81–90 of 155 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Living on Mars is a pipe dream without figuring out how to re-create Earth's geomagnetic field and extend it around human buildings.
Radiation on Mars is about the same as background radiation in Ramsar, Iran. Residents there have normal lifespans and cancer rates. https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/10/20/omg-space-is-f...
I've worked in aerospace and have been reading HN for over a decade. Here's some adult advice, for both the OP and HN in general. Space is a waste of time unless you're a government or a bored billionaire. Objects are too far, and lift is now a commodity. (SpaceX will probably end up shutting down due to lack of lift demand, hence their polluting the sky with micro satellites now.) So if you really want a career in s…
> Here's some adult advice, for both the OP and HN in general.
> Space is a waste of time unless you're a government or a bored billionaire. Objects are too far, and lift is now a commodity.
> (SpaceX will probably end up shutting down due to lack of lift demand, hence their polluting the sky with micro satellites now.)
You are misidentifying the source of revenue. Space, like military equipment, is an incredible market for corporations equipped to operate in. There are huge government subsidies, private-public partnerships designed to assist research and development, there's an unsatiable market to offload excess production in (government demand), you get to profit off of commercial spin-off products. SpaceX is on the receiving end of all of this. Furthermore, the public does not care what it is that you are doing exactly. That's important because of all the tax money involved. The moment your enterprise has a significant impact on the public ordinary people will scrutinize it. That's bad for business. Even more so when your business depends the government which is somewhat accountable to the public.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Living on Mars is a pipe dream without figuring out how to re-create Earth's geomagnetic field and extend it around human buildings.
I guess that depends on what end effect of the magnetic field we are trying to replicate. If it's protection from radiation, then we have multiple avenues of research and action. We can use particular materials in our domed cities, we can build underground, and we could bioengineer plants and ourselves to better cope with radiation damage. We could even create a huge solar array or nuclear reactor in space and create…
I think it makes far more sense to work on geo-engineering solutions to climate change first - it's also more likely to have a viable business model, on the assumption that the people will eventually demand action rather than applaud their leaders for pulling out of the Paris Accord.
I think pretty much all of the tech applicable to terraforming Mars could also be useful for reducing Earth's CO2 levels, no? Maybe let the problems on Earth guide development and drive funding, and pivot to Mars once it's clear success is being had on Earth.
But, how to bootstrap that? Perhaps write the software for some other reaction engine company? Or create a simulator for orbital maneuvering?
If anyone tries this, drop me an email. I’d love to get involved in any capacity.
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It may be profitable now , but don't forget that SpaceX has been going for 17 years, has raised well over a billion in VC funding to date, and Elon has put more than $100m of his own money in. SpaceX is in absolutely no way whatsoever a company that Elon bootstrapped.
Read this article and tell me this company was not bootstrapped by Elon. [0] Just because they went on to raise huge amounts of VC money doesn't mean anything. He was the one who took all that risk and nearly went bankrupt, not the VC's that now are about to reap the rewards. This is not to knock the VC money, those guys are awesome for believing in the mission. [0] https://www.wired.com/2007/05/ff-space-musk
Start by assuming SpaceX will be successful with Starship and Starlink. That means they drop launch costs to $20/kg at scale, find themselves with NASA-level funding from Starlink subscriptions, and start building permanent installations on Mars and the Moon. Figure out something they're going to need for those. Musk has said they're relying on other companies to provide the infrastructure to actually live on Mars. B…
"That means they drop launch costs to $20/kg at scale..." Yeah, probably not in your lifetime, buddy: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/... "NASA’s goal is to reduce the cost of getting to space to hundreds of dollars per pound within 25 years and tens of dollars per pound within 40 years." Starting a business based on that _now_ seems to be a bit... premature :) "...start building permanent…
(($2M/launch) / (100 Mg / launch) = $20/kg
Now obviously those are aspirational numbers; Starship is too early in its development cycle for anyone to be making truly accurate cost projections. Furthermore the cost per launch to SpaceX isn't necessarily the same as what they'll actually be charging their customers. But even if Elon's guess is off by an order of magnitude, it'll still be way cheaper than "hundreds of dollars per pound", and it'll happen much sooner than "25 years".
Start by assuming SpaceX will be successful with Starship and Starlink. That means they drop launch costs to $20/kg at scale, find themselves with NASA-level funding from Starlink subscriptions, and start building permanent installations on Mars and the Moon. Figure out something they're going to need for those. Musk has said they're relying on other companies to provide the infrastructure to actually live on Mars. B…
"That means they drop launch costs to $20/kg at scale..." Yeah, probably not in your lifetime, buddy: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/... "NASA’s goal is to reduce the cost of getting to space to hundreds of dollars per pound within 25 years and tens of dollars per pound within 40 years." Starting a business based on that _now_ seems to be a bit... premature :) "...start building permanent…
While I'm not convinced it will happen in the timeframes they are shooting for, I'm also not convinced it won't.