SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

Post by cjensen » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 10:35 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #67

enricobruschini wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would have made sense to build it closer to the equator? As from my orbits class the more you get closer to the equator, the bigger is your launches time-window to hit the target orbit. Texas sounds unreasonable, does anybody knows/sees other good reasons?

As rkuykendall-com mentioned, its as far south in the US as you can get without overflying other land, and they've gotta stay in the US to prevent ITAR violations. [+] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_R...

Post by greglindahl » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 10:46 PM UTC

avmich wrote: post #68

greglindahl wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're launching a $2B satellite, saving $60mm on the launch is not a slam-dunk. The Air Force had a series of launch failures that made them extremely conservative. Sure, I think they ought to be moving faster with SpaceX, but you should give them credit for having some serious concerns.

A lot of that $2B cost comes from requirement that everything should just work, and therefore thoroughly tested, because customers don't want to have it broken in space where no one can fix things and have to send another one... which costs $2B... see cyclical reasoning? If launches would be cheaper, customers could afford to make less expensive payloads - after all, if it breaks, they can just send another one. A pr…

Post by spiritplumber » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 10:50 PM UTC

Post by joelrunyon » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 10:52 PM UTC

skadamat wrote: post #24

josephjrobison wrote: post #17

I love how the writer phrased Google's incentive for investing as "Google has a practical goal in linking up with SpaceX. It wants to beam the Internet to hard-to-reach regions of the planet so it can take in more advertising revenue." While... "'Space-based applications, like imaging satellites, can help people more easily access important information, so we’re excited to support SpaceX’s growth,' Google spokesman A…

Agreed, it's a bit silly to assume that all Google cares about is ad revenue. Plus, improving internet accessibility and making more revenue aren't mutually exclusive. Why do self driving cars? Def no ad revenue there.

Post by greglindahl » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 11:01 PM UTC

justin66 wrote: post #10

Animats wrote: post #5

If SpaceX can fly out their 2015 manifest, that will be impressive. This is the year the Falcon Heavy is supposed to launch. Their first manned flight has apparently been postponed; it's been "2-3 years" away for 2 years now.[1] I notice they've stopped putting dates on their manifest for future flights.[2][3] SpaceX is doing a great job, but they're behind their own schedule. They're two flights behind on ISS resupp…

> Their first manned flight has apparently been postponed; it's been "2-3 years" away for 2 years now. That's not entirely on them. With manned spaceflight, they're on NASA time.