SpaceX punts Starship launch as investigation opens into Starbase worker's death

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spacex-punts-starship-v3-launch-to-may-21-as-investigation-opens-into-starbase-worker-death/

by mywacaday • 2 months ago

38 26 2 months ago

scientificamerican.com

blendergeek• 2 months ago

https://archive.ph/z7xCk

Ajedi323• 2 months ago

Headline is misleading. The launch is happening tomorrow weather permitting, and the delays that already happened are most likely unrelated to the accident that killed the worker. There's also no evidence that accident rates at Starbase are higher than at any other US construction site.

sublinear• 2 months ago

no evidence that accident rates at Starbase are higher than at any other US construction site

I was actually just about to comment that it's surprising how few accidents we've heard about from a facility like that.

Either they're doing an amazing job, or they have a great lid on it despite all that want to see them fail.

tekla• 2 months ago

Are you accusing the media of misleading news about SpaceX, amazing bait for HN????

Yes, they are.

codingdave2• 2 months ago

You're joking, right?

Starbase is notorious for high accident rates.

drob518• 2 months ago

Data?

Ajedi323• 2 months ago

Compared to what? US average fatal accident rate for construction is 9.2 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers per year. In oil and gas extraction it's 13.8. In agriculture it's 20.9. In manufacturing it's 2.4. What's Starbase's rate?

(Source: https://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-inju...)

Veserv2• 2 months ago

What are you talking about? Injury rate at Starbase (Brownsville) was 6x higher than industry average in 2022 [1].

Furthermore, you have gotten the burden of proof backwards. The default presumption is non-safety. The burden of proof is on insiders (who have all the access) to robustly demonstrate in a clear and convincing manner that things are safe, not on outsiders (who only have limited access) to demonstrate in a clear and convincing manner that things are dangerous.

So, please present your evidence that their injury or fatality rate is normal. Absence of evidence defaults to your claim it is safe being unsupported.

edit: codingdave comment has a more recent link that also determines 2023 and 2024 also had injury rates multiple times higher than industry average.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48214074

[1] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/spacex-m...

dolphinscorpion• 2 months ago

> What are you talking about? Injury rate at Starbase (Brownsville) was 6x higher than industry average in 2022

That's a sacrifice Elon is willing to make

NetMageSCW2• 2 months ago

What industry is being compared, and how does that compare to what SpaceX is actually doing?

plugger• 2 months ago

3x higher than other rocket builders. Comparing a rocket factory to a construction site it borderline laughable.

NetMageSCW2• 2 months ago

Sad to see what Scientific American has become.

ChrisArchitect• 2 months ago

Starship's Twelfth Flight Test

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48214558

indoordin0saur• 2 months ago

Wow, read the article and it's just clickbait. Reads like AI was heavily used as well. Did this publication get bought out? I seem to remember it being a good source in the past.

SpaceX punts Starship launch as investigation opens into Starbase worker's death

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