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Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

businessweek.com

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Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#111

Post by dasmoth »

damoncali wrote: post #93
blhack wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>start backing this up with action Not sure if sarcastic... Elon Musk, as in: the guy who's company just ran a private reapply mission to /the international space station/.

I hate to break it to you, but everything NASA builds is built and operated by private companies. SpaceX is an incremental improvement on something that has been done for decades. That is a far cry from Musk's fantastic claims.

Commercially built: mostly true

Commercially operated: much less so (with exceptions, e.g. shuttle processing was kind-of commercial)

Commercially designed: nope.

The commercial resupply contracts may not quite meet everyone's idea of what "commercial" means (and there certainly was/is a lot of NASA scrutiny of the spacecraft -- rather less of the launch vehicle), but it's still a substantially different model from anything NASA has tried on a major project in the last half century.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#112

Post by robbiep »

codex wrote: post #45
mc32 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where's the sense of adventure and romance in that? Lots of explorers of yore could have met with the similar arguments. Some people can stay behind and man/woman? the home front, others can go off to explore and expand our existence. Not that there's no cost to it, but let's hope, that overall, it's a net plus. As a species we have wanderlust built-in, perhaps.

When I was young and was reading a lot of pulp science fiction books, I was in love with Mars. But those books are fiction. The reality of Mars is not a great cosmic adventure. Mars is a shithole. Don't get me wrong--Mars should be explored, and we will find some truly breathtaking things. And if we find life on Mars, the scientific paydirt will be huge. However, the great finds and exploration of Mars will be done b…

The foetus basically develops in a zero g environment anyway- being suspended in liquid- its on the adult that the major effects would occur. And I would put my money on the body adapting very well to a reduced gravity environment if it was born into it. I have no proof for this apart from the adaptability of genetics and development.

.... I want us to go to mars. I want us to become an interplanetary species. I want us to travel to the stars, hollow out asteroids, wack nuclear engines on them, and get them up to relativistic speeds. Because if we don't, what is the point of.... All of this? Anyway I'm a dreamer, but I'm also a scientist, and I suppose the two go together fairly often.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#113

Post by robbiep »

damoncali wrote: post #89
ericd wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And finally, the results have been fucking great. The Tesla Roadster is absolutely unbelievable, it's more fun than most roller coasters. According to the reviews in car magazine, the Model S is similarly unbelievable in similar and other ways (fantastic ride/handling, absurd acceleration, great cargo capacity, seating for 5 comfortably, 7 with kids). And SpaceX is demolishing the other space launch companies in thei…

Musk's reality distortion field puts Jobs' to shame. He said he's going to send people to Mars in 15 years . Here is one question. How often do you get a chance to launch a rocket to Mars? (Hint: it's not often). How many opportunities to send test missions and support gear will there be in the next 15 years? How long will it take to build all that stuff? A year? Two years? More? You just lost another mission. Have t…

People thought he wouldn't be able to put together a car company. People thought there was No way in hell private industry (despite NASA help) would be able to achieve the worlds lowest launch costs and get something up to the iss docking within 10 years from beginning.

Ps. You can launch to mars as often as you like, it's just going to cost more fuel. Even if it takes 30 years, that's still soon.

But he did. Why can't we do anything we put our minds to? And he has a brilliant mind and that industrial spirit that you see in all the great industrialists through history. Enough of the circle jerk.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#114

Post by Buzaga »

Bud wrote: post #8

Now that Jobs is gone, Elon is probably the coolest guy in the world. Can't wait to see what he comes up with in the next 10-20 years.

`Blankenship, who used to work a few doors down from Jobs, credits Musk with hiring experts and letting them work without too much oversight. “This is the first place I’ve worked that’s going to change the world,” he says.`

I liked this quote where the dude who worked for apple say he's finally working somewhere that's going to change the world... I like Elon better than Jobs(I've never really liked Jobs tbh, except for some genius quotes)

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#116

Post by damoncali »

dasmoth wrote: post #111
damoncali wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to break it to you, but everything NASA builds is built and operated by private companies. SpaceX is an incremental improvement on something that has been done for decades. That is a far cry from Musk's fantastic claims.

Commercially built: mostly true Commercially operated: much less so (with exceptions, e.g. shuttle processing was kind-of commercial) Commercially designed: nope. The commercial resupply contracts may not quite meet everyone's idea of what "commercial" means (and there certainly was/is a lot of NASA scrutiny of the spacecraft -- rather less of the launch vehicle), but it's still a substantially different model from a…

This is just not true. NASA outsources pretty much everything to private companies. I designed NASA hardware myself while employed by a private company.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#117

Post by billswift »

aswanson wrote: post #77
damoncali wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly the opposite. It's the grand marketing of an even grander vision - the ultimate vaporware. Where people with can dream up supersonic aircraft that are massively more efficient than the highly refined subsonic craft that have been built by thousands of very smart people over decades. Where magic tubes will transport people near the speed of sound whenever they want for a mere $6B. Where the realities of space…

If we ever get fusion down, Jupiter is probably a better target, as it has immense stores of hydrogen and tritium.

The big problem with Jupiter is its particularly intense magnetic field and Van Allen radiation belt. It is going to be too dangerous to approach without a breakthrough in radiation shielding for a long time yet. On the other hand, once we get fusion, its containment is likely to be magnetic, which may be adaptable to shielding.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#118

Post by robryan »

vannevar wrote: post #22

I love what Musk is doing, but both of his current engineering successes---Space X and Tesla---involve building well-understood vehicles, just faster and at less cost than competitors. Doing entirely novel projects like a manned mission to Mars or some new kind of mass transportation system are orders of magnitude more difficult and uncertain, and I think he's grossly underestimating the time and cost for either of h…

I would like to see him do both. Even if the Mars stuff doesn't work out perfectly on his ambitious timeline SpaceX devoting resources to pushing the boundaries as well as refining the well known processes is going to create more innovation in the long run.

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#119

Post by justincormack »

ktizo wrote: post #30
codex wrote: post #10

Given Mars' weak gravitational field, extremely low atmospheric pressure, lack of breathable oxygen, deathly cold temperatures, and weak magnetic field (leading to high levels of radiation), he may well get his wish. Many others will likely get this wish against their will. If he would like to get a taste of realistic Martian colonization here on Earth, may I suggest living underground in a windowless tank, surrounde…

Many others will likely get this wish against their will. Really? I suspect that if you offered a million one way tickets to mars and advertised it as almost certain death, they would sell out in less than an hour.

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."

Re: Elon Musk: "I would like to die on Mars"

#120

Post by stygianguest »

robbiep wrote: post #112
codex wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young and was reading a lot of pulp science fiction books, I was in love with Mars. But those books are fiction. The reality of Mars is not a great cosmic adventure. Mars is a shithole. Don't get me wrong--Mars should be explored, and we will find some truly breathtaking things. And if we find life on Mars, the scientific paydirt will be huge. However, the great finds and exploration of Mars will be done b…

The foetus basically develops in a zero g environment anyway- being suspended in liquid- its on the adult that the major effects would occur. And I would put my money on the body adapting very well to a reduced gravity environment if it was born into it. I have no proof for this apart from the adaptability of genetics and development. .... I want us to go to mars. I want us to become an interplanetary species. I want…

Being suspended in a liquid and zero-g are not at all the same thing. Gravity still pulls, e.g., you will still feel what is up and down.

Experiments with rats indicate that zero-g is not a good environment to have babies, but also that it is possible. In any case we could just create artificial gravity.

My best hope for humanity is transhuman: to adapt ourselves to our environment. Think the ousters in Hyperion.

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