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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

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Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#441

Post by outworlder »

dudus wrote: post #395

Can someone explain to me why are we sending a Tesla to Mars? I mean other than shits and giggles, is there any value in having it there? I assume putting stuff in the space is expensive and I wonder if that effort couldn't have gone to something more useful like a robot to look for water or whatever.

For it to go to the mars we would have to be at the correct transfer window (or have a much higher Delta-V margin, which maybe BFR would be able to manage, but not necessarily Falcon Heavy). So it is not going to Mars.

Then, there are other costs. Cost of launch could have been absorbed by Tesla. Cost of developing a mars-capable payload would be extra. Who would pay for it, on a completely new and experimental rocket?

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#442

Post by ceejayoz »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #350
jacquesm wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ISS should count as major progress as well.

Should have, but didn't. At least not for manned spaceflight. We learned how to keep humans alive in space way back with the Gemini project. A long-duration orbital sojourn could have been had for the cost of the ISS. At the end of the day, I struggle to think of a single big thing we can do post-ISS that we couldn't without.

On-orbit construction, how pressurized modules hold up after two decades of space travel, long-running experiments requiring in-person management, etc.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#443

Post by [deleted] »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #278
TeMPOraL wrote: post #8

I. Am. Just. Speechless. Perfect takeoff, 2 simultaneous landings (still waiting for confirmation on the droneship landing), the car is in orbit. I don't remember being so nervous watching a launch video since... Space Shuttle missions, I think. Great job, SpaceX!

Watching the car orbit and the Earth's reflections in the windshield and paint and Starman's visor is sublime (sometimes goes to cameras of the engine/orbit overview) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M e.g. https://i.imgur.com/Yu6gRar.jpg This is all I'm watching for the rest of the day https://imgur.com/oKWTAQk

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#444

Post by tylersmith »

leetrout wrote: post #67
pikchurn wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were not the same video feed.

They said in the broadcast they weren't but when it got close to the ground you could tell they were the same feed. https://i.imgur.com/WXQEsKo.png https://youtu.be/wbSwFU6tY1c?t=37m49s

Those are not at all the same. You can see different parts of the ground. You can even tell that the source of the right stream was really to the left of the other one.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#445

Post by andrepd »

icebraining wrote: post #424
randyrand wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming that the "offender" was talking about race and gender is so ironically racist and sexist. Makes me chuckle.

How is it racist and sexist?

I think a good-faith reading of the parent commentary is that he was talking about the mannerisms and language and overall appearance of the person, not that he was white-skinned and a man. Immediately assuming he was saying he looks like an engineer because he isn't a women, or dark-skinned, is ironically a racist and sexist assumption.

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#446

Post by wallace_f »

hanbura wrote: post #415
nightski wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't landing rockets vertically show that we have mastered in-atmosphere conditions rather than space? I'm not trying to be negative, just trying to understand how you came to the conclusion you did.

Most of our space travel challenges are caused by the size restrictions and cost associated with putting spacecraft into space. Currently spaceflight is still very much an aerospace (literally translated as airspace) problem. In a theoretical world where we could just beam anything into earth orbit, unmanned interplanetary spaceflight would likely be an expensive hobby instead of something only governments attempt.

From '02 - '06 Musk dumped 100MM of his own cash into this, with uncertain outcome. Is it fair to say SpaceX was at least partially an expensive hobby, at some point?

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#447

Post by ph0rque »

Whomee wrote: post #68
LoSboccacc wrote: post #53

I wonder for how long we're going to get images from that tesla. there's no power source so the stream will end, but it does sit next some very huge batteries so let's hope it's going to last and we'll be able to check with the spaceman every now and then!

Hopefully they put some of those solar tiles on it?

Maybe a house with solar tiles, powerwalls, and a Tesla or two :)

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#449

Post by blt »

Old_Thrashbarg wrote: post #383
ColanR wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They just happen to be younger, or women, or of color. Maybe parent was referring to their mannerisms, rather than their appearance. It's not fair to jump to the assumption that parent was showing a bias against any of those variations in the human species.

To be pedantic, the poster did say "looks like" and: - "looks like" is associated with physical appearance - possibly things like clothes, jewelry, gender, hair, skin color, face, etc. - "sounds like" is associated with their speech - tone, accent, choice of diction - "acts like" is associated with physical behavior + speech But anyway, I think the point is that, we don't know what mabbo's intent was and 95% likely i…

> Pointing out someone's implicit biases is not necessarily a personal attack on them. Everyone has them so we should welcome when people point them out (unless done in an mean-spirited or aggressive fashion).

I wish I could upvote this 1000 times. We all have implicit biases, and they are often a product of society rather than personal failures. It is painful when you suddenly notice your own shortcomings. But the desired response isn't "omg I'm horrible", it's "I can try to fix this in myself, and think about how to fix it in the whole culture for future generations."

Re: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches

#450

Post by Jach »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #393
shepardrtc wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone asked me to be a reference, I said no, they still put me as a reference anyway. I was not happy. Didn't badmouth him, but I also didn't say anything good about him. And when asked if I would hire him where I worked, I said no.

I asked permission from all of my references beforehand. Two were coworkers and the last was my previous team lead. I knew all of them had positive opinions regarding my work. The problem was BlueOrigin’s reference-questionnaire. One of my references shared it with me afterwards. It’s a stock template - except pretty much all the questions seem contrived to find reasons not to hire someone. One of the questions was a…

I interviewed at BlueOrigin ~3.5 years ago, my impression was they're very old fashioned and secretive. Not necessarily a bad thing for such critical systems (though I think SpaceX has the better model/culture even if I know it's not for me), but I was applying for a backend role using Spring and hoping to get in on a program they had at the time where you could move around the various departments like avionics and such to get an idea of the whole 'stack' as well as learn more about what they did to get high quality assurance...

They were the only company to ask in the interview about my college GPA (which wasn't good, I still don't remember the exact number and didn't at the time but it's below 3) and I didn't get an offer. But I'm kind of like you, naturally a slacker but in my jobs I've always managed to put out work that satisfies everyone it needs to (including myself, sometimes, but other times...) and meet deadlines, so 'tsall good.

Your last bit reminds me of a quote "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member". It's hard to accept praise or feel belonging knowing the full depths of one's faults which are only improving slowly. ;)

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