SpaceX, Elon Musk/Twitter
SpaceX’s Starhopper rocket prototype makes its first free flight near Boca Chica, Texas, on July 25, 2019.
A small community of people at the southern tip of Texas just received what some of its residents are calling a “shocking” and “concerning” warning about SpaceX’s upcoming launch attempt of a Mars rocket ship prototype.
Residents told Business Insider that a county sheriff went door-to-door Saturday night to personally deliver posted notices to the community, where 20 other people own homes. Known as Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, the village has been flanked in recent years by a rocket launch and progression site.
Courtesy of Cheryl Stevens
A public protection notice issued to the citizens of Boca Chica, Texas, on August 24, 2019.
Starhopper is scheduled to launch on Monday, and company founder Elon Musk says it will be the prototype’s final flight. At the end of July, the vehicle flew about 18 meters above the ground and landed on its launch pad. The plan is to fly the vehicle for a maximum distance of about 650 feet (200 meters) and then return to its launch pad.
The notice issued to citizens says that police will sound their sirens to warn citizens about 10 minutes before takeoff. According to the advisory, a flight window of approximately 15 minutes will open at five p. m. ET (4 p. m. CT) on Monday night.
The notice then says:
“There is a risk that a SpaceX vehicle malfunction during flight could create an overpressure situation that could even break windows. Therefore, to protect the health and safety of the public, it is recommended that you and other occupants Temporarily leave the domain, and pets, during spaceflight activities. At a minimum, you deserve to leave your home or design and be outdoors of any construction on your assets when you hear the police sirens that will be activated at the moment. of spaceflight activity to avoid or minimize the threat of injury.
An “overpressure event” is a blastwave that’s often caused by a rapid explosion.
Google Earth
A review of Boca Chica in South Texas circa 2017.
Nearly all Boca Chica homes are within about two miles of the rocket company’s launchpad, which sits just west of Boca Chica Beach. This suggests that if Starhopper explodes – which is unlikely yet possible due to its experimental design – its blastwave may be powerful enough to significantly damage the residential buildings from a distance.
While the notice included no contact information, residents say the sheriff told them to contact Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr. if they had any questions. Treviño, Jr. is also responsible for issuing road closures for Highway 4, which is the only road that connects the large city of Brownsville to the hamlet and public beach – and now SpaceX’s new launch site.
Read more: Elon Musk builds SpaceX’s rockets to Mars in a small Texas village, but getting them off the ground there may be more complicated than he imagined.
On previous Starhopper launches, the direction was closed with a “hard” checkpoint about 1. 5 miles west of the launch pad and a “soft” checkpoint a few miles further down the road. path.
Saturday’s move is a change and, for some citizens (most of whom are retirees who lived in the domain years or decades before SpaceX’s arrival) represents a worrying new stage in their dealings with the company, local officials and state and federal governments. .
“I’m very angry. I feel like we’re in a war zone and our houses are collapsing on us,” said Celia Johnson, a part-time resident since 1992 who plans to retire home. My hands are tied and I have no one to turn to for help. Our rights have been destroyed by money, greed and politics. “
Cheryl Stevens, who rents her home in Boca Chica but was home when she received the notice, expressed similar concerns.
“I’m shocked and concerned about the kind of damage he could suffer,” Stevens told Business Insider. “I don’t know what to do that day either. I don’t know how to prepare for it. I plan to call the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] on Monday to discuss, among other things, civil rights violations. “
SpaceX gained permission to build a commercial launch site in the area after a years-long process with the FAA and various stakeholders. Establishings safety zones before a rocket takes off is also a typical practice in the launch industry.
What is unusual in the case of SpaceX’s South Texas launch site is that people (and nearly all of them not by choice) reside within that critical area.
The FAA and Judge Treviño, Jr. did not respond to requests for a statement and additional details about the product and its origins. SpaceX did not offer any comment prior to the publication of this story.
Maria Pointer
Wildfires burn at the Las Palomas Wildlife Management Refuge near the town of Boca Chica, Texas, following SpaceX’s first flight of its Starhopper rocket prototype.
The public safety and fitness advisory comes about a month after SpaceX last introduced Starhopper to about 60 feet (18 meters). This release inadvertently sparked a fire that burned more than a hundred acres of coastal shelter, thousands of acres of which surround the release site and village.
SpaceX responded to the incident by coming up with a broader fire prevention and reaction plan, according to Bryan Winton, director of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge at the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. SpaceX is now coordinating more intensively with local agencies about its launch and smokestack safety, has installed five new remotely controlled water cannons on its launch pad (previously there was only one), is helping to conduct controlled burns and much more, Winton told Business. Insider. THURSDAY.
But SpaceX is working toward launching a larger prototype, called Starship Mk1, that will use three Raptor rocket engines and be capable of flying around Earth from the Texas site. The rocket company is also building a similar yet competing prototype in Florida called Starship Mk2.
Before SpaceX can launch either rudimentary rocket ship, or any full-scale Starships, the company needs sign-off from the FAA.
“We are seeking regulatory approval for Boca Chica, Texas, and Cape Kennedy, Florida,” Musk tweeted in March. “We will also build Starship and Super Heavy at either site. “
At the moment, SpaceX has not yet received authorizations to launch the orbital elegance vehicles.
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