• Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    I’m not talking about the launch tower, I’m talking about the rocket. You can watch the live stream and see puffs of vapour regularly. It being a rocket there are very few things that gas could be. Some of it is nitrogen, sure, but the thing is 95% methane and oxygen and there is certainly very little nitrogen associated with the engines. I’m sure they’re not looking to dump it with no regard, unless they carry on with the “autogenous thrusters” which involves using propellant for maneuvering.

    As for Mars, I think that’s total bullshit. His big idea was to corner the wireless internet market. He used Mars to sell it to us.

    • burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 days ago

      A lot of that is water vapor coming off the outside of the chilled tanks, though?

      Idk about that Starlink theory. That feels like a conspiracy theory. It feels like it could be right, but I’ve never seen or heard anything to back it up.

      • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksOPM
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        6 days ago

        That feels like a conspiracy theory. It feels like it could be right, but I’ve never seen or heard anything to back it up.

        It seems implausible for that to have been the “real goal all along”. SpaceX have had Mars ambitions since the early 2000s, before internet-connected smartphones existed. As far as I know, Starlink was the result of SpaceX clearing their Falcon 9 customer backlog around 2017, and asking themselves “What else could we launch?”.