Wonder where they parked the 29 Ford Raptors...
SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
221–230 of 421 posts
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
Elon Musk claims this is all to establish a civilisation on Mars in order to decrease the chance of humanity destroying itself. He might not have an entirely faithful relationship with the truth, but there is really no other rational reason to be so aggressive with the Starship program. SpaceX already does the vast majority of commercial launches using its Falcon 9 rocket, so they don't need to do anything this drast…
My assumption has always been that the first to Mars will have a huge edge in gaining access to any natural resources (ore, salts, etc) that might have commercial value. I imagine the first organization to establish mining and refining capabilities on Mars would stand to make trillions in the production of things like steel and aluminum, as would be needed to build out any sizeable settlements on the planet.
You can make those on earth much cheaper.
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never understood why Canada would restrict international players from disrupting sectors like telecom (a commodity really) but didn't seem to have any problem with Airbus taking over the CSeries program for almost nothing.
The comment about 'Canada blocking foreign investment out' is basically not correct. Also, Telecoms, Banking and Communications are protected industries in every country, Canada is not special there. If Canadian Telecoms Bell, Rogers and Telus went up for grabs, and even if Canada realistically had the same access to US markets - do you think Telus would be buying AT&T? Or the other way around? It doesn't matter 'how…
> The comment about 'Canada blocking foreign investment out' is basically not correct. Also, Telecoms, Banking and Communications are protected industries in every country, Canada is not special there.
... So they do block international investment. Therefore, the comment is correct.
> Second, it's 'much bigger than it's peripherals'. This means that the US sucks all the talent and capital from neighbouring states into it's systems.
Choosing innovation has the side effect of attracting talent. Other countries can simply compete on perks to retain their talent! I recall Musk, in an interview, saying that he felt going to Stanford was a better use of his time than military service for the (then apartheid) regime.
> Think of the 'Silicon Valley' as not an 'American' place - think of it as an 'International Zone' that happens to be in the US. A 'super cluster' with a giant critical mass of talent.
And yet it's very much in America. And every time you are hearing "the Silicon Valley of X" it's someone trying to sell you something...
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are a couple of major reasons the FAA is involved: 1. Fuel-air explosions at ground level can injure people or destroy property (even kilometers away) 2. Rockets on unplanned trajectories can ruin people's day 3. Lots of fuel is toxic, we need to mitigate this. Basically someone has to walk through all the worst case scenarios and ensure that everyone (and nature) remains safe or as safe as it is possible to be…
I am sorry but this is false. Toxicity and polluting aspects of Rockets is of a negligible concern, Everyday Astronaut (Youtube fame) gets this so often that he did an entire hour long video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4VHfmiwuv4 > Rockets on unplanned trajectories can ruin people's day Well darn.
Hydrazine is highly toxic and Crew Dragon uses a derivative of it.
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#225Reading some of these comments makes me wonder what it was like when explorers were trying to justify exploring the "New World". Humans have been exploring forever. Why stop now?
I think a lot of people are just pissed off seeing someone succeed so much at something that wasn't supposed to be possible (resuable rockets). Makes them feel worse about their own mediocre lives.
This wouldn't have been a problem in the past. You'd just shrug off the crazy explorers and write them off as soon to be dead. Now, evidence of their success and relentless progress is shoved in our face every day.
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#226Elon appears to be building a large ground-locked monument to demonstrate his argument in this tweet: Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure. Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars. -- https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/13548625…
Musk is very good at getting public support on his side. Please, we’ve already lost the public support for so many important institutions in the US. I get they are slow, and this is frustrating but I don’t want the FAA to be on the chopping block because someone didn’t plan ahead. If the FDA gets in the way of vaccine development you bet musk would tweet against it.
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given that you could probably build a Merlin out of solid gold and it would come in cheaper than an RS-25, that's not exactly saying much...
Maybe not once you consider the R&D costs of figuring out how not to melt a solid gold Merlin engine ;)
This man (err, bot?) contracts!
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The single most important job humanity has is to get our eggs into more than one basket. We are very far from a self sustaining society and economy on Mars. Easily a century or more. I'm cheering on SpaceX, but find this talking point of Elon's very tiresome. It's little more than sci-fi fantacism. As just a simple example: no one knows what childhood development is going to be like at 40% of earth's gravity. And t…
>We can extend modern medical care to the entire world What do you mean by "modern" medical care? Do you think that will make a significant difference in life expectancy? The difference between, say, Rwanda and the USA is less than ten years, I believe. Comparable to the gender gap in some countries like Russia. What about the gap between countries like the USA and UK versus Japan at the top? Is that important to clo…
Yes, it makes a substantial difference, particularly in child mortality.
Hans Rosling has been dead some years now, but used to do great talks going through the basic data and trends.
I'm not sure why you're adopting a tone of debate/rebuttal. Every problem you mention is something I think we should address exactly under what I said originally, whether its inequitable access to healthcare in the US, or straight up lack of modern facilities in low income nations.
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I think it has a lot to do with American sub-culture, the US dollar, our crazy university system, and immigration. This is speculation on my part so take it with a BIG grain of salt. The USA brings in 50 million or so people from other countries. Often they are bloody minded, stone cold, hard workers that will sacrifice everything to give their children the opportunity to be Americans. These people are so…
Those are all good points, but the rest of the world turns out, pound for pound, Engineers that are just as good and crazy. But have access to fewer resources, networks, capital, markets etc.. Also, the % of US immigrants that are on the 'high end' is relatively smaller. Migration to the US, when you include off the books migration, is a little bit towards the low skilled end. But definitely the smaller relative port…
The US offers unlimited resources for pursuit if one is willing to venture after them with resilience. Having said that, it always comes down to passion and willingness of pursuit and this is why many with lesser means can still achieve greatness and even better in a country with the resources available.
Re: SpaceX installed 29 Raptor engines on a Super Heavy rocket last night
#230This is like N1 first stage coming back on a new technological level.
For readers needing a refresher in 1960s Soviet rockets: