07-17-2025, 04:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-17-2025, 04:58 PM by HereOnThePrimalEdge.)
An update on the SpaceX landing zone around Hawaii. It’s now an exploding zone 75 times the original area, including Mokumanamana west of the main islands and a huge area east of the islands. Big Island to Kauai is in a hopefully explosion-free zone. 25 launches a year.
The hundreds of miles of ocean that surround Mokumanamana and other Hawaiian islands are now under threat, according to environmentalists and scientists. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency that oversees air and space travel in the US, announced in May that it had given Elon Musk permission to detonate rocket ships from his company SpaceX over these protected waters.
Once SpaceX ramps up launches, bird and sea life could face hazardous material spills, falling objects and sonic booms, according to thousands of pages of government documents reviewed by the Guardian and interviews with more than a dozen people, including oceanographers, aerospace engineers, former government employees, lawyers and Hawaiian residents. They fear Musk’s “fail fast” approach to rocket launches, along with his ties to the US government, could mean SpaceX will have free rein over the region. Many in Hawaii say the FAA’s review of potential environmental consequences is not thorough enough.
And then there is this gem from the chain saw wielding Musk:
“If the [Starship] did hit a whale, it’s like, honestly, that whale had it coming, cause the odds are so low,” Musk said in October while campaigning for Donald Trump. “It’s like Final Destination: The Whale Edition. It’s like fate had it in for that whale.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2...ket-debris
This seems like a much MUCH bigger deal than some carefully planned and constructed observatories that may or may not have a rare accidental leak of a few ounces of fluid, but we’ll see.
The hundreds of miles of ocean that surround Mokumanamana and other Hawaiian islands are now under threat, according to environmentalists and scientists. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency that oversees air and space travel in the US, announced in May that it had given Elon Musk permission to detonate rocket ships from his company SpaceX over these protected waters.
Once SpaceX ramps up launches, bird and sea life could face hazardous material spills, falling objects and sonic booms, according to thousands of pages of government documents reviewed by the Guardian and interviews with more than a dozen people, including oceanographers, aerospace engineers, former government employees, lawyers and Hawaiian residents. They fear Musk’s “fail fast” approach to rocket launches, along with his ties to the US government, could mean SpaceX will have free rein over the region. Many in Hawaii say the FAA’s review of potential environmental consequences is not thorough enough.
And then there is this gem from the chain saw wielding Musk:
“If the [Starship] did hit a whale, it’s like, honestly, that whale had it coming, cause the odds are so low,” Musk said in October while campaigning for Donald Trump. “It’s like Final Destination: The Whale Edition. It’s like fate had it in for that whale.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2...ket-debris
This seems like a much MUCH bigger deal than some carefully planned and constructed observatories that may or may not have a rare accidental leak of a few ounces of fluid, but we’ll see.