Starbase Launch Site Flyover *pad damage 

Sorry wrong date 2023 not 2020

For anyone wondering, SpaceX still don't plan on installing a flame trench. They've constructed giant steel plates for under the launch mount that will be water cooled to prevent the steel melting which should hold up significantly better. Next launch should be in 1-2 months but those are Elon's words so I can imagine we're looking at over 4 months atleast. If SpaceX manage to get the pad back into service in 2 months I'll be absolutely gobsmacked

The position of those fuel tanks seems crazy. Very fortunate they weren't completely destroyed.

That was quite the concrete rich liftoff!

Thanks for the photos. Aerial assets make a huge impact on what we know about many things. They were willing to go with stage 0 as it to make the April launch window. Now they, and we, know.

i think the rocket dug the trench away from the tower and towards the ocean because the tower was obstructing the full and easy flow of exhaust gases. fluids always seek the easiest path.

I'm a fan of spacex, but it's a bit unbelievable how no one predicted such damage starship's engines can cause. Flame diverter or water deluge system is super important to be built there

They underestimated the force of the engines on the concrete. Going to have to make some big changes in Boca and Florida.

That rocket is devastatingly powerful. We’re starting to hit that point in rocketry where new solutions are going to have to be found to combat this, because I highly doubt the traditional methods are gonna work on the Moon and beyond.

the side of the olm away from the tower took more foundation damage earlier. was trying to dig a flame trench. the damaged engines in the outer ring are all located over olm legs. debris bounced off the legs and up skirt into engines

Great video Mauricio. You really work hard. I admire that a lot. 👍

Mind blowing damage! Stage 0 is wrecked! Mistakes were made!

i really dont know why they didnt build a flame diverter to begin with. They knew this one is more powerful than the saturn 5, and that launchpad had one, they could have gotten some data to see what damage if at all that caused back then. they should have known this will happen, i think this was an unnecessary destruction of infrastructure.

was like Giant Pressure Washer but with fire

Thank you, Mauricio! 🙏🙏

Well this definitely cleared the way for them to do the flame diverter. Lol Don't really got to do a whole lot of digging now. But it was definitely a site to see and honestly I've been waiting to get pictures to see what stage zero looks like

No surprise it would make such a mess. I don't know what they were thinking. The launch mount needs to be at least double the height above the concrete to have any chance.

B7 be like - if i am going down i am taking everyone with me.

Those sea launches are looking more attractive now….😮

I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.

You guys are a crucial piece of the puzzle for all of us. Thank you so much.

Thank you RGV....

Guaranteed excitement delivered.

If you look at the launch mount first time, without knowing what happened, you couldnt tell if the rocket cleared the pad or exploded at liftoff LOL Amazing footage, fascinating stuff.

Starhopper still standing, the indestructible! They should move it in a museum eventually!

The damage is huge in more ways than one. Not only will the pad need to be stronger and higher, the tower itself will possibly be required to be higher. Then if the tower is higher it might need to be wider to increase strength.

It appears once the blast pierced the concrete under the OLM there was only soft sand underneath allowing a whole section of the pavement to be lifted away nearly 100 feet away from the center of the blast (1:38).

I think they will have to build a flame diverter for this. It is amazing the power of the booster engines, but I also think they were expecting this to happen so they could plan accordingly. The next lift off will be one to watch.

This is why you need a Flame Deflector !!!

They really built a monster, but it was massive oversight to not make sufficient mitigation; they don't call controlled explosion for no reason, and it was obivous from the mere seconds test that kept destroying the pad

thank you for this view of the works. Quite something to see the power of 33 raptors at work. Keep up the good work and look forward to the next video as well, your shows are so informational to watch.

I think a launchpad made out of thick steel plates could actually work. Concrete is too brittle of a material and will crumble into pieces under extreme vibrations. Steel on the other hand is very ductile and heat resistant, thats why the rebar and metal structures are still there

Awesome, thanks for sharing! Can't wait for tomorrow's live stream for more pictures :)

Wow! As soon as the concrete under the rocket melted, the hot exhaust got under the concrete slabs and blew them away like confetti in a hurricane.

Frankly, the starship for me will become the safest rocket in the world once the flame deflector and the water deluge are operational, you saw the launch pad in what a disastrous state, the concrete and iron armor plates flew with the starship it was the apocalypse in bocachica, and the starship as if nothing had happened took off to overtake MaxQ, it made a right and left loops, the structure held, it made several loops, before being destroyed, another rocket would have exploded on stage zero, bravo spaceX, good job.

Great vid I appreciate that parting shot of Hopper

Brilliant photography and feedback , thank you Stuart in Ireland ☘️

Wow! They're going to be rebuilding that for a WHILE!

Thank you so much, RGV! 🚀

Thanks RGV for getting up there so quickly. Waiting anxiously for more pics...

Thank you RGV 😊

Thank you for your tireless work!

To say SpaceX completely underestimated the forces during liftoff is an understatement. On the other hand, the launch essentially "dug" the flame trench that needs to be designed for the pad. A lot of rethinking about Stage 0 to be had.

Thank you for the great footage!

Some elements in the design worked well and others did not. I suggest they (SpaceX) will be focusing on what worked and build on those design ideas and will avoid the elements that did not work so well, or will mitigate or will redesign to strengthen them. The trolls that just offer "they didn't design it right" offer no original thoughts and their idea of innovation is to do it just like it was done 50+ years ago. If they were commenting on the automotive industry they would be advocating that we all drive model T's because to try anything else would be too risky. Mauricio, thanks for the pics and thanks for flying and trying to get shots in between clouds!

Thank you so much for making this video!

Excellent shots.

Thanks for this, the before and after images are impressive!

Well, it looks like the Starship launch pad at Cape Canaveral will have to be redesigned big time.

Awesome pics! Thanks a lot for sharing

Thank you! Great shots despite difficult conditions.

It literally removed entire slabs of concrete. Holy shit!

Thank fur the before and after. Really pots it into perspective.

Thank you for your service!

All that hard work ripped apart in seconds by the raptors.

It may be said it is a wonder the rocket managed to escape this inferno of smoke and dust and concrete blocks ejecting hundred meters into the sky and that it didn't blow up with the whole launchpad installation and the tankfarm.

I would not doubt that the FAA accident review board pulls SpaceX launch licence to ensure launch pad flame diverters are installed with water deluge is included before any future flights leave that pad.

You hear the numbers, about the power on each engine, and the number of them running at once, but it does not prepare you for the amazing power that is really coming out!

Great Job !👍 Thank You for the best picures I've seen👀so far !!!!! 👍

A lot of excellent data that will contribute to a successful landing pad build on Mars !

I always bought the suggestion that they couldn't dig trenches due to swamp-like soil conditions, which is true to a degree, just like at Cape Canaveral. Having said that, looking at the deep hole under the mount, they might be able to dig out trenches in several directions to help direct the energy from this monster. I'm not convinced that a deluge only approach will cut it, so I'm very interested in how they proceed.

This is unbelievable the damage done by Starship, glad I got to see it one week before the devastation! Can't wait to see the next flyover of the launch site with better pictures.

Excellent coverage! Going forward, I'm wondering what the SpaceX community will decide to do in re-building the launch pad structures. Yes, the Starship could have exploded just prior to lift-off which would have made this present damage look like a picnic. Sadly, I would give the rest of 2023 for SpaceX to re-build the Boca Chica launch facility.

Thanks!

Well on the bright side the new flame diverter trench is partially dug out.

I can't wait to hear from Zack, I sure hope he's okay. I can tell this really got to him. If you read this Zack, love ya man, keep your head up!

Thank you for this view. Considering what just took place, the damage could have been a whole lot worse. Star hopper, the immortal, at the end….. priceless!

This is simply amazing. I can't imagine that that is under 2000 tons of concrete and infill shot up to hundreds of meters away.

Гарна робота за декілька років, Маурісіо!!

Thanks M.

this is a really good idea, History recorded!!

Impresionante Mauricio me estoy recuperando😮

I am still cracking up over Musk saying they will fly in a month or two. Like no man, this is gonna take the rest of the year. See you in 2024.

Thanks. These pictures were enlightening as to How not to layout and build a launching facility.

Well this pretty much proves everyone right that has been saying for years that they need a flame diverter. Elon is saying 2 months till next flight... but this is gonna take longer than that to get this all repaired.

There should be a "love" button for what you do for us rocket faithful.

cool thanks for sharing

Minimum delay to next launch at least 6 months . More, if they change approach to Stage 0.

We should all appreciate how lucky we got. The pair of engines that cut out were away from the tower side making it lean that way on lift off. If it did that starting translation toward the tower and just touched it, it would have opened the tank like it was made of tissue paper and the whole thing would have fell right there on top of the QD, Worst case scenario. Or the translation was part of the flight plan and im just talking about nothing lol but i thought your explanation of why it should try to come straight up out of the pad was a very well founded. Do we recall how deep those main legs go into the ground? 60 feet or something?

its really amazing any rocket engines were working after that. truly incredible. also, this would not be an issue with ocean based launches im guessing.

Starhopper: YEEAAHHHH THAT WAS AWESOMEEEE!!! DO IT AGAINNNN!!!!

Holy crap, @2:30 the dent in one of the tanks at the tank farm is humongous!

Let's pay our respects for all the cameras that were on that no-longer-placed railing next to Star Hopper. F

Great photos. Do you think they got the rocket right? It would of probably performed nominally but for the OLM.

Nice views, thanks a lot ! I'm still amazed at how much cement was just blown away like cardboard. Seeing big chunks of cement that must weigh a ton flying up in the air was absolutely insane, part of me is glad I wasn't able to make it down in time for this launch, having sand rain down on me isn't something I actually want and from what I hear that was a thing.

Phew,what a blowout!!!

Dude that is some serious damage, we won't see a starship launch for quite some time now possibly even for a half a year. They really need to make some sort of flame diverter or came up with some new solution. I don't think water cooled steel pads will do the trick on a long run.

The orbital launch table and tower look surprisingly well, they just need to figure out the concrete and ground part which I have no doubt they're well capable of doing, I'm optimistic

OK boys, clean that up, get ready! Boss said next in one hour!

The amount of flying concrete, I wonder how much damage there is on the tank farm. You could see spray of concrete falling into the sea during takeoff, crazy! Awesome, but crazy :D

Thank you! Wow, the pad sure took a beating, along with everything else. Amazing in all their engineering expertise they thought they didnt need to put in a flame diverter or deluge system for the worlds most powerful rocket. Probably will now!

well great shots as always ..ty..lets hope the mounts ok and this just removal of grade beam to put scoop diverter out to sea.

OLM is officially painted into corner. Or build a mound - a really big one with a built in flame diverter pointing away from the tank farm and mechazilla. And then put the OLM on top of the mound. Easy peezy.

As they say, you learn from your mistakes….this will take many months. Also, not sure if FAA or EPA will grant them a license as per previous protocol or will demand much stricter requirements

Totally incredible, the power that was unleashed !!! Looks like the "2 weeks" thing needs to be upgraded to "2 months" 😂 but seriously......I got a shopvac an a buffer if they wanna borrow them...!

The launch mount shielding really did its job and then some

StarHopper still standing strong. 💪

Note to designers: The launch pad is not rapidly reusable. Conclusion: Starship Program Achilles Heel identified - in anatomically and metaphorically congruous location. General Personal Observations: 1. I was surprised that the concrete shrapnel munition that was created didn’t shred the tank farm. 2. It never pays to try to save money on your foundations or damage mitigation/protection systems. 3. In this case it likely contributed to heavy adjacent infrastructure and, who knows, maybe ship damage during liftoff. 4. It definitely already has damaged the schedule for running the other rapidly prototyped horses already chomping at their bits in the barn.

Do we have a read on how bad off the OLM is? Like, the plumbing and the clamps and such?

WOW! Did not know those huge concrete blocks got uprooted and blown away. They can't have that.