The operative phrase here is "Just don’t blow up the launchpad." They did, kinda, blow up the launchpad. The OLM is likely damaged beyond repair and is going to require significant redesign.
Thus, the launch was a mixed bag. My initial impression was that it was a stunning success, the rocket performed well for a very experimental platform, but the damage to the OLM means we are lucky to see another test flight this year. With that said, I expect that flight to reach orbit.
We believe what Elon was implying with that was — there have been many cases where the rocket completely blew up at the launch pad itself, like one of Falcon 9 Flight 29 in the year 2016. https://youtu.be/_BgJEXQkjNQ?t=70
After this it took more than a year for another launch to take place.
The current damage seems significant but could have been worse if that huge beast of engineering had exploded at T equals zero. So, it instead of "blowing up" the launch pad, might have slightly "burnt it". :-)
The operative phrase here is "Just don’t blow up the launchpad." They did, kinda, blow up the launchpad. The OLM is likely damaged beyond repair and is going to require significant redesign.
Thus, the launch was a mixed bag. My initial impression was that it was a stunning success, the rocket performed well for a very experimental platform, but the damage to the OLM means we are lucky to see another test flight this year. With that said, I expect that flight to reach orbit.
You are 100% correct.
We believe what Elon was implying with that was — there have been many cases where the rocket completely blew up at the launch pad itself, like one of Falcon 9 Flight 29 in the year 2016. https://youtu.be/_BgJEXQkjNQ?t=70
After this it took more than a year for another launch to take place.
The current damage seems significant but could have been worse if that huge beast of engineering had exploded at T equals zero. So, it instead of "blowing up" the launch pad, might have slightly "burnt it". :-)