Comment on Chinese space firm unintentionally launches its new rocket

• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Cape Canaveral is directly east of Orlando, with a bunch of vacation resort spots hugging the shore. The Florida coastline isn’t exactly lightly developed, either.

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  • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    From Apple Maps, it looks like it’s on a mostly undeveloped island, with the nearest town, Cape Canaveral, over ten miles away. I can’t tell how far away Orlando is, but much further.

    Compared to this Chinese test site, it looks like population centers are 5x - 10x farther, plus you have an entire ocean to blow stuff up

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    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      the nearest town, Cape Canaveral, over ten miles away

      The Falcon 9 that made an uncontrolled reentry in March of 2021 spread debris from Washington to Oregon.

      Chinese Long March rocket failures have dropped parts into Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

      Ten miles isn’t far for a vehicle moving 17,500 mph during the 12 minutes or so necessary to break Earth’s gravity well.

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