SpaceX Starship Booster, post-launch
Today, October 13, 2024, is truly a momentous day. Why? SpaceX successfully launched AND recovered Starship V — the whole configuration, which included the heavy booster, AND the top stage, which will be the working part of their spaceship that will carry humans to Mars. Recovery of the heavy booster was accomplished by Mechazilla, the giant chopsticks-like device, while the top stage splashed down in the Indian Ocean. It would have been great to have the top land on one of SpaceX’s recovery ships, but that will come in time.
There are lots of YouTube videos that portray the flight, and considering this was written in the AM of Oct. 13,, there will likely be more. Here’s one to get you started if you’re reading this early.
Launch and beginning recovery
Why were they able to do this? You have to go back to Conway’s Law and understand the memetic evolutionary step that SpaceX has taken — which is to launch full configurations, knowing that they could explode in full public view, to do what we call an All Up test. There is some complexity limit in such an advanced craft that there is no way to gain more insight nor understanding from component testing. Sooner or later, you gotta put it all on the line and Light That Candle.
But only a memetically advanced performance-based community can do this kind of testing. If Legalistic Authoritarian status-driven NASA blows up a ship on the pad, then heads inevitably will roll. The status blow to the operation is one that NASA simply won’t allow. Because the elites in the company look bad. So promotion of managers that will enforce that memetic standard end up getting promoted, as opposed to more enlightened and non-risk averse individuals. And in the current milieu, you end up with people who will NEVER get a rocket off the ground. Like this guy.
And people will fall into line under that kind of leadership. When status matters, and not performance, you might be able to make McKinsey happy. But you’ll never design the next generation of space flight. People know, for the most part, that they have to go along to get along. You get down to that “I gotta feed my babies” Survival v-Meme pretty damn quick.
It’s in the knowledge that an organization produces. Because that knowledge creates the design. You simply can’t bring in enough outside, or unknown knowledge to get your ship off the ground. It’s true for bacteria, and it’s true for spaceships.
If there’s a simple memetic takeaway, though, it’s this. Status-based companies will produce stasis, and incremental improvement, until capture by rule-gaming psychopaths. Performance-based companies will hit goals and design new things. Things can and will go wrong — but it’s your only hope of actually creating something new.
Starship is the result of a lot of hardcore, diligent work. Make no mistake about it. But it’s company culture, and importantly company structure that made today what it is. Congratulations, SpaceX. The future is starting to look like the future!