this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
212 points (99.1% liked)

Technology

84354 readers
3976 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
technopagan@lemmy.world
L4s@lemmy.world
L3s@hackingne.ws
212
SpaceX sued for alleged home damage in South Texas— The lawsuit filed by 80 plaintiffs Thursday accuse Elon Musk's company of gross negligence and trespassing for loud blasts from 11 rocket tests. (www.texastribune.org)
submitted 12 hours ago by Deep@mander.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A group of 80 South Texas plaintiffs are suing Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX, alleging its rocket testing caused “massive” sonic booms that damaged their houses repeatedly over a two-year period.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Southern District of Texas Court on Thursday, accusing the company of gross negligence and trespassing for loud blasts caused by 11 rocket tests from April 2023 to October 2025. Because some of SpaceX’s tests involve 400-foot, two-stage rockets, with both stages capable of landing, tests sometimes subjected residents’ homes to multiple prolonged periods of damaging noise, according to the suit.

During the Starship rocket’s initial launch in 2023, the force of the 33-engine booster destroyed the launch pad and flung debris three quarters of a mile away, which the lawsuit said “violently illustrated” the rocket’s destructive power.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] vic_rattlehead@lemmy.world 14 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

What qualifies as "damaging noise"? Asking because I have a neighbor who has the loudest damn leaf blower of all time.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 16 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Sonic booms and supersonic flight are banned over the USA because the shockwave can break windows.

That being said, they did get permits for their activity. Doesn’t mean they should have, but they did; so this will be an uphill battle for the homeowners.

[–] Steve@startrek.website -5 points 9 hours ago

Its a long shot cash grab

[–] lath@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Cities or countries should have a tolerated decibel level. It varies per location, but if it exceeds harmful levels, you can generally make a ruckus about it.

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 4 points 10 hours ago

I think you meant counties not countries fyi.

It should also be stated that all the ones I've seen specifically carve out an allowance for using lawn care equipment (mowers, blowers, weed whackers, and such) so long as it's done during normal day hours. So normal noise ordinance is unlikely to apply.