Background on the Falcon 9 Launch • Hacker News Board

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#31

Post by ggreer » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:41 AM UTC

w_t_payne wrote: post #23

If we can land the rocket accurately enough to put it down on a tiny barge only slightly larger than the rocket itself, then why do we need to tolerate the weight of the landing legs? We already have industrial robots that can move and grasp heavy weights relatively quickly over distances of several metres -- it doesn't take much imagination to conceive of a similar contraption being used to arrest the descent of the…

There are several reasons why landing legs make more sense:

– Any flat chunk of cement is a landing spot. That means more places to land in case of contingencies. For yesterday's mission, SpaceX had one primary and four alternate landing zones.[1]

– I doubt industrial robots can withstand rocket exhaust. As helicopter footage shows, the landing pad got lit-up pretty good.[2] Remember, the first stage is over 40 meters tall. Those are some massive flames.

…and most importantly:

– Landing legs work on other planets.

1. Map: http://www.americaspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/LZ1.j... (from http://www.americaspace.com/?p=89910)

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBE8ocOkAQ

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#32

Post by mrfusion » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:41 AM UTC

idlewords wrote: post #26

I'm having some trouble with the opening salvo here: "Now imagine placing a marble somewhere on that slippery sheet -- it is guaranteed to fall into one of the funnels. " This holds for the case where there are two objects initially at rest, but I don't see it as obviously true if there are more than two objects in the universe.

Isn't the universe expanding? If you start in the right place couldn't everything be moving away from you faster than you'd be pulled in?

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#33

Post by marcus_holmes » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:46 AM UTC

haha they gave the drone ship a Culture ship name! SpaceX just became my favourite company

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#34

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:49 AM UTC

skybrian wrote: post #20

blizkreeg wrote: post #17

Clearly this man's intellect is through the roof. Reading this post and him explaining these concepts in such first-principle terms (despite not being a physicist/rocket engineer) indicates his in-depth understanding (nothing new there). I know he has a Bachelors in Physics but bear with me. But, I'm just in awe and I keep thinking 'how does he do it?'. He's running two intensely technical and risky companies. Yet he…

It's well written and I'm glad he takes the time to write things like this. But I think you might be a bit biased by hero worship. Don't you think the rocket engineers explained it to him in about the same way? And there's probably not a lot else for the boss to do while waiting for liftoff.

[deleted]

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#35

Post by dcgoss » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:52 AM UTC

sixQuarks wrote: post #16

Elon is actually great at explaining things in simple terms. The writing on WaitbutWhy.com is very similar.

Elon has said himself that he is a fan of WaitbutWhy.com

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#36

Post by dcgoss » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:54 AM UTC

Elon's whole gravity explanation is essentially a textual version of this excellent video/demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTY1Kje0yLg (19 million views). Highly recommended, very memorable.

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#37

Post by marktangotango » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 2:59 AM UTC

the_economist wrote: post #18

blizkreeg wrote: post #17

Clearly this man's intellect is through the roof. Reading this post and him explaining these concepts in such first-principle terms (despite not being a physicist/rocket engineer) indicates his in-depth understanding (nothing new there). I know he has a Bachelors in Physics but bear with me. But, I'm just in awe and I keep thinking 'how does he do it?'. He's running two intensely technical and risky companies. Yet he…

He has a reputation for being an extremely hard worker.

Indeed, I'd wager that raw intelligence is highly overrated. Hard work trumps intelligence. Hard work and intelligence are an unbeatable combination.

>> What can us, mere mortals learn from him? We can't change our baseline raw intelligence (which effects how quickly and deeply you can learn new things), but are there other patterns we can replicate in our lives?

Become an autodidact, and study, study, study.

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#38

Post by jupiter90000 » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 3:02 AM UTC

blizkreeg wrote: post #17

Clearly this man's intellect is through the roof. Reading this post and him explaining these concepts in such first-principle terms (despite not being a physicist/rocket engineer) indicates his in-depth understanding (nothing new there). I know he has a Bachelors in Physics but bear with me. But, I'm just in awe and I keep thinking 'how does he do it?'. He's running two intensely technical and risky companies. Yet he…

Are you sure he writes these? I don't know enough about what he actually does. I'm pretty sure some C-level people have someone else write something about what they wanted to say (like an assistant or someone on the marketing team). Then maybe they review it and sign off. Just a thought.

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#39

Post by tedivm » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 3:05 AM UTC

blizkreeg wrote: post #17

Clearly this man's intellect is through the roof. Reading this post and him explaining these concepts in such first-principle terms (despite not being a physicist/rocket engineer) indicates his in-depth understanding (nothing new there). I know he has a Bachelors in Physics but bear with me. But, I'm just in awe and I keep thinking 'how does he do it?'. He's running two intensely technical and risky companies. Yet he…

In most companies the "Posts from the CEO" are a group effort (at my last company I wrote multiple statements that were supposedly from our CEO). What you're attributing to a single person is actually the work of many.

This leads to your question:

> But, I'm just in awe and I keep thinking 'how does he do it?'. What can us, mere mortals learn from him? We can't change our baseline raw intelligence (which effects how quickly and deeply you can learn new things), but are there other patterns we can replicate in our lives?

Simply put, be willing to work hard enough to inspire people who are smarter than you to join your team.

Re: Background on the Falcon 9 Launch

#40

Post by enraged_camel » Wed, Dec 23, 2015, 3:12 AM UTC

dcgoss wrote: post #36

Elon's whole gravity explanation is essentially a textual version of this excellent video/demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTY1Kje0yLg (19 million views). Highly recommended, very memorable.

Yep, came here to post this. The funny thing is that there was a post about that video a while back, and the HN crowd criticized it pretty heavily for being a bad way to explain gravity. But... whatever. :)