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Starship Update [video]

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Re: Starship Update [video]

#241

Post by Isinlor »

For people asking why to go to the Moon or Mars:

The movie Avatar made in box office $2.9B. This is exactly the same amount of money as SpaceX asked for the Moon landing - $2.9B.

Have you asked people who watched Avatar what is the purpose of watching Avatar?

Instead of making a fiction about going to a moon, we can actually go to the Moon.

It really is the question - why do you live? What is the purpose of anyone life?

There does not seem to be any purpose to anything in the universe. But we can choose what we want to do.

So the answer: Because we want to, because it is exciting, because it inspires, because we can.

Because this is what life is about.

Re: Starship Update [video]

#242

Post by onion2k »

dividedbyzero wrote: post #231
onion2k wrote: post #222

The numbers on mass to orbit are fascinating. To date humans have sent 15,517 tons of stuff into space. SpaceX wants to be able to send 15,500 per year with a single Starship, and Elon wants a fleet of 10. That's amazing. That really is "we can have a moonbase now" levels of ambition.

It'll be very interesting to see how and if that's going to work out. There will have to be a lot of actual demand for that launch capacity, and it'll have to build up fairly quickly, else SpaceX may not be around anymore when those payloads are ready. I guess lots of companies could do with some zero-g R&D, but actually building a platform to do this, how long will that take? Asteroid mining seems to be a long way f…

There will have to be a lot of actual demand for that launch capacity...

Demand is often a chicken-and-egg problem. Having the capacity available will go a long way to creating the demand. There are plenty of incredibly wealthy people who could be persuaded to build the first moonbase, space hotel, low-gravity manufacturing plant, manned Earth observatory ... and a practically endless list of things we've not thought up yet ... but they can't do those things now because even if they paid the money there just isn't the launch capacity to do it. Putting the capacity in place fixes that problem and frees those people to start spending.

Re: Starship Update [video]

#243

Post by elihu »

sfblah wrote: post #83
panick21_ wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have enough land on earth already. Land is not actually the solution to any problem on earth. But Mars is the solution to a potentially big problem on earth. And the technology to manufacture fuel from solar and nuclear energy, building advanced life support system, advancing the state of rocket technology, allowing much more use of sat technology, massively advancing science planetary/biology/(and more), controll…

Let's say someone argued instead that we should figure out a way to establish a human settlement inside of a volcano, or at the bottom of the deep ocean. Couldn't you make all the arguments you just made in favor of doing that as well? What makes Mars any different? Why is this specific Quixotic activity more valid than the ones I just mentioned?

Mars is different because it has a lot of resources, a lot of empty land, it has easier access to space than Earth due to the reduced gravity, and space is really big. Maybe in the long run we'll be able to house more people in the asteroid belt than we do on Earth now. If it happens it'll be pretty far in the future, but it might happen eventually. Mars is a very convenient waystation to make that possible.

Re: Starship Update [video]

#244

Post by KptMarchewa »

londons_explore wrote: post #217
panick21_ wrote: post #33

The Raptor 2 engine is just an absurd. The original specs were already kind of insane. But Raptor 2 is an monster. They really pushed already significantly into a second generation design before first flight. Raptor 2 is not just a slight upgrade, its a huge upgrade. If it can actually launch multiple times a day without any refurbishment, it will simply totally break space travel as we have known it. This engine mak…

If they are making such big upgrades before even getting to orbit, it suggests the rest of their design is falling short of expectations on mass/performance, and they need more thrust to make up for it.

Or that they don't shy from making changes just because of the fact that current design is "good enough".

Re: Starship Update [video]

#245

Post by WalterGR »

nickpp wrote: post #219
jnsaff2 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I read enthusiasm like this for space travel .. especially talk of Musks interplanetary species and stuff, I get a flashback to Stark by Ben Elton . Published in 1989, getting closer to true by the day. Also probably the funniest book I've ever read. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_(novel)

I prefer to think of The Expanse instead. It seems a much more likely future to me. There are countless dystopic futures (they sell better) we already avoided so I prefer optimism.

they sell better

Citation?

Re: Starship Update [video]

#246

Post by PicassoCTs »

nickpp wrote: post #219
jnsaff2 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I read enthusiasm like this for space travel .. especially talk of Musks interplanetary species and stuff, I get a flashback to Stark by Ben Elton . Published in 1989, getting closer to true by the day. Also probably the funniest book I've ever read. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_(novel)

I prefer to think of The Expanse instead. It seems a much more likely future to me. There are countless dystopic futures (they sell better) we already avoided so I prefer optimism.

Can't wait to have 9/11 but with disenfranchised people up in the gravity well pounding down on us well-dwellers..

Re: Starship Update [video]

#247

Post by fireflymetavrse »

onion2k wrote: post #222

The numbers on mass to orbit are fascinating. To date humans have sent 15,517 tons of stuff into space. SpaceX wants to be able to send 15,500 per year with a single Starship, and Elon wants a fleet of 10. That's amazing. That really is "we can have a moonbase now" levels of ambition.

>15,517 tons

What is the source for this and how was this calculated?

Re: Starship Update [video]

#249

Post by johnyzee »

ksec wrote: post #183
panick21_ wrote: post #33

The Raptor 2 engine is just an absurd. The original specs were already kind of insane. But Raptor 2 is an monster. They really pushed already significantly into a second generation design before first flight. Raptor 2 is not just a slight upgrade, its a huge upgrade. If it can actually launch multiple times a day without any refurbishment, it will simply totally break space travel as we have known it. This engine mak…

>This engine makes everything else possible. I have seen lot of tweets ( from highly intelligent people and engineers ) suggesting Starship is not possible. Raptor 2 is not possible. But now it seems it really is coming. It is easy to fault him for robotaxi and FSD, which a lot of people do. But sometimes he really does the impossible.

Seriously, it's only a matter of time before Elon Musk announces the space elevator.

Re: Starship Update [video]

#250

Post by ByThyGrace »

donpott wrote: post #237
wnkrshm wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do the politics of a Mars colony work? Say Elon controls the sole means of supplying the colony from Earth - do the colonists effectively become hostages? What if they mutiny? Will the supplies stop coming? Is this murder? Many questions.

Based on this comment alone, I can tell you would enjoy "The moon is a harsh mistress" by Robert Heinlein. Recommended if you haven't read it already!

Or the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, which is a fabulous sci-fi take on this matter. Can't recommend it enough if you're an avid reader.
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