On this video the trajectory seems a bit weird. It looks like the rocket does its approach slightly to the right and afar, and then when it gets closer it changes direction and goes towards the camera, more or less in the direction of its tilt. As if the rocket began to tilt only around the end to a point the engine could not compensate anymore except by adding a large horizontal acceleration.
SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
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Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#82Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy, but during my 40 years on this earth, I have never been more impressed with a human being. The guy is pushing the envelope on perhaps the most difficult engineering/technological endeavor ever attempted by a private company - and he's making it look cool and futuristic. As if that wasn't enough, he's doing this in two different industries simultaneously. I'm not saying he can do…
> I'm not saying he can do no wrong, but I'm just flabbergasted that there are still so many armchair critics and naysayers when it comes to Elon Musk. That's why you're a fanboy. Nobody is perfect, and Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures. It is hard to even discuss the man on HN as anything that could even be taken as critic…
Well, it is easy. You just say it is, while your army of engineers slaves away in the background 6 days a week to prove you right. Tada!
Pharaoh: "Pyramids? Pffft, easy."
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#83Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#84This is why the landing pad is run autonomously.
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#85Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy, but during my 40 years on this earth, I have never been more impressed with a human being. The guy is pushing the envelope on perhaps the most difficult engineering/technological endeavor ever attempted by a private company - and he's making it look cool and futuristic. As if that wasn't enough, he's doing this in two different industries simultaneously. I'm not saying he can do…
> I'm not saying he can do no wrong, but I'm just flabbergasted that there are still so many armchair critics and naysayers when it comes to Elon Musk. That's why you're a fanboy. Nobody is perfect, and Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures. It is hard to even discuss the man on HN as anything that could even be taken as critic…
Amen. It's also kind of insulting how much HN has bought into this "Great Man" theory of engineering and development. Sure, Elon Musk is a smart guy and seems to be a good leader who sets bold goals, but the real geniuses that make SpaceX possible are the brilliant engineers working there--who you've never heard of.
Watching the way HN reacts to SpaceX, in contrast to say, NASA, or the ESA makes me think those organizations should hire a charismatic frontman, too.
Edit: For example, see my sibling comment: "The thing that intrigues me is in the new innovations he had in his rocket, and why NASA didn't have it before SpaceX." (emphasis mine)
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
You joke but a future were corporations control ICBMs to their advantage is a realistic worry.
I'm trying, but not succeeding, to imagine a non-fiction situation where a corporation has any business advantage in owning and/or controlling an ICBM. Can you expand on your comment? What would a corporation do with this, other than to perhaps implement same day delivery of packages around the globe?
Theoretically, they could be mercenaries, hiring themselves out to some corrupt dictatorship, guerillas, drug lords, state-sponsored terrorists, or similar groups. They would collect a bunch of money and launch a missile at their enemies. Turning that into a sustainable business model has ... hazards, of course.
The Economist had an interesting book review on a book positing a return to medievalism -- where the state does not have a monopoly of force -- and it's interesting: a little far-fetched and unlikely, but just this side of plausible. http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21638096-how-pr...
One notable bit was the incident where "a famous actress turned humanitarian [...] with various human-rights groups, wanted to hire Blackwater to set up safe havens in Sudan to protect civilians fleeing the janjaweed militia" but decided against it.
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#87HN when SpaceX screws up: "Wow, what an amazing job they've done learning from this mistake and moving forward!"
HN when NASA screws up: "Wow, this shows how government can't do anything right. They should privatize everything and outsource it to SpaceX."
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#88Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy, but during my 40 years on this earth, I have never been more impressed with a human being. The guy is pushing the envelope on perhaps the most difficult engineering/technological endeavor ever attempted by a private company - and he's making it look cool and futuristic. As if that wasn't enough, he's doing this in two different industries simultaneously. I'm not saying he can do…
> I'm not saying he can do no wrong, but I'm just flabbergasted that there are still so many armchair critics and naysayers when it comes to Elon Musk. That's why you're a fanboy. Nobody is perfect, and Elon Musk likes to make fun of the competition quite publicly when they have an issue, while ignoring his project's own failures. It is hard to even discuss the man on HN as anything that could even be taken as critic…
I am not familiar with the hyperloop concept so maybe I am wrong but I never understood the "cost is too high" argument. Is this not almost always the case on every technology breakthrough? Things like gene mapping and 3D printing comes to mind - someone had to started doing it at prohibitive costs so we can evolve the tech and get the prices down.
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#89Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy, but during my 40 years on this earth, I have never been more impressed with a human being. The guy is pushing the envelope on perhaps the most difficult engineering/technological endeavor ever attempted by a private company - and he's making it look cool and futuristic. As if that wasn't enough, he's doing this in two different industries simultaneously. I'm not saying he can do…
Three? Don't forget about Hyperloop.
Re: SpaceX: “Close, but no cigar. This time”
#90Sorry for sounding like such a fanboy, but during my 40 years on this earth, I have never been more impressed with a human being. The guy is pushing the envelope on perhaps the most difficult engineering/technological endeavor ever attempted by a private company - and he's making it look cool and futuristic. As if that wasn't enough, he's doing this in two different industries simultaneously. I'm not saying he can do…
The naysayers will most likely be those with less creative minds - can't blame them if they currently don't have the ability to understand fully what he's doing; unfortunately there's plenty of bullshit in this world to make people skeptical about everything - only a few are lucky enough during our time to get the opportunity to fully realize their own potential.