Phil Mason Does Not Understand Space

Update 17/10/21: Mason has now put out a video admitting the first mistake pointed out here, and indirectly referencing this blog post. However, he has falsely suggested that this calculation alone is used to dismiss he criticisms of SpaceX out of hand. This is not true, as you will read below I tackle each of his mistaken and dishonest statements individually.

Phil Mason, a chemist who makes science education videos under the pseudonym 'Thunderf00t', has recently been producing some videos on the topic of space that contain very large amounts of misinformation, and misunderstanding of the topic. He has a special hostility for Elon Musk's space plans - perhaps enhanced by the clicks a video mentioning Musk or SpaceX can gather. I've held off on this for a while, as I don't want to be very negative, but I have seen enough people cite him as an authoritative source that I feel some debunking is in order. Given that he himself is somewhat aggressive in his purported takedowns of others i…