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SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

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Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#91

Post by Someone1234 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #89
Someone1234 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with it being expensive. I don't see how it would be risky, you wouldn't fuel the rockets before you shipped them, that would be bonkers.

Rockets have the structural integrity of a pop can.

And yet pop cans travel halfway around the world daily... I don't see the issue. As I said, it could be expensive, but there's no risk or danger in it.

People transport extremely fragile things by sea all the time. You may have to be mindful of weather, but it is do-able with the will and money.

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#92

Post by aaron_m04 »

freehunter wrote: post #53
sandworm wrote: post #35

I have trouble trusting business statements from companies in the space industry. They play in a world of secrets, classified technologies and continuous background checks. At every launch, over in the corner, sits a uniformed member of the US military and a switch. That switch is to destroy the rocket should it run off course. SpaceX might be profitable today. It might be very profitable tomorrow. But because of the…

Well the reason for that is because they're given exclusive access to basically launch a missile from US airspace. With a mere change of payload, that rocket can be used to deliver a nuclear warhead. So yeah, it's pretty prudent to have background checks, massive amounts of oversight, and many kill switches. An even if you have all the best intentions, it doesn't take that much to accidentally crash into the ISS and…

Yes, there has to be regulation. I think Sandworm's point is that the regulation is an opaque and perhaps even unfair process.

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#93

Post by manicdee »

lazaroclapp wrote: post #90
jdpage wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The business model for the self-driving car is a computer-scheduled, dynamically-provisioned taxi service cheap enough that nobody needs to own a car in the city. Because self-driving cars don't need to park (they can just move on to the next assignment or deprovision), if they catch on then in-city parking decks can be redeveloped into business space or park space.

You forget transportation of goods. Pretty much all over-land cargo in the U.S. and most of that elsewhere (less so, because trains) could be transported by self-driving cars/drones. Not sure if that is larger or smaller than transportation of people at this point, but it's still an astronomically huge market.

Transport is something like 30% of the world economy isn't it?

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#94

Post by toomuchtodo »

Someone1234 wrote: post #91
toomuchtodo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rockets have the structural integrity of a pop can.

And yet pop cans travel halfway around the world daily... I don't see the issue. As I said, it could be expensive, but there's no risk or danger in it. People transport extremely fragile things by sea all the time. You may have to be mindful of weather, but it is do-able with the will and money.

> And yet pop cans travel halfway around the world daily

Empty pop cans? Several stories tall?

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#95

Post by manicdee »

frandroid wrote: post #43
cryptoz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you completely until > Why do self driving cars? Def no ad revenue there. Sure there is. Many people commute in their cars for 1-2 hours per day, when it is illegal for them to look at ads on their smartphone. If Google makes this legal, it's another 10%ish increase in the waking hours that people may be clicking on their ads. I think that Google's ambitions are a lot higher than this, of course. Self-dr…

The business model in a self-driving car is THE SELF-DRIVING CAR...

… that deliberately takes routes which maximise your exposure to its owners advertising, services and products.

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#96

Post by manicdee »

threeseed wrote: post #56
pbreit wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aggressive scheduling is a tactic. Because no matter what the schedule, human nature dictates that things are likely to slip.

Spin it all you want but a failure to meet schedules isn't really acceptable. You either failed to deliver or failed to manage your project estimation process.

How do you schedule a rocket launch when someone else owns the 50-year-old range radar equipment that keeps executing HCF?

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#97

Post by Retra »

spiritplumber wrote: post #75

I have to wonder, if Elon Musk is alive on earth today, what's the use of me? He's done pretty much everything I wanted to do in life, only a little less efficiently, and much faster. What's the point?

This is an unnecessarily depressing way to see things. What you should believe is that your dreams are not meant for you. They are meant for someone much like you who probably doesn't exist yet. Someone who will actually understand what you've done and how you've helped them achieve what you would like to.

You will die, and someone else will follow in your footsteps. Make sure that person has what they need to live the life you wanted, because you're probably the only person who really knows what that is worth.

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#98

Post by toomuchtodo »

manicdee wrote: post #96
threeseed wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spin it all you want but a failure to meet schedules isn't really acceptable. You either failed to deliver or failed to manage your project estimation process.

How do you schedule a rocket launch when someone else owns the 50-year-old range radar equipment that keeps executing HCF?

Literally laughed at "Halt and Catch Fire" acronym.

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#99

Post by seanflyon »

lazaroclapp wrote: post #86
justin66 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Can SpaceX, at least from a technology and legal standpoint, launch a manned flight without NASA involvement? If so, is it that it just makes no commercial sense? Or is the idea that the flight is far more likely to succeed with NASA's expertise?

Without NASA there is no customer for manned spaceflight.

Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash

#100

Post by dragonwriter »

manicdee wrote: post #96
threeseed wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spin it all you want but a failure to meet schedules isn't really acceptable. You either failed to deliver or failed to manage your project estimation process.

How do you schedule a rocket launch when someone else owns the 50-year-old range radar equipment that keeps executing HCF?

> How do you schedule a rocket launch when someone else owns the 50-year-old range radar equipment that keeps executing HCF?

Recognize that even if you don't own the radar equipment, it is impacting your ability to deliver value, so spend the necessary funds to get them to replace the radar equipment with something that doesn't have that problem.

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