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SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

economist.com

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Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#311

Post by mft_ »

kisstheblade wrote: post #290
sidcool wrote: post #286

I think that even if Elon Musk and Gwynne Shotwell stopped everything at SpaceX right now, their contributions with Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are enough to etch their names in history. The three Falcon heavy boosters landing is nothing short of sci-fi coming true.

What have these two people actually done, except lying all the time? And abusing their workers? Also, these "magical" landings have been made 60 YEARS AGO! Go Musk! Hyperloop! FSD! Robotaxis! Semi! VTOL with pressurized air! Tesla robot! Pedo guy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39cjZTCay24

Not sure if you’re interested in feedback, but your angry and extreme feelings about Musk and everything connected with him make your opinions too easy to disregard: you’ve made yourself the HN equivalent of the angry crazy guy shouting on a street corner.

I know it’s the trend in the world, the established media, social media, etc. but it’s possible have have a more nuanced view on things than ALL VERY BAD or AMAZING AWESOME.

For example, one can reasonably criticise Musk for his stupid outbursts on Twitter and elsewhere (and of course, also criticise the media for breathlessly reporting every bit of nonsense he spouts for clicks.) He is notoriously bad at predicting the timing of when things will happen. Robotaxis are probably 5+ years away, if ever. Tesla delivers their new models much later than promised, and has poor customer service. Hyperloop was a concept that would probably have been ignored were it not for the outsize attention that Musk gets. Etc.

But… these views can reasonably coexist with also acknowledging that two of his companies have revolutionised their parts of our world within a very short space of time. SpaceX has revolutionised the commercial rocket space, and Tesla has driven the whole automotive industry towards building EVs by leading from the front. And it’s almost guaranteed that neither of those would have happened without them being led by Musk (and Shotwell).

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#312

Post by ohgodplsno »

trixie_ wrote: post #291
kisstheblade wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

You win the sour grapes award. Amazing how Tesla is worth a trillion and SpaceX over a hundred billion now, but it's all just a trick right? Each company conning investors for almost 20 years now. Look at all the things they haven't accomplished.

Tricking investors isn't exactly a high bar to clear either. But sure, you go on ahead and keep telling yourself that Tesla is worth more than the entire, combined auto industry when they can't even make cars with proper joints and door alignments.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#313

Post by CamperBob2 »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #24
danavar wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Huntsville AL they have one stood up outside a museum right off the highway - it’s insane to see

Good view of it at https://goo.gl/maps/ikR6xaxmTkmoqTSt8

Also https://goo.gl/maps/Cz1qTmS8gh4eEdZe6 , which lets you walk around in the building next door.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#314

Post by ncmncm »

watersb wrote: post #260
kragen wrote: post #26

https://archive.is/1IIml BTW, if you like the Energia rocket and heavy metal, you might like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVWfqOSdzs4 . This quote (from the article) is astounding: > [SpaceX] has pulled off 111 Falcon 9 launches in a row without failure

> BTW, if you like the Energia rocket and heavy metal, you might like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVWfqOSdzs4 I will never be the same, now that I have experienced this. I am going to go lie down for a bit.

My whole life has been futile until just this moment.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#315

Post by mlindner »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #223
wahern wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but that's just going to take a long time, particularly if F9 is, say, sub-$15m per launch. 1) SpaceX isn't a public company; among other benefits, there's substantially less pressure to maximize profits. 2) Starship launch costs don't need to compete with F9, they only need to compete with the other competition. Also, it's worth repeating that the goal of this entire endeavor is reaching Mars. The above state of a…

"The above state of affairs isn't a coincidence, but a very deliberate part of Musk's plan." To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target

Musk has been talking about Mars since SpaceX's infancy.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#316

Post by thrwawy283 »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #312
trixie_ wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You win the sour grapes award. Amazing how Tesla is worth a trillion and SpaceX over a hundred billion now, but it's all just a trick right? Each company conning investors for almost 20 years now. Look at all the things they haven't accomplished.

Tricking investors isn't exactly a high bar to clear either. But sure, you go on ahead and keep telling yourself that Tesla is worth more than the entire, combined auto industry when they can't even make cars with proper joints and door alignments.

We tend to think investors love to chase clouds. These ideas have existed for a long time, and making them a reality - of course - isn't easy. I tend to believe an investor is looking at how good a company can sell the idea to consumers, even if the tech isn't there yet. The company tricks the consumer - not the investor. People buy the half-finished tech, the company appreciates in value, and the investor very likely planned for this. Maybe the investor is more interested in snake oil than full self-driving automation.

There are stupid investors out there, but they won't be investors for long.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#317

Post by mlindner »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #233
inasio wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it could disrupt at least some form of earth transportation. The fuel costs are not that different than a transatlantic 787 flight, and it's likely simpler and with fewer moving parts. In similar style to Tesla's vertical approach, they could own the full stack (rocket, fuel production, launch/landing facilities).

Oh my gid, do you understand that these rockets carry Millions of liters of fuel? Thats the energy of a small nuclear bomb. Unlike planes, they carry oxidiser and fuel, so they do not burn, they detonate. Minimal safe exclusion zone is measured in square miles! Simpler? The fuel is chilled 2/3 of the way to absolute zero, and the engines are at several thousand degrees. Tiny manufacturing error and everyone dies.

> Unlike planes, they carry oxidiser and fuel, so they do not burn, they detonate.

This isn't true. They cause a conflagration. They do not detonate. The fuel and oxidizer are not well mixed.

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#318

Post by beambot »

codesnik wrote: post #294
runnerup wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a fan of Elon Musk. I can absolutely see regular passenger service on Starship by 2028. Obviously that's a very aspirational price-point but I don't see how even a strict ruling on fraud would uphold that charge.

I'm just a bit of a fan of Elon Musk. It won't happen by 2028 of course. Price isn't a problem at all at scale, but regulatory pressure will be. If a cargo point-to-point flight will happen, it already will be something, but I don't know of any cargo, military included, that requires such a speed.

You can't think of any military use for 100 tons of cargo delivered anywhere in the world in 45min? Lats a pretty acute lack of imagination. DoD is already funding it too:

https://www.cnet.com/news/spacex-signs-a-deal-to-rocket-mili...

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#319

Post by [deleted] »

beefield wrote: post #304
kilroy123 wrote: post #6

If you're ever in the Houston area, I highly recommend going to see NASA Johnson Space Center. They have a full-size replica (?) Saturn V rocket on its side, you can see. You simply can't grasp how big these rockets are until you see it up close. It's like a tall building blasting off into space. They're humongous. I hope to one day see Starship up close in person as it takes off to space.

I wonder if someone is maintaining a non-SEO-spam bucketlist of things to do/see/experience before you die for a typical hacker/STEM/bookish geek?

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX’s monstrous, dirt-cheap Starship may transform space travel

#320

Post by mlindner »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #235
discordance wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the infrastructure for rocket travel doesn’t exist... yet. That can change. We are moving from being able to crawl to walk with this new capability. What happens when we can run?

Airports do not have minimal safety distance measured in miles. Catastrophic failure of a plane causes a fire, catastrophic failure of a rocket causes a detonation the size of a small nuke.

> Catastrophic failure of a plane causes a fire, catastrophic failure of a rocket causes a detonation the size of a small nuke.

Rockets do not detonate. They cause rapid burning. The fuel and oxidizer are not well mixed so cannot detonate.

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