Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SpaceX BFR [video]

youtube.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 277 posts

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#91

Post by drinchev »

I think if we measure the travel time from door to door the benefits of the fast rocket shrink in a relation to where is located.

With airplanes this is solved, by the big infrastructure ( cities sometimes have even 2-3 airports ).

Where I live ( Berlin ) with a flight to NYC would look like :

    1. City center -> TXL  - 20m
    2. Check-in / security - 30m ( no joke, the airport is small )
    3. Flight              - 9h 15m
    4. Check-out / luggage - 50m 
    5. EWR -> City center  - 50m
    ------------- TOTAL ---- 11h 25m
This means that ( ignoring the BFR flight time, since it's just minutes ) the time between you leave the city-center and entering the BFR should take less than 5 hours ( for Berlin ), otherwise you will not arrive faster than a plane.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#92

Post by gravypod »

jlebrech wrote: post #35

can anyone think of scenarios where somebody has to be somewhere in an hour? what about making one of those the new airforce one?

Industrial (Oil/Gas/Materials) repairmen. You're talking a few 100,000 for every hour they're not pushing product. These places are located at the resource, not where employees are so you're likely going to need to fly someone super specialized in the maintenance of this one item half way across the globe.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#93

Post by jlebrech »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #71
jlebrech wrote: post #35

can anyone think of scenarios where somebody has to be somewhere in an hour? what about making one of those the new airforce one?

Your argument makes no sense. Would you like to be there in an hour or in 15 hours? Um, let me think about that for, no, wait. I'll take the hour, please.

price

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#94

Post by pps »

jeandejean wrote: post #86
caio1982 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Musk didn't say it would replace regular planes nor we would all be astronauts, that's just you saying it. Also, his talk was about 43min long and only the very last "slide" and couple of minutes discussed the why-nots of reusing BFR for local transportation, because technically it is possible.

Well I just watched the video, it clearly imagine a world where you could fly BFR like airplanes... I don't see how it would be accessible to the mass, therefore it's a niche product for the very rich, no big deal!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZnVfWxgdLe/

"Cost per seat should be about the same as full fare economy in an aircraft. Forgot to mention that."

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#95

Post by jlebrech »

gravypod wrote: post #92
jlebrech wrote: post #35

can anyone think of scenarios where somebody has to be somewhere in an hour? what about making one of those the new airforce one?

Industrial (Oil/Gas/Materials) repairmen. You're talking a few 100,000 for every hour they're not pushing product. These places are located at the resource, not where employees are so you're likely going to need to fly someone super specialized in the maintenance of this one item half way across the globe.

like sending specialists to a nuclear power plant after a disaster?

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#96

Post by piquadrat »

suprfnk wrote: post #62
diegoperini wrote: post #57

How many hours early should we arrive to the launch pad? Are laptops allowed?

> Are laptops allowed? No idea. But the fastest flight (non stop) from NYC to Shanghai right now is almost 15 hours. This promises 39 minutes. Would you rather fly 15 hours with a laptop than 39 minutes without?

You'll also be under significant g-forces or zero gravity for large parts of the flight. I, for one, would probably be preoccupied with myself, trying (and failing) not to puke all over the place. For the few minutes I don't stare into my vomit bag, I'd rather enjoy the incredible view out the window than a random excel sheet on my laptop.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#98

Post by idlewords »

Musk seems to enjoy making promises about all kinds of fantasy transport, promising orders of magnitude cost reduction from already mature technologies like tunneling, rocketry, or high-speed rail. These promises meet with very little skepticism here.

Pan Am once offered tickets to the Moon.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#99

Post by codeulike »

jokoon wrote: post #61

Aren't supersonic jets more affordable? I mean I know SpaceX is about changing the world, and I know SpaceX is about rockets, but in terms of market, I think having a new Concorde would better fit the idea of earth to earth travel. I like how SpaceX innovates, but I think this is a "too soon", bad product idea because it will be too expensive at first, and supersonic jets would be a better competitor. Although I have…

Elon Musk: Cost per seat should be about the same as full fare economy in an aircraft. Forgot to mention that.

source: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZnVfWxgdLe/

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#100

Post by 7952 »

jokoon wrote: post #61

Aren't supersonic jets more affordable? I mean I know SpaceX is about changing the world, and I know SpaceX is about rockets, but in terms of market, I think having a new Concorde would better fit the idea of earth to earth travel. I like how SpaceX innovates, but I think this is a "too soon", bad product idea because it will be too expensive at first, and supersonic jets would be a better competitor. Although I have…

There could be a velocity at which the difficulty of flying quickly in the atmosphere is greater than the difficulty of reaching orbit. High mach number flight is not exactly easy, and the hypersonic regime has proven elusive. The atmosphere is a really hostile place at high velocity and has a lot of the same issues as space flight in terms of heating and crew protection requirments.
Post reply on HN