If the punishment is a fine, they’ll just incorporate that into the price of doing business. Not a great look.

I think their rockets are cool. But if they can violate a launch license without getting grounded, what’s the point of launch licenses?

The data is interesting. But this is a really poorly constructed graph.

o7

I sort of feel bad about raining on the parade of the person distilling isopropanol in his garage earlier, but it really is dangerous.

But most of us chemists also need to be reminded of it. To the point that someone had to write a paper whose entire point is “don’t distill isopropanol”.

Please, don’t do this thing.

The issue with isopropanol peroxide formation is that exposing it to air – even when just using it, like when you’re cleaning parts – starts the process. The air in the head space of your containers is also enough to form them over time. You don’t necessarily need to see solids in the containers for it to be dangerous, since they’ll crystallize out as you concentrate the solution during distillation.

It’s also a numbers game. It probably won’t explode the first time you do it. But there’s a chance each time. Do it enough, and you’ll have an incident.

There are chemical reductants that can clear peroxides. For industrial scale isopropanol distillation, I’m not sure what they use. It may be that they just never distill down to the point that peroxides concentrate to a dangerous level.

I love EnF. But I assure you, organic peroxide formers are scarier.

No no no no no.

I’m a chemist. Organic chemistry PhD, now a process chemist in the industry. I do this for a living. Do not distill isopropanol that’s been exposed to air for any meaningful length of time.

Isopropanol slowly reacts with oxygen in the air to generate peroxides that, when you concentrate them down, EXPLODE. Source. Sorry, not an open access journal. But please take my word for it.

Unless you have a way of confirming the peroxide levels in your isopropanol are near zero, do not concentrate it down by distillation. You’ll blow up your glassware, which will probably expose what you’re distilling to your heat source, which will generate a secondary fireball.

PLEASE do not do this.

This sort of feels like non-news – of course they’ve been considering an empty Starliner return with astronauts on a Dragon. That’s sort of the entire point of having more than one option of crewed access to space.

Not that I’d ever climb into a Starliner. Thing’s a bucket of bolts. But we know that, and they know that.

It would be pretty cool if this situation is the start of accelerating a crew-rating program for another craft. Maybe Dream Chaser? If this is so embarrassing that Boeing drops out of the program, it would be nice to have two options again.

This is just the first, easiest thing I found showing he’s a man child manager. There are many, many others.

You seem to be a really big fan of the guy. Despite what you said, it doesn’t seem like you’re really interested in changing your opinion. There’s a lot of evidence that he’s an ass-hat, but you’re dismissing it as rumor. But equally unverifiable evidence that makes him look like a kind of crazy genius is A-OK? Dude. That’s how evidence works in conspiracy theory nonsense world.

Which makes sense, given that the folks that adore him are also into conspiracy theory nonsense.

There have been tons of reports of his subordinates having to manage him. Like, he comes into a meeting and says they have to change a design because he thinks it doesn’t look cool. So they all have to figure out which meetings he can be left out of so they can just do their jobs.

And, also, Twitter is still a dumpster fire in terms of its tech stack. He swooped in and fired people and stopped paying bills.

Not a genius.

I suppose I’m using DK as a sort of colloquialism here. The guy knows some stuff. But knowing a little gives him unearned confidence about the rest. He has enough smart people around him to succeed, but he’s not a genius. He’s just a rich guy.

It’s so disheartening seeing the manchild keep throwing fits and Dunning-Krugering his way through things. It’s really fun watching these rockets, but it’s hard to be enthusiastic anymore with such a terrible person at the helm.

It’s way closer to burning up (like, it’ll do it soon and uncontrollably without intervention) than a typical graveyard orbit. And if (when) it started breaking up in a poorly-chosen museum orbit, things would get very messy very fast.

I say send up a lil robot buddy that can hover around and 3D scan the interior for a few months and let anyone with a VR headset go hang out when they want to answer emails or whatever.

Many or all of them are things they’d do anyway (work on leaks that lead to fires) and/or are already visibly being worked on (the launch pad bidet). Formalizing the list so each thing can be checked off is part of the process to get the launch license back.

From the notice:

Friday, September 8, 2023

The FAA has closed the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy mishap investigation. The final report cites multiple root causes of the April 20, 2023, mishap and 63 corrective actions SpaceX must take to prevent mishap reoccurrence. Corrective actions include redesigns of vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesign of the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporation of additional reviews in the design process, additional analysis and testing of safety critical systems and components including the Autonomous Flight Safety System, and the application of additional change control practices.

The closure of the mishap investigation does not signal an immediate resumption of Starship launches at Boca Chica. SpaceX must implement all corrective actions that impact public safety and apply for and receive a license modification from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements prior to the next Starship launch.