this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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FTS explosives team on their way to Starship and Superheavy (pbs.twimg.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

What is that for?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Flight termination system, blows up the rocket if things go wrong

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I figured they'd use methane and oxygen but guess total redundancy is better

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

The rocket is very careful to keep the oxygen and methane separate. To make the tanks explode they'd need to spend a lot of time mixing them, which isn't good enough for a self-destruct. It would also behave differently in different parts of the flight. The equipment to do it would be big and heavy as well.

Instead, they use explosive charges because they're lightweight, reliable, and quick to detonate (last launch notwithstanding, because of a design problem)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Rapid disassembly

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Are they wearing explosive backpacks?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

They have a lot of revendications

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

It's so in case they fall off the tower, they won't crash to the ground.