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Starbase, LA

spacex.com

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Re: Starbase, LA

#351

Post by Rover222 »

leoh wrote: post #231
tristanj wrote: post #200

So this is official after months of speculation. Local realtors called this back in May https://x.com/SERobinsonJr/status/2051440979878559829 , and Ars Technica covered these rumors earlier this month https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/08/spacex-is-set-to-acqui... . The Louisiana location has two major benefits: Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) Access : Launches into SSO have a launch angle of ~98° relative to the equator…

Also the benefit of marginal environmental regulations...

Typical "everything is bad" response. This is going to employ thousands of blue collar workers for years. Reasonable environmental protections will be in place. It's not going to become some barren toxic waste zone.

Re: Starbase, LA

#352

Post by Rover222 »

adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #48
ianm218 wrote: post #34

It’s easy to be pessimistic about Musk timelines/ big tech but I am thrilled that ambitious, real world, hard projects are happening in the US again.

You're being down-voted (and so shall I) but I think you're right. Despite all the animosity towards him, Musk is doing things that are economically meaningful for our nation. We'll need a few more of "him" to dig us out of this situation I reckon, but overall I still hope it's possible. (Anyone asking antagonistic questions can go ahead and save their fingers, I won't respond to the petty comments.)

[flagged]

Re: Starbase, LA

#353

Post by zzrrt »

modeless wrote: post #345
wat10000 wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DC to Baltimore tunnel, LA tunnel network, Chicago airport tunnel. New Roadster, possibly Tesla Semi. Battery swap stations. “Alien dreadnaught” factory with no humans on the production line. Dragon 2 propulsive landing. Self-driving ought to qualify at least partially, because although the project continues and is doing quite well, a huge number of cars were sold with hardware that was promised to be capable of it a…

TBC is still pursuing government permits and contracts to build tunnels. Not having succeeded in every case is not the same as abandoning the project. The new roadster is delayed, not abandoned. It's known to be in active development and is very likely to be demoed this year. Wrong timeline but not abandoned. The Tesla semi is on the road daily and the factory to build large quantities is almost complete. They're hos…

The DC tunnel was billed as a hyperloop, so it's not good faith to both excuse him for never intending to build one and also claim it takes time and will eventually succeed.

Re: Starbase, LA

#354

Post by Rover222 »

boplicity wrote: post #149
bko wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, government waste and most policy sucks. But there's no reason we can't do stuff or even try. For instance, take Tesla. It wasn't anything revolutionary. Any auto manufacturer could have invested in battery technology and building a compelling EV, but they didn't. Same with manufacturing in America. Every manufacturer took as given that they have to outsource manufacturing to oversees and components to t…

It's easy to forget that Tesla was made possible almost exclusively through government incentives. This is something that most people seem to have forgotten: Tesla exists because the government created incentive programs that paid in cold hard cash. Musk took advantage of those programs, and Tesla absolutely would not have been nearly as successful (and likely not existed) without it.

This is such a braindead take. Ford could have taken advantage of those same EV incentives. Any other new startup could have too. Tesla got nothing special.

Re: Starbase, LA

#355

Post by micromacrofoot »

ricardobeat wrote: post #237
utopiah wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm is it though? Quite a few articles like https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-musk-stiffing-contr... make me think they better ask to be paid upfront.

Why would a contractor continue working for two years racking up a $136M dollar bill?

because they know the company signing the contract can pay it

Re: Starbase, LA

#356

Post by Rover222 »

dgellow wrote: post #283
bko wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, government waste and most policy sucks. But there's no reason we can't do stuff or even try. For instance, take Tesla. It wasn't anything revolutionary. Any auto manufacturer could have invested in battery technology and building a compelling EV, but they didn't. Same with manufacturing in America. Every manufacturer took as given that they have to outsource manufacturing to oversees and components to t…

> It takes someone naive and optimistic enough to try something different. You mean Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, right?

[flagged]

Re: Starbase, LA

#357

Post by mandolingual »

thegrim33 wrote: post #188
utopiah wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm is it though? Quite a few articles like https://futurism.com/future-society/elon-musk-stiffing-contr... make me think they better ask to be paid upfront.

It's so interesting to me that the whole "futurism" concept got co-opted into some sort of political propaganda machine. All the articles are negative hit pieces, they're all reductive, they're almost all political in nature. I used to go on the futurism subreddit years ago and it's all the same there. You'd think "futurism" would be about .. promoting new technology, ushering in the future, you know .. futurism. Not…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto_of_Futurism

It's always been political

Re: Starbase, LA

#358

Post by micromacrofoot »

adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #48
ianm218 wrote: post #34

It’s easy to be pessimistic about Musk timelines/ big tech but I am thrilled that ambitious, real world, hard projects are happening in the US again.

You're being down-voted (and so shall I) but I think you're right. Despite all the animosity towards him, Musk is doing things that are economically meaningful for our nation. We'll need a few more of "him" to dig us out of this situation I reckon, but overall I still hope it's possible. (Anyone asking antagonistic questions can go ahead and save their fingers, I won't respond to the petty comments.)

If it wasn't consolidated largely to a singular "him" we could be doing more of these, see: FDR's New Deal

By this method the money largely comes from the government and is captured into private interests, literally hollowing out the government tax base for corporate power

Re: Starbase, LA

#359

Post by jvwww »

dgellow wrote: post #283
bko wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, government waste and most policy sucks. But there's no reason we can't do stuff or even try. For instance, take Tesla. It wasn't anything revolutionary. Any auto manufacturer could have invested in battery technology and building a compelling EV, but they didn't. Same with manufacturing in America. Every manufacturer took as given that they have to outsource manufacturing to oversees and components to t…

> It takes someone naive and optimistic enough to try something different. You mean Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, right?

Tesla would be nothing without Musk. That doesn't take away from Eberhard and Tarpenning; they started the company after all and are great engineers. But it would be nothing without Musk.

Re: Starbase, LA

#360

Post by micromacrofoot »

consensus1 wrote: post #313
rurp wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Few Americans have done more than musk to destroy state capacity and to enable corruption on a massive scale, all while enriching himself to an unprecedented degree. That's great for him and his cronies that he has gotten so wealthy doing it, but he's been a huge net-negative to most humans. I get that rockets are cool and a lot of people in the tech bubble think that starlink is the greatest thing ever, but most peo…

So where is the guy who is respectful to the government and compliant with regulations that is out there building millions of EVs, rockets, and massive satellite constellations? If he existed I could respect your argument. But in reality the only guy who seems to be able to build a modern mass manufacturing company in the US is the trillionaire who runs roughshod over all forms of government oversight that gets in hi…

he's in china working on trains and renewable energy

rockets and wifi satellites are only solving problems because corporations have sucked public infrastructure dry for generations

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