol]
Significant technological challenges remain, including developing the necessary propulsion systems, designing spacecraft capable of operating at vast distances from Earth, and creating advanced image processing algorithms.Despite these hurdles, researchers are optimistic about the SGL's potential. If successful, it could provide our first detailed look at the surfaces of distant exoplanets, potentially answering one of humanity's most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe?

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https://www.popsci.com/science/solar-gravitational-lensing/

That is mind bending to read. 10KM resolution on planets light years away???!!???

incredible idea. the distance they are saying they need it at is 11 times further out from the Sun than Pluto. That's going to be quite a task.

rednecked said:

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incredible idea. the distance they are saying they need it at is 11 times further out from the Sun than Pluto. That's going to be quite a task.

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It's like 4x what Voyager is right now

This is interesting to think about. Would it pass Voyager (distance wise) as it travels to its destination? That would put it in interstellar space would it not?

will25u said:

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America is being smothered by ever larger mountains of irrational regulations from ever more new agencies that serve no purpose apart from the aggrandizement of bureaucrats.

Humanity, and life as we know it, are doomed to extinction without significant regulatory reform. We… https://t.co/FHuMShwTMa

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024

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Really it's just a bunch of people trying to justify their jobs. If your job is to regulate safety, you need to find unsafe to not appear redundant. If there's no unsafe stuff going on, you have incentivization to just make some up.

hmm. says they would use a solar sail. still need some kind of badass braking technology to get it to stop where they want it. that's a lot of fuel!

rednecked said:

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hmm. says they would use a solar sail. still need some kind of badass braking technology to get it to stop where they want it. that's a lot of fuel!

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Easy. Just turn it around.

rednecked said:

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hmm. says they would use a solar sail. still need some kind of badass braking technology to get it to stop where they want it. that's a lot of fuel!

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Joe Rogan will never believe this one.

Not giving up all hope on this, the FAA just motivated even more people to turn out for Trump.

The largest flying object ever made will be caught in mid air with giant Mechazilla arms https://t.co/4EjUuQ53ie

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024

Meanwhile, Nasa is relying on them for a Saturday launch to the ISS:

Crew-9, SpaceX, and @NASA completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities ahead of liftoff on Saturday pic.twitter.com/99pcI8rPEq

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 25, 2024

Again, the government can't…'screw' SpaceX for too long, because they need them.