SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded during its inaugural test flight, and yet, even as they watched the world's largest rocket burst into a fireball, SpaceX employees still roared with cheers and applause. While this may seem counterintuitive, experts say that the whole point of a test is to figure out what does and doesn't work. Thursday's launch was hailed as "a real accomplishment" and "so successful" by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and retired International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, respectively. SpaceX's philosophy of designing based on failure means that every failure is a learning opportunity to improve their technology.

Brendan Byrne, an expert in spaceflight technology, explains that SpaceX believes that any data they can yield from a test will be valuable as long as the rocket clears the launch pad, which it did. This visibility and transparency in SpaceX's test process is a good thing, according to Carissa Bryce Christensen, the CEO and founder of analytics and engineering firm BryceTech. She says that the test was consistent with the planned test program, and while it would have been great if everything had worked flawlessly, that's an unrealistic expectation with a vehicle as complex as the Starship.

SpaceX is currently developing a version of the Starship rocket that would send astronauts to the moon as soon as 2025. The stakes are high, which is why the company's philosophy of designing based on failure is so important. While the test flight may not have gone exactly as planned, it provided valuable data that will help SpaceX improve the reliability of the Starship as they work towards making life multi-planetary.

As the most powerful launch vehicle ever built, the Starship rocket represents SpaceX's aspiration to change what humanity does in space. SpaceX has already dominated launches of existing space activities with its Falcon 9 reusable launch vehicle. And reusability there was a big achievement — so you're not throwing the rocket away each launch, you're reusing it. And so SpaceX's Falcon 9 vehicle contributed to lower prices, a faster launch cadence and has helped attract investment in space ventures that use satellites and serve other existing space markets.

While the explosion of the Starship rocket may have seemed like a failure to outsiders, it was actually a success for SpaceX, as it provided valuable data that will help improve the technology. As Christensen says, "in designing and developing and testing complex hardware, you can use analysis and computer simulations to figure out what will work and what won't, and you can use physical tests in the real world. And SpaceX has been very hardware-intensive in its development program, conducting many physical tests, as we very dramatically have seen."

So while some may have been surprised by the cheers and applause that erupted from SpaceX employees as the Starship rocket exploded, the reality is that it was all part of the plan. Failure is just another opportunity to learn and improve, and that's exactly what SpaceX is doing as it works towards making life multi-planetary.

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🌊 Revolutionary Method to Remove Carbon Dioxide From Oceans

A Cheaper and More Efficient Solution to Tackling Climate Change

A new method for removing carbon dioxide from the ocean has been discovered by a team of researchers at MIT. The method could be implemented by ships or at offshore drilling platforms or aquaculture fish farms. The key to this efficient and inexpensive removal mechanism lies in a reversible process consisting of membrane-free electrochemical cells. Reactive electrodes are used to release protons to the seawater fed to the cells, driving the release of the dissolved carbon dioxide from the water. Once the carbon dioxide is removed from the water, it still needs to be disposed of. For example, it can be buried in deep geologic formations under the sea floor or converted into a compound like ethanol.

This removal of carbon dioxide and reinjection of alkaline water could slowly start to reverse, at least locally, the acidification of the oceans that has been caused by carbon dioxide buildup. This in turn has threatened coral reefs and shellfish. The reinjection of alkaline water could be done through dispersed outlets or far offshore to avoid a local spike of alkalinity that could disrupt ecosystems. The team at MIT suggests that the removal of carbon dioxide and the reinjection of alkaline water could be used in places such as fish farms, which tend to acidify the water.

The method is scalable and could initially use existing or planned infrastructure that already processes seawater, such as desalination plants. “With desalination plants, you’re already pumping all the water, so why not co-locate there?” says Kripa Varanasi, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. The carbon dioxide removal could be a simple add-on to existing processes and it would not require consumables like chemical additives or membranes. The MIT team suggests that while they will not be able to treat the entire planet’s emissions, this system is a promising possibility for mitigating CO2 emissions.