SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#21

Post by Diederich » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:43 AM UTC

Osmium wrote: post #11

Honestly, Elon's presentations are some of the most impressive, inspiring I've ever seen. And the way he just stumbles out words and sentences that are completely revolutionary... casually dropping these absurd, incredible statements. I find it incredible. If anyone else was saying this, was showing these graphics, you'd think it was just wish fulfillment; a fantasy. And I'm sure their timeline is a bit aggressive. B…

"You want to be inspired by things. You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great. That's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and believing the future will be better than the past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than being out there among the stars. "

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#22

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:46 AM UTC

boznz wrote: post #13

Nothing on Moon Base Alpha except a picture. Would be nice to have a timeline for this (maybe the gap years where Mars transit is too long?)

[deleted]

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#23

Post by boznz » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:47 AM UTC

Tell me again, why has NASA budgeted $30 billion for SLS?

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#24

Post by agildehaus » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:49 AM UTC

perilunar wrote: post #15

SpaceX is building the BFR and launch facilities, but who is going to build all the equipment and gear required to live there - who is building the cargo?

I think the idea is that by building the bus and announcing a schedule the rest will happen naturally.

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#25

Post by ajmurmann » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:51 AM UTC

So what's the carbon footprint of one of these launches? Did I understand correctly that we can make the fuel by taking CO2 from the atmosphere? That would make the footprint negative, would it? That seems to good to be true.

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#26

Post by Cshelton » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:51 AM UTC

perilunar wrote: post #19

stretchwithme wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine they can fit 400 passengers though. No need for those cabins or even a need to give passengers drinks.

For 30 minute trips you barely even need toilets.

I think personally I'd keep my seat belt on regardless even if there were restrooms

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#27

Post by neuronexmachina » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:53 AM UTC

tbabb wrote: post #18

Back of the envelope calculation for the price of an Earth-to-Earth ticket: Musk's stated goal is $500k/ticket to Mars. It's a shorter trip, so perhaps ~5x as many passengers in the same volume (i.e. 500 total; cf. a380 which seats 850). It takes five (?) orbital refuel trips for the martian journey, but we'd need none of those. Depending on how much less than a full tank the passenger vehicle needs (payload could be…

In general, I think the only part which is supposed to need regular replacing is the ablative heatshield. Regarding Earth vs Mars reentry, he said the following during the talk (my quick transcription follows): "You're going in, you're going very quickly, 7.5 km/s. For Mars, there will be some ablation of the heat shield. So, it's just like a brake pad wearing away. It is a multi-use heatshield, but unlike for Earth operations it's coming in hot enough that you will see some wear of the heatshield."

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#28

Post by modeless » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:53 AM UTC

Cshelton wrote: post #26

perilunar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For 30 minute trips you barely even need toilets.

I think personally I'd keep my seat belt on regardless even if there were restrooms

You kidding? There's no way I'm staying in my seat during zero gravity. I might pay more to do a couple of extra orbits and play around before coming down.

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#29

Post by audeyisaacs » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:56 AM UTC

Musk's speaking is always a little awkward (in an endearing way), but did he seem significantly more nervous/emotionally affected than usual in the first part of this speech? It seemed that way to me, curious if anyone else interpreted it like that.

He calms down when he starts talking about risk and it being the anniversary of a launch.

edit: Good and fun presentation regardless!

edit2: Thoughts:

- Maybe he feels in over his head. The timing when he relaxed seemed to coincide with talking about a previous experience that might have felt overwhelming at the time but paid off.

- Maybe he typically takes beta blockers or something for speeches and take them until late this time (the talk did start late)

- Maybe it's just random.

Any spacex watchers have thoughts on cause?

edit3: Definitely not a diss. Love Elon/SpaceX/the vision.

Re: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

#30

Post by neuronexmachina » Fri, Sep 29, 2017, 5:57 AM UTC

ajmurmann wrote: post #25

So what's the carbon footprint of one of these launches? Did I understand correctly that we can make the fuel by taking CO2 from the atmosphere? That would make the footprint negative, would it? That seems to good to be true.

In all likelihood the carbon footprint of spectators going to watch the launch would be at least an order of magnitude higher than the launch itself.