A 120-metre-high space rocket ignites and lifts off into the sky. The roar from its 29 vast rocket engines is so loud that even 4km distant from the launch pad the noise level is sufficient to cause permanent hearing damage.
But there’s nobody to hear it from close up, because the launch takes place on the ocean, with the huge rocket lifting off into the skies from a floating launch platform. Only the crew of a support vessel 10km away hears the noise, as a distant rumble.
This is how the US aerospace company SpaceX imagines that its huge Starship spacecraft and other rockets will be launched in the future. And elimination of noise is not the only advantage of moving the launch platform from dry land to the ocean. There is the possibility of handling a heavier load, as well as improved safety, even less
