Not angry, just scared

There seems to be a never ending chicken little mentality going on right now. The latest seems to be in the form of the SpaceX critic called the Angry Astronaut.

It's time to get real scared again, folks. So here it comes. I'll embed, and then comment afterward.



Comment:

Didja get real good and scared? Ooo! So scary.

Not to make too light of the concerns here, but I did detect something that he didn't mention. Maybe more than one thing.



Angry's main argument is about the possibility of a failed engine re-light after a long "cold-soak".

Let's start with the premise that it is baked in as a 10 hr. "cold soak". It may not last 10 hrs. To my knowledge, it is being constantly monitored. The "cold-soak" will last up to 10 hrs. He makes it seem like if there's an commit to orbit, it will have to last 10 hrs. Where's his evidence for that? There isn't one.

There are multiple scenarios as options in case the Starship must come down early. It doesn't necessarily mean a failed re-light is certain. That would have to mean a host of failures, one would presume. The point is that there's redundancy built-in. Multiple engines means multiple opportunities even for just one to re-light. Only one engine would be needed...

The point being that a number of things would have to go wrong in order for the worst case scenario to happen. Which brings me to his most glaring omission.

If the engines don't re-light, there's a lot of propellant onboard. The Starship can dump massive amounts of propellant and get enough thrust to slow it down. How do I know this? In earlier flights, they've had massive propellant dumps. So they've done it before. Even though this was not explicitly to return to Earth, it is being suggested as a way to soft-land on the Moon.

In other words, the engines do not have to re-light in order to get sufficient thrust to re-enter the atmosphere.

While the Angry Astronaut does seem to raise valid points, he is glossing over some important details.

So I think he's just ginning up the fear because there's an audience for the Musk-haters out there.