Space and Science BS Thread

Maybe the tanks are fire and blast rated?

 

I don't think the tanks would be blast proof. My guess would be the logistics of getting hands on that quality and quantity of pipe required would be difficult. Getting it validated would take a long time as well. Just a guess.

 

The government genocided them, replaced them with surveillance drones, and the reason they land on powerlines is to recharge. I read it on the internet and saw the videos on youtube so it's got to be real!!

https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/faq

 

Oh sure, a conspiracy theory.. Wait, squating pigeon, bird watcher... Im starting to think you're a drone maintenance tech!!!

 

Is it possible to bury them? Might be problematic that close to the ocean but could also be easier to keep cryo shit cooled. Why do we launch from sea level anyway? Proximity to vast emptiness? How many tonnes of fuel are burned in the first 5000-10000 feet where air density is greatest? Seems like we’re missing that boat.

 

A lot of it is just the perspective from the camera angle, but they cant be too far away because the fuel is cryogenic. There is also a large blast berm, and the tanks are double walled. There is a large outerwall and it is believed they will be vacuumed for insulation, but that outer wall will likely stop most debris that would hit it.

 

The poop is just for realism.

 

With very few exceptions launching from altitude puts the flight path over populated areas. Sea level generally gives you a clear path with little to no concern for damage/death should a launch fail.

 

I believe we're actually using that dense atmosphere to push against. if the atmosphere is too thin it would require more fuel to get it started.

 

That’s not how thrust works. It does affect nozzle shape but thrust is entirely about how fast and how massive the stuff going out the back is.

 

+ a lot of rocket parts in the past have been too large to be transported by road, leaving sea as the best and most used form of transportation for them. Getting those larges parts to altitude would be even more difficult.

 

Vast emptiness. Maybe someday when spaceports replace airports.

 

Burying them would keep inspecting eyes off them. We would inspect that pipe weekly, put a wrench on every nut monthly to see if we had movement, especially if we had cryo in the pipe recently and would do an entire system torque quarterly. Click!

 

Also, we launch as close to the equator as possible to take advantage of earth's spin. 100% of the US that is closest to the equator is at sea level.

 

I also wonder if the replacement cost of that tank farm is less than the added cost of placing it far away, over the expected lifetime of that pad.

 

im still putting money on their first landing attempts being on the oil rigs. The cleanup of thousands of heattiles in an environmentally sensitive area will probably not get past a certain review they're currently conducting. At sea there is nothing to cleanup, and the tanks can be under the landing deck.

 

But they build the things on site

Half the states of AZ and NM are south of Vandenberg and much higher so not quite. I think it’s more 100% of the places we want to launch from are coastal and altitude is either ignored or wistfully but briefly pondered.

 

Waiting on the day when we, as a species, decide the oceans are not our cesspools and ‘land’fills.