![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/loxch4test.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThat is ongoing currently,\u201d Chatman said. \u201c[We are] working in close partnership with SpaceX and Blue Origin on the LOX\/methane combination and the explicit equivalency to identify how much we can \u2026 reduce that blast radius. Those discussions are happening, have been happening the last couple years, and are looking to culminate here in \u201926.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we get that data from the testing that is ongoing and the analysis that needs to occur, we\u2019re going to continue to treat any LOX-methane vehicle with 100 percent TNT blast equivalency, and have a maximized keep-out zone, simply from a public safety perspective,\u201d Chatman said.<\/p>\n
The data so far show promising results. \u201cWe do expect that BDA to shrink,\u201d he said. \u201cWe expect that to shrink based on some of the initial testing that has been done and the initial data reviews that have been done.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s imperative, not just for Starship\u2019s neighbors at the Cape Canaveral spaceport, but for SpaceX itself. The company forecasts a future in which it will launch Starships more often than the Falcon 9, requiring near-continuous operations at multiple launch pads.<\/p>\n
Chatman mentioned one future scenario in which SpaceX might want to launch Starships in close proximity to one another from neighboring pads.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point in the future, I do anticipate the\u00a0blast damage assessments to shrink down based on the testing that will have been accomplished and dataset will have been reviewed, [and] that we\u2019ll be in a comfortable set to be able to facilitate all launch operations. But until we have that data, until I\u2019m comfortable with what that data shows, with regards to reducing the BDA, keep-out zone, we\u2019re going to continue with the 100 percent TNT equivalency just from a public safety perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n SpaceX has performed explosive LOX\/methane tests, including the one seen here, at its development facility in McGregor, Texas.<\/p>\n
Credit:<\/p>\n
SpaceX<\/p>\n
The Commercial Space Federation, a lobbying group, submitted written testimony<\/a> to Congress in 2023 arguing the government should be using \u201cexisting industry data\u201d to inform its understanding of the explosive potential methane and liquid oxygen. That data, the federation said, suggests the government should set its TNT blast equivalency to no greater than 25 percent, a change that would greatly reduce the size of keep-out zones around launch pads. The organization\u2019s members include prominent methane users SpaceX, Blue Origin, Relativity Space, and Stoke Space, all of which have launch sites at Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n The government\u2019s methalox testing plans were expected to cost at least $80 million, according to the Commercial Space Federation.<\/p>\n The concern among engineers is that liquid oxygen and methane are highly miscible, meaning they mix together easily, raising the risk of a \u201ccondensed phase detonation\u201d with \u201csignificantly higher overpressures\u201d than rockets with liquid hydrogen or kerosene fuels. Small-scale mixtures of liquid oxygen and liquified natural gas have \u201cshown a broad detonable range with yields greater than that of TNT,\u201d NASA wrote in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat is ongoing currently,\u201d Chatman said. \u201c[We are] working in close partnership with SpaceX and Blue Origin on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-281539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}