The US and Spacex wanted to revolutionize the delivery of weapons anywhere in the world. A tropical bird had other plans

Starship is called to be the ship-cohete that Put humanity on Marsbut years ago he caught the attention of Pentagon For something much more earthly: transport military merchandise from one point to another on earth. But what they expected from Spacex And the Pentagon was an enemy who put those plans in check.

Tropical birds.

Revolutionizing military logistics. After a series of incidents, in 2024 we witnessed something unprecedented. He Starship propeller rocket was intercepted with millimeter accuracy by a mechanical arm. This, which seems little thing, is the starting gun for the revolution of space missions because it promises to reduce costs and shorten times because the rockets are no longer disposable between missions.

Long before achievement, in 2021, the Pentagon already showed interest in these capabilities. The United States Air Force had an internal program called ‘Rocket Cargo‘With an ambitious objective, but easy to explain: transport huge amounts of military load from one point to another on the planet in a matter of minutes.

Suspense. We are talking about the ability to deliver up to 150 tons of load anywhere on Earth in a maximum time of 90 minutes, which would imply an unprecedented and unprecedented deployment, as well as A tremendous strategic advantage. However, something like this requires evidence beyond those that Spacex itself is doing with its ship-cohete, and the idea of the Air Force was to start trying these rockets in a Pacific Atolón. It is not going to be.

How can we read in Reuterson that remote island at 1,300 kilometers southwest of Hawaii, at least 14 species of tropical birds live. And, according to biologists, Spacex and Air Force tests would damage these species that nest in the area.

Atoll location

And relocation. This atoll, called Johnstonhas only 2.6 square kilometers and is part of the National Marine Monument of the remote Pacific Islands, so, as a source of the Air Force confirmed to the American military magazine ‘Stars and Stripes’, they will have to look for a new ‘patio’ of testing. According to the FFAA spokesman to the American magazine, they are already “exploring alternative places to develop the program”.

Mistreating atolls. It is not the first time That the activities of the Musk company damages the flora and fauna of a place. It happened in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2023, when an explosion ended both with nests and coastal bird eggs, which caused legal problems to the company. Problems that Musk reacted with his particular and curious sense of humor, stating that he would stop eating tortillas for a week to compensate.

And the truth is that this is a small victory for the tropical birds of the Johnson atolion, since the atolls of the quadrant and their fauna did not have so much luck in the pastwhen they were chosen as Objective for nuclear tests During the cold war, ending with entire islands of a plumazo and causing the Fear of nuclear radiation long before the Chernobyl accident.

Images | United States Army Chemical Materials Agency, Steve Jurvetson, Tubs

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