/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15372739
It has been patently obvious to any serious person since the start of this clowning around with water towers idiocy that it would never work. Aerospace manufacturing uses a completely different set of tolerances and expectations from the techniques that these fools are using to build glorified mock-ups.

The prototypes are built without any of the precision engineering that is essential in the aerospace industry. Further, it must be remembered that such expectations of precision exist for a reason: building a launch vehicle that is sufficiently reliable to meet customers’ expectations is a profoundly challenging task. Fireworks like you saw today may be exciting to ignorant children (and man-children), but they are shameful to sober adults.

The “starship” lost 6 engines in two minutes of flight, flipped out during staging, and failed to even separate. So much for “reusability”. Plus with the ridiculous debris flying everywhere during liftoff that would never be tolerated by any organization taking a launch seriously.

SpaceX is bringing shame to the American aerospace industry. It should be nationalized immediately to prevent the erosion of national launch capability. We should also look into investigating Musk for fraud to set an example of what happens to apartheid-holdover racists.

Finally, I must emphasize that just because many will find this post to be objectionable does not mean it is “bait” — i.e., structured purely to provoke a response. Actual aero engineering student here and in all my exposure to the industry, there is almost an allergic aversion to the chaos that seems to characterize the SpaceX approach to flailing in search of results. It is critical to disavow this irresponsible approach to avoid normalizing hazardous development practices that will cause accidents (and subsequent heavy regulation of this sector).

Just imagine if the boondoggle today had carried a crew: no new launch licenses to startups for 10 years.