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Starship Flight 7

(www.spacex.com)
649 points chinathrow | 2 comments | 16 Jan 25 21:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.405s | source
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victorbojica ◴[16 Jan 25 22:55 UTC] No.42731957[source]▶
What happens if the ship has exploded? Is there any kind of danger?
replies(1): >>42731990 #
wongarsu ◴[16 Jan 25 22:58 UTC] No.42731990[source]▶
The flight paths are planned specifically so any potential debris has a high chance of landing in the ocean.

If it actually exploded (either on its own or because the flight-termination system kicked in) most of it should burn up on reentry though.

replies(1): >>42732010 #
victorbojica ◴[16 Jan 25 23:00 UTC] No.42732010[source]▶
What happens if it doesn't explode and they just lost control over it? I'm mostly curios of the risks at that altitude.
replies(5): >>42732050 #>>42732073 #>>42732107 #>>42732212 #>>42732252 #
1. marssaxman ◴[16 Jan 25 23:04 UTC] No.42732050[source]▶
The launch license requires them to build in a "flight termination system" which makes it explode if they lose control over it.
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2. ceejayoz ◴[17 Jan 25 00:55 UTC] No.42732859[source]▶
That system didn’t work on the first big test flight, when it went spinning end over end. Part of the reason there was an FAA investigation.