e-FTW
New electron smell
Agreed on sound pollution. See Concorde over continental US (never happened, which helped kill that business).I'm wondering about sound and I don't see a solution in the context of going point to point on the earth. I love the idea and I wish we could find something. The problem as I see it is that if the rocket is only as loud as F9 (I expect it to be a lot louder), where exactly will the spaceports be sited. The toy video showed people hopping on a boat and riding out to sea to a platform. Is 20 miles far enough out to sea from New York, or are you really going more like 50 to 100 miles?
If an early network included something like:
- LA
- New York (somewhere eastern seaboard)
- Tokyo
- China
- Europe western seaboard (France / Germany)
- Australia
- India
Easy enough to think of more, but start with these, with a flight leaving from each to the others 1/day. That means that wherever you site the US eastern seaboard spaceport, you've got a big racket being made over a big area 2x per departure, and 1x per arrival. Space coast launches are a big deal and a big hit when they happen 1-4 times/month. Make it 10-20 times per day, and it'll stop being sexy and cool really fast, and instead be a constant source of noise pollution.
How far out to sea do you need to move to lower the sonic booms plus engine noise to at most "distant thunder"? Up thread, somebody said launches are audible in Orlando - google maps tells me it's 55 miles from Cape Canaveral to Orlando.
Oh - and some of those flights will need to depart after dark, or arrive after dark. I just assume that's a snap for the software - that'll be a problem for people trying to sleep.
Anyway - the physics of the sonic booms going and coming, the sound of the rocket taking off and the lesser sound of the rocket slowing down to land. Does a slower take off lower the sound and help keep the neighbors happy to have a spaceport in their back yard?
Anyway - I can see how this works for lots of other reasons already mentioned. I remain dubious (today) that anything serious / commercial will come of this until I hear how at least 2 sites can be situated that mitigates the noise pollution adequately and results in neighbors that want a spaceport nearby.
I figure that LA / New York run is popular enough for a back and forth each day, and maybe 2 (morning and night), creating the ability for some people to day trip back and forth.
Until the sound problem is solved in a clear way, I don't yet see this as a serious source of revenue to fund BFR development and building.
Also, you have current limitations around rockets flying over populated areas: we don't allow it, or at least rarely do.