/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15396342
First, because digging = water table fuckery and building up = soil settling takes ages, second because the required earthworks would likely extend beyond the current pad and thus require additional permits for wetlands work which could take years to get (if they hadn't dropped the first attempt at getting the permits, they could probably have them about done by now lol).
The other points about things being far easier if the steel plate just works™ are also valid, although that still leaves the question of whether it is a good idea to not deflect and enclose the acoustic loads at all for a rocket that is supposed to be reused multiple times.
See also >>15396391, apparently direct reflection actually results in the lowest loads, however this leaves out the option of further reducing loads by deflecting exhaust through a tunnel which will then take some of the acoustic loads as described elsewhere in the paper.