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The issue is that that dirt and rocks flying around damages all the other expensive equipment at the launch site. There is going to be some very dead kit down there. They can't do that every time.

But big dust clouds also upset people, and SpaceX can't afford to fall out with the locals.



> dirt and rocks flying around damages all the other expensive equipment at the launch site

It’s a test pad. The equipment HN’s armchair aerospace engineers are proposing be installed would have been that expensive equipment.


Locals? Don't they own 99% of Boca Chica by now?


South Padre, about 5 miles away has been covered with a layer of dust.


I was on South Padre Island watching the launch, and I was stuck in traffic on South Padre Island for almost an hour afterwards, and I did not observe this.

It’s possible that some of the dust reached South Padre or Port Isabel, but neither seemed to be “covered” in it.


It's not just dust it's pollution and it's going to cause long-term health problems.


Methane rocket exhaust is steam and CO2. Where did the "pollution" come from?

Are you suggesting they buried polluted dirt in the launch pad to distribute later?

It's just like construction dust. It's unpleasant and inconsiderate but it's not highly toxic or a pollutant.


I mean the concrete dust that got airborne as it was being blown apart. It's airborne silica and is toxic which is why construction workers wear masks when producing it.


What? This is quite the claim to make so confidently.




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