The Story of SpaceX

[Jubal]

http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-elon-musk-spacex/

I feel like this may be of interest to people here; it's long, but gripping. I honestly hadn't realised how close to the line the whole thing had gotten at times!

[Glaurung]

There's an unexpected sequel to the explosion of a SpaceX rocket in June this year: part of the wreckage has now washed up in the Scilly Isles, off south-west England, having travelled across the Atlantic from Florida. Here's the inevitable BBC article.

Some points that might be of interest:
- It's travelled over 4,000 miles in almost exactly 5 months - that's 25-30 miles per day.
- The rocket section has picked up a nice crop of goose barnacles, so much so that parts had to be scraped off to work out what the wreckage was.
- Not reported in the article, but under English law there will be some interesting questions about ownership and responsibility for the wreckage. Is it flotsam (something washed off a ship, hence ownership unchanged) or jetsam (deliberately thrown overboard, i.e. abandoned, so ownership transfers to finder)? Or is there some other category for part of a space rocket (blown up by its owner), fallen through the air, washed across the sea, and now come to land?

[Jubal]

I had no idea that was the legal flotsam/jetsam definition, that's interesting. I think I'd class it as jetsam given SpaceX made no obvious attempt to find it?

[Glaurung]

As far as I know, "flotsam" and "jetsam" are originally from Norman French, like a lot of English legal jargon. "Flotsam" derives from floter (to float), while "jetsam" is from jeter (to throw), related to modern English "jettison" and "jetty".

Legally I think the distinction arises from how the item came to be in the sea, rather than from any subsequent action of the original owner in tracing it. On that basis I would categorise this rocket component as jetsam - blowing up the rocket looks like a fairly determined attempt at deliberately abandoning it!

[Glaurung]

There's an unexpected sequel to the explosion of a SpaceX rocket in June this year: part of the wreckage has now washed up in the Scilly Isles, off south-west England, having travelled across the Atlantic from Florida.

Some updates on this one:
BBC, 1 December: It turns out that the wreckage was not from the abortive launch in June this year, but instead from the first stage of a successful mission in September 2014. So the average speed in my first post is wrong too: it's more like 9-10 miles a day.

BBC, 7 December: The Receiver of Wreck has granted ownership to SpaceX, who have dismantled the wreckage and currently expect to ship it back to the US. Apparently many islanders want to keep it in Scilly, and the UK National Space Centre would like it too.