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SpaceX BFR [video]

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Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#261

Post by Florin_Andrei »

lsaferite wrote: post #259
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing you're missing: For a very high profile requirement - say, some kind of huge emergency - you could land the BFR anywhere there's a solid surface the size of a soccer field. Zero infrastructure required. Getting it out of there again would be difficult, but you could have a team of experts and a whole lot of material resources literally drop down from the sky anywhere on Earth in a matter of hours. Most of t…

Military invasion forces and quick reaction forces would be much easier to insert with tech like that.

I'm not sure about invasion. These things are pretty vulnerable on the descending part of the trajectory.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#262

Post by idlewords »

OrwellianChild wrote: post #194
idlewords wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do, but the crux of every Musk fantasy is a radical drop in the cost of these things, a promise he has never delivered on.

Tesla Roof is cheaper than many traditional roofing materials and provides solar. See the chart here. [1] Air Force launches with SpaceX are less than half the price of ULA launches. [2] Can you clarify how you believe Musk's companies haven't delivered? [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-10/tesla-s-s... [2] https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/16/us-air-force-spacex-ula-...

They have not delivered "orders of magnitude cost reduction from already mature technologies", which is what I said in my parent comment. They've instead made (valuable!) incremental advances, usually by relying on immense government subsidies.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#263

Post by dzhiurgis »

epaulson wrote: post #218
dzhiurgis wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Auckland to Vilnius is at least 3 flights and 24+ hours of flight time. Door to door is basically 2 days. Elon please save me.

How often do you think you can find a rocket's worth of people who want to go from Auckland to Vilnius?

Hub and spoke model. I can't imagine being more than 5 spaceports per continent. Most popular destination from Auckland would be London. I don't mind taking Ryanair from there.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#264

Post by jbkkd »

What about pollution? Rockets seem to waste much more fuel compared to a plan on an equivalent distance, though I might be wrong and the main burn would consume less overall.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#265

Post by grondilu »

They should really not put windows on this. At least not in the first models. Sure, passengers would love to see outside, but really it makes the design much more complicated for little benefit.

It can be stressful not to have any idea of what is happening outside, but you can simply alleviate that with external cameras and screens on board.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#266

Post by njarboe »

ryandrake wrote: post #258
njarboe wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the retort is coming from the fact that to do something amazing like building a reusable rocket (or other great, but easier projects) takes much more than money in the bank. It takes a whole lot of talented people working very hard for a long time. The leader of such people will need an amazing amount of dedication, work, skill, time, luck, drive, smarts, charisma, sacrifice, friends, money, charm etc. to pul…

I think we agree on one point: To do great things, access to capital is necessary but not sufficient. If all it took was hard work, I'm sure lots of us would quit our jobs today and get started!

True. Some start early. Elon Musk sold a video game he wrote called Blaster to a magazine when he was 12 years old for $500. Then he used that money to try to open a video arcade with his brother. He and his brother did get $28,000 to start Zip2 from his father, but that is not a huge sum. The cost of half a year of college. I would say, if you live in the US, access to capital is far down the list on what blocks people over the long haul.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#267

Post by ike_yeah »

njarboe wrote: post #266
ryandrake wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we agree on one point: To do great things, access to capital is necessary but not sufficient. If all it took was hard work, I'm sure lots of us would quit our jobs today and get started!

True. Some start early. Elon Musk sold a video game he wrote called Blaster to a magazine when he was 12 years old for $500. Then he used that money to try to open a video arcade with his brother. He and his brother did get $28,000 to start Zip2 from his father, but that is not a huge sum. The cost of half a year of college. I would say, if you live in the US, access to capital is far down the list on what blocks peo…

I'd say 28K is a lot when it comes to a venture that may not pay off. I hear Elon's father was not particularly poor, so there is some leverage in that. Who knows if Elon could have made it otherwise without the capital. Makes me question if we all need some money to make money.

Curiously, what was the 28K spent on? Maybe 12K for rent, tops for 1995. He even lived in the office. Someone chime in?

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#268

Post by axman6 »

thinkcontext wrote: post #212
cycrutchfield wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that the Instagram post is a little misleading. “Full Fare economy” is not as cheap as you think, it’s more like what you would pay for business class. So, maybe $3k for a transatlantic flight.

True but its for a vastly superior service.

Service doesn’t really matter if it’s less than an hour.

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#269

Post by justin66 »

mikeash wrote: post #255
justin66 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which is now probably off the table for good, but that was the idea Oh, that's interesting. What makes you say so?

Apparently I'm remembering an official statement! https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/07/19/propulsive-landings-ni... The reason seems to be a combination of NASA not being interested in propulsive landing (and they're funding most of Dragon 2) and deciding to go all-out on BFR instead of refining Dragon 2 further.

Thanks for sharing, that is news to me! I need to review their inventory at some point when I have a few minutes...

Re: SpaceX BFR [video]

#270

Post by tptacek »

davedx wrote: post #156
idlewords wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do, but the crux of every Musk fantasy is a radical drop in the cost of these things, a promise he has never delivered on.

Roadster: 110k Model S: 70k Model 3: 35k

The Roadster, Model S, and Model 3 aren't the same car.
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