For those not following the story, this is an attempt to launch a massive rocket without adequate cooling or shockwave mitigation, so it’s likely to cause substantial harm to the local ecosystem and the small community of retirees who live near the launch site.
I’d have a look at the article that UlyssesT’s post linked to. My concern is not that the rocket blows up, it’s that they discover they need a flame trench by barbecuing a bunch of shorebirds and their ecologically sensitive habitat in the name of challenging conventions. Even though it’s just a test, the energies involved here are going to be huge and the engineers don’t seem to give much more of a plover’s ass about the area where they’re conducting the test than King Bazinga himself.
