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> instantly vaporizing and blowing up the plate

It sounds like you are thinking about the water coolant being in or behind the steel plate.

But if you pump water on top of the steel plate there it can instantly vaporize without blowing up anything. If you have sufficient flow then that can keep the steel plate from melting.

In the Spaces thing, he described it as being like an upside-down shower head, and to expect lots of steam billowing out during launch instead of dust, so I don't think it's a closed system.

NASA Kennedy launchpad deluged test https://youtu.be/LNkmwrTjKuo

That flow is even bigger than it looks, seriously impressive.

> The IOP/SS peak flow rate is 1.1 million gallons per minute, high enough to empty roughly two Olympic-size swimming pools in one minute.

https://www.nasa.gov/content/launch-pad-39b

4.16 mega litres a minute.

Must be some fair old pumps on that setup!

They’ll need pumps bigger than the rocket’s fuel pumps.

Nah, just some water towers. You can fill the water towers slowly using small pumps, then drain them quick using gravity.