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Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket explodes in second test flight | CNN (www.cnn.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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SpaceX’s Starship rocket system reached several milestones in its second test flight before the rocket booster and spacecraft exploded over the Gulf of Mexico.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I know you're just trying to be negative, I assume because of Musk (I hate him too). You're not being accurate, on purpose or otherwise it doesn't matter. It didn't even reach orbit. How did it blow up in Low Earth Orbit?

[+] [email protected] -6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Am not trying just to be negative. Explosion disperses debris in all directions, and it wasn't a small explosion and it wasn't a small spaceship either but more to the point to quote wikipedia:

The term LEO region is also used for the area of space below an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 mi) (about one-third of Earth's radius).[3] Objects in orbits that pass through this zone, even if they have an apogee further out or are sub-orbital, are carefully tracked since they present a collision risk to the many LEO satellites.

So I should have said LEO region, but still. Rocket exploded at 146km, which can pose issues. Hopefully it won't. But it remains to be seen. Kessler syndrome is a real threat.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It's about velocity, not altitude. The pieces from the explosion would need to get a fairly dramatic dv addition prograde to end up near orbital. The explosion seems pretty undirected, so the force will be spread in all directions, so most of the force won't be prograde. Even still, it can't be orbital. It'd need some other force added later on its trajectory or it eventually had to pass through the same altitude that the explosion happened, which is in-atmosphere and will cause fairly quick decay. There is no risk of Kessler syndrome. It could potentially have posed a risk to some very low satellites, but we'd already have seen that happen by now if it were going to.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago

Let's hope that's the case. It's unlikely I agree.