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Starship Flight 7

(www.spacex.com)
649 points chinathrow | 2 comments | 16 Jan 25 21:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.46s | source
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terramex ◴[16 Jan 25 23:04 UTC] No.42732041[source]▶
Looks like second stage broke up over Caribbean, videos of the debris (as seen from ground):

https://x.com/deankolson87/status/1880026759133032662?t=HdHF...

https://x.com/realcamtem/status/1880026604472266800

https://x.com/adavenport354/status/1880026262254809115

Moment of the breakup:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DE52_hVSeQz/

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olex ◴[16 Jan 25 23:19 UTC] No.42732199[source]▶
Inadvertently perfect timing for this footage. Glowing and backlit by the setting sun, against clear and already darkening evening sky... couldn't plan the shot any better if you tried.

Let's hope no debris came down on anyone or anything apart from open water.

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andrewinardeer ◴[17 Jan 25 00:06 UTC] No.42732563[source]▶
I take it if SpaceX debris hit and destroyed a boat the owner can claim damages from SpaceX?

Does international space law allow for this?

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HPsquared ◴[17 Jan 25 00:10 UTC] No.42732594[source]▶
It's probably similar to if a US ship crashed into your yacht.
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dylan604 ◴[17 Jan 25 02:28 UTC] No.42733446[source]▶
Rules of the water says smaller ship yields right of way to bigger ship. Sounds like you screwed up if your yacht got hit by a bigger ship. Of course that applies when the vessels are not tied up. If a big ship his a docked boat, that's an entirely different scenario
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lmm ◴[17 Jan 25 04:44 UTC] No.42734179[source]▶
> Rules of the water says smaller ship yields right of way to bigger ship. Sounds like you screwed up if your yacht got hit by a bigger ship.

Not necessarily. Steam is obliged to give way to sail, even when the sailing ship is much smaller.

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1. dotancohen ◴[17 Jan 25 08:56 UTC] No.42735421[source]▶
Where do Methalox-powered vehicles lie in this hierarchy?

And if the Starship is not under power yet falling and using the flaperons for control, is that considered "under sail" for purposes of right of way?

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2. krisoft ◴[17 Jan 25 11:51 UTC] No.42736596[source]▶
For funsies i would call it a “vessel not under command”. At least after the breakup that feels to fit.

But for real, i think the simple answer is that debris falling from space is outside of the scope of the ColRegs. Simply speaking they come too fast so you can’t maneuver your vessel out of their way, and unless you are a warship you don’t have the tools to even know where exactly they will hit. If you try to run you might even put yourself in their path. After all from the most unlucky position they would be just bright stationary spots on the sky getting ever so slightly bigger. Until they start to get bigger faster and faster. (Constant bearing and decreasing range being the hallmarks of an impending colision.)