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SES-10 Mission

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Re: SES-10 Mission

#171

Post by jacquesm »

JshWright wrote: post #164
SEJeff wrote: post #53

I can't wait until I have a talk with my kids when they realize the significance of this day: Kid: Daddy, ou mean when you were growing up, they threw away rockets each time? Me: Yes Kid: Doesn't that make them expensive? Me: Yes. And then not long after will be the other talk: Kid: Daddy, you mean people used to be in charge of driving themselves in cars? Me: Yes Kid: Did people ever die? Me: Millions Good job Elon…

>I can't wait until I have a talk with my kids when they realize the significance of this day https://goo.gl/photos/7rT5rxvsP9AxVZxn6 My four year old daughter, watching the launch with rapt attention. When we watched the Echostar 23 launch two weeks ago, she asked why it didn't land... Crazy that rockets landing is already totally normal for her.

Priceless :)

I was 4 when the Apollo launches happened and I still remember them today, they're probably my oldest memories (others I can't date so accurately so that may be off by a bit).

Very beautiful picture, thank you for posting.

Re: SES-10 Mission

#172

Post by flashman »

eliaspro wrote: post #65
braymundo wrote: post #44

Fantastic!!! Being able to watch a reusable rocket land perfecty, from my mobile phone while casting to a TV, over a computer network​, while located in southern Brazil makes me SO PROUD to be human!

It just depresses me seeing how many people don't have the slightest clue why this is something incredibly remarkable - the complexity behind each and every component, process, research and engineering making this possible - and then start bitching about the new Emoji set on their smartphone

But if all that stuff's possible, I should have the new emoji set, but I don't, because I bought my phone off the grey market so it doesn't get OTA updates.

Time to grab Odin again I guess.

Re: SES-10 Mission

#174

Post by acover »

nickik wrote: post #79
neuronexmachina wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could argue whether they're truly private sector, but they still haven't quite displaced ULA. In 2016 there were 12 ULA launches, 8 SpaceX launches, and 2 by Orbital ATK. Looking at other countries, there were 20 Chinese launches, 18 Russian launches, 9 European launches, and 7 Indian launches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_in_spaceflight#Orbital_la...

You can not compare all launches. Most of these launches are not competitive. SpaceX mostly competes with Arianspace for the truly commercial launches. SpaceX has captured around 50% of that market and the share is increasing. ULA competes mostly on the Air Force launches. They still have capabilities that SpaceX does not have (large fairings) and some that SpaceX will not have for a long time (vertical integration).…

> plus the Air Force always needs to have two providers

Source? Wasn't ULA the only provider for years as Boeing and Lockheed argued it would be cheaper to merge.

Re: SES-10 Mission

#175

Post by oska »

Cyph0n wrote: post #78
eliaspro wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It just depresses me seeing how many people don't have the slightest clue why this is something incredibly remarkable - the complexity behind each and every component, process, research and engineering making this possible - and then start bitching about the new Emoji set on their smartphone

And when, say, an amazing archeological artifact is uncovered, we probably won't appreciate the complexity that went into that, and the folks at ArcheologistNews will be pissed. There are so many fields and so many complex processes. I can assure you that any one of: the world of power transmission, or offshore oil drilling rigs, or commercial shipping, or chemical process design and optimization, or tons of other st…

In my experience, archaeological finds get highly upvoted on HN.

Re: SES-10 Mission

#176

Post by yeukhon »

eliaspro wrote: post #65
braymundo wrote: post #44

Fantastic!!! Being able to watch a reusable rocket land perfecty, from my mobile phone while casting to a TV, over a computer network​, while located in southern Brazil makes me SO PROUD to be human!

It just depresses me seeing how many people don't have the slightest clue why this is something incredibly remarkable - the complexity behind each and every component, process, research and engineering making this possible - and then start bitching about the new Emoji set on their smartphone

> It just depresses me seeing how many people don't have the slightest clue why this is something incredibly remarkable

Because some people don't actually know much / care about rocket science?

Re: SES-10 Mission

#177

Post by yborg »

ncallaway wrote: post #146
vkou wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between launching something to space and to orbit is roughly the difference between a bicycle, and a motorcycle. Blue Origin can go to space. They are nowhere close to going to orbit. We've sent things to space and back a long time ago. We call them airplanes. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15

Blue Origin isn't as far back as it may seem. They're new engine (BE-4) that will power New Glenn is going through test firings now. Additionally, they're angling to get BE-4 sold into other launch stacks than just their internal hardware. If they are able to get BE-4 out into other launch stacks in the next year or two, it's very possible that New Glenn will launch it's first mission before 2020. New Glenn will be c…

SpaceX Merlin 1C completed its first full duration firing in 2007, a decade ago. Blue Origin is trying to go straight to a large engine with more than twice the thrust of the Merlin 1 AND using a fuel that has never been used in rocketry for an engine this size. I'm impressed that Blue Origin has come this far, but they are most likely 5 years behind SpaceX, and probably more.

Re: SES-10 Mission

#178

Post by [deleted] »

elihu wrote: post #161
vickychijwani wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I think about this is: if not SpaceX, some govt or company will one day establish a base on another planet. Something like the stations we have in Antarctica. So SpaceX taking a shot at this isn't totally absurd - over-ambitious, sure, but not so ridiculous as to be out of the question. Maybe it won't happen for a few decades, or a century - but IMO it's very likely it will happen some time. And that's what u…

I think who gets there first is going to have a huge impact on what kind of society is established on Mars (the economy, the legal system, the culture, how infrastructure is managed, government, etc...). SpaceX may change its culture over time, but as things stand now I would rather live in a society established by SpaceX than one established by, say, Boeing.

[deleted]

Re: SES-10 Mission

#179

Post by InclinedPlane »

jacquesm wrote: post #159
InclinedPlane wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arianespace is their biggest competitor, they are the de facto rulers of the commercial launch market, with SpaceX hot on their heels. The Ariane 5 launches twin payloads about 7 times a year, for a total of about 14 total spacecraft launches per year. SpaceX is about at a similar cadence but has yet to hit the overall schedule and mission reliability figures that Arianespace has achieved so it's still a bit of a rac…

The one part of the market where they will continue to see competition is for those payloads/trajectories where there is no way to land the booster.

Firstly, even without reusability they still have an industry leading cost-competitive launcher.

Secondly, it's my understanding that with the performance upgrades from the Block 5 iteration that will become the dominant configuration later this year there will no longer be a need to fly the booster in expendable mode. And with the ability to launch much heavier payloads on the Falcon Heavy for extremely low prices, there won't be much of any performance window anywhere that competitors could wiggle through.

Re: SES-10 Mission

#180

Post by erikpukinskis »

jacquesm wrote: post #115
grondilu wrote: post #82

I've noticed that during the webcast they talked much more about their planetary colonisation project than they usually do. I guess it makes sense since today is the first time they actually implement the re-usability plan they believe is the key to this colonisation. But frankly, is the cost of going to mars really that important for its colonisation? I mean, I wouldn't move to mars even if going there was free. For…

I'm ok with aiming high and en-passant solving cheap access to orbit. Anything else is gravy, imagine if that dream did not exist this whole saga would not have happened. Dreams are good, they allow people to expend energy chasing that dream and the spin-offs from that may be worth as much or more to humanity than the original dream, even if we may not be able to figure out what path that might take today. I'm certai…

It's a bit disappointing to me that poverty, human trafficking, addiction, habitat destruxtion, cultural erasure, genocide, torture, extinction, etc aren't very powerful motivators for such people.

I feel such pressure to use our new skills to solve these problems, but I know 10 years ago they were a combination of invisible/impossible to me. If I hadn't been aggressively pushed by smart feminists to examine my life more closely I might still feel the same way. If I hadnt been intellectually curious enough to stick with them, despite their worldview seeming so alien and wrong, I would probably be working in VR now instead of housing.

Maybe it's just that such challenges are too dark for some people... Mars is all optimism, no need to struggle with the realities of evil. Maybe some people just cant handle the pain of working on poverty and violence. I totally understand the desire to avoid fields where evil plays a daily role in your job. I grew up in an alcoholic household so pain seems sort of normal, although I have an intense desire to dismantle its causes. I accept that a more emotionally healthy person might just nope out of such challenges.

I guess it's also a little like the video games vs life choice: Mars is a clear goal, with all the players in a clear sandbox. Poverty is a messy mindfuck of a problem. That makes it more intellectually challenging, but also scarier. Failure hurts worse: a rocket that doesn't launch is one thing. Watching your friends die is another.

Still, it puzzles me that so many smart people need something like Mars to feel like they have a hard problem that's worth solving. I see so many around me. Easing violence seems like such a bigger win than getting off planet.

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