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SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

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Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#221

Post by jobu »

nickik wrote: post #96
gravypod wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's gravity and a rock. Ignoring all the differences these still two extremely hard things to solve first before you start thinking of anything else.

Sure, if you ignore all the other problems. Why not fly to the Venus and test there? Why not on Saturn? The reason is simple, the cost of doing so outweighs the benefits of doing so. Look, its simply almost as expensive to make such a test on the moon, as it is on mars. If mars is your goal, then testing on the moon makes absolutely no sense. People seem to believe that because the moon is closer, it means its much e…

> plus mars gives nice tools to actually land, like an atmosphere.

Actually Mars is a pretty difficult place to land. The atmosphere is just thick enough to require heavy heat shields, but too thin for parachutes to be sufficient.

Here's a Wired article that talks about some of the issues - https://www.wired.com/2011/11/landing-on-mars/

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#222

Post by hackuser »

Pfhreak wrote: post #188
godelski wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know for a fact that NASA is still concerned about that Helium tank.

The explosion from that helium tank was slower than the emergency rockets on the dragon, from what I understand. So, had the capsule been fitted with them, it would have stayed entirely clear of the event. It'd be a rough ride, but it would have been a survivable event.

> had the capsule been fitted with them, it would have stayed entirely clear of the event. It'd be a rough ride, but it would have been a survivable event.

Safety isn't defined by, 'did it work out ok?', but by the risk. In this case, the outcome the parent describes is hypothetical; among other things, it assumes the emergency escape system would have worked perfectly. I assume NASA wants to evaluate the risk of the helium tanks, not the hypothetical outcome.

For example, some people have survived plane crashes; the fact that it worked out doesn't mean that the risk was acceptable.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#223

Post by clebio »

> ... two private citizens ... have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind ...

Except that these two private citizens are presumably absurdly wealthy. Whereas the nationalize space program which brought forth the Apollo mission gave all private citizens, as well as schoolchildren for generations, hope and aspirational outlooks.

Whereas the current national situation in the US, with respect to primary-school education and government-supported science is quite dire. So things are not at all hopeful right now, and many of us suffer nightmares of violence and deportation.

So, there's that.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#224

Post by adventured »

briandear wrote: post #175
ogezi wrote: post #172

I wonder who the people going on this trip are. Are they billionaires, a rich couple planning a honeymoon. You'd have to be rich to do this right? I also wonder which kind of insurance both Spacex and the individuals have for this. It's amazing that private companies are now doing things that were previously only one by governments and nations. I don't know how this will work out but congratulations to Musk, Spacex a…

That's really stretching the definition of private company considering NASA is the major provider of both funding and infrastructure.

It's not stretching the definition at all.

You can hardly be a large business in any developed nation without having substantial business relationships with various world governments.

See: Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Boeing, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin, Ford, GM, 3M, Berkshire Hathaway, General Electric, etc.

Might as well pretend Medtronic, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson aren't private, because they do so much business with government healthcare systems.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#225

Post by gozur88 »

clebio wrote: post #223

> ... two private citizens ... have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind ... Except that these two private citizens are presumably absurdly wealthy. Whereas the nationalize space program which brought forth the Apollo mission gave all private citizens, as well as schoolch…

>Except that these two private citizens are presumably absurdly wealthy. Whereas the nationalize space program which brought forth the Apollo mission gave all private citizens, as well as schoolchildren for generations, hope and aspirational outlooks.

I doubt it's any more difficult to get absurdly wealthy than to become an astronaut.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#226

Post by heretoo »

rodionos wrote: post #141

Shouldn't they consider a staged approach, not unlike FDA trials. Start with a Laika dog, proceed with a chimp, as all other space programs have done in the past? Also, if this succeeds, what happens to Google's moonshot projects? Is rebranding in the works?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ape_research_ban

There are ethical concerns and legal limitations regarding experimentation on some animals.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#227

Post by rkuykendall-com »

dalbasal wrote: post #181

I love that a moon mission is a milestone en route to SpaceX' moonshot, not the moonshot itself. We need new idioms for these people.

It may seem less weird as trips to the moon become more common. We still use "flew too close to the sun" even though human powered flight at high altitudes is now common. It's more about the story of the original moonshot.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#228

Post by k__ »

clebio wrote: post #223

> ... two private citizens ... have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind ... Except that these two private citizens are presumably absurdly wealthy. Whereas the nationalize space program which brought forth the Apollo mission gave all private citizens, as well as schoolch…

In the end, they send Trump to space.

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#229

Post by Mithaldu »

clock_tower wrote: post #207
Mithaldu wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair question. In short: Unless you're buying Tesla your car expenditures won't fund any significant research into improving cars in a way that benefits humankind.

A Lexus would do much of the same; Toyota's already got plug-in hybrids, and is working on hydrogen fuel cells. (As for the other expenditures proposed above: real AOC Champagne supports the vineyards and traditional practices of the Champagne province of France; caviar... supports sturgeon fishermen? But consuming both together is just conspicuous consumption -- Champagne is a dessert wine. :) )

Thanks for the correction. Buy Toyotas then, folks, if you can't afford Teslas. :D

Re: SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year

#230

Post by wmf »

clock_tower wrote: post #210

Which would be more expensive: a personal SpaceX flight to the Moon, or personally funding a high-speed rail line from Seattle to Vancouver?

Definitely rail, which is something like a zillion dollars per mile. The moon trip is only $40-160M.
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