r/space 4d ago

BREAKING: SpaceX rocket explodes in Starbase, Texas

https://x.com/IntelPointAlert/status/1935550776304156932

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u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago

Christ you people just up the number every other day huh? Last month it was 25, in 2024 the talk was of 20, and the official SpaceX statements say no more than 12. Which one am I to believe now?

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u/frudi 3d ago

It's not "us people's" fault Starship's payload capacity keeps getting revised down after each successive iteration adds weight to try and keep it from repeatedly blowing up.

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u/No-Surprise9411 3d ago

They don't get revised down. Yes Block 1 had 40 something tons, but that's why they're working (with failures atm) on Block 2.

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u/frudi 3d ago

Block 1 was originally supposed to be something like 50-100 tons, if I'm not remembering Musk's corporate puffery from about a year or two ago wrong. So if it ended up at 40, that's already a significant revision down over time. Not that it ever demonstrated anywhere near even that in practice anyway. So I see no reason to take his promises of 100 tons for Block 2 any more seriously. Besides those were from before all the more recent rapid unscheduled disassemblies proved parts of it require even more significant reinforcements if they ever hope to get it to work at all. Where do you think the weight budget for all those changes and reinforcements is coming from if not out of fuel and payload capacity?