Launch HN: Stoke (YC W21) – Low cost, on-demand delivery to and from space

Post by ncmncm » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 9:43 PM UTC

ncallaway wrote: post #25

antaviana wrote: post #15

Off-topic, but one thing that puzzles me is the rather widespread believe that setting up a colony in Mars will somehow save humanity. IMHO, exposing humans and their descendants for life to different conditions of gravity, radiation and overall ecosystem, will make them evolve in ways that will generate a totally different species in very few hundred years. So it will be just a matter of time, until an orange-colore…

> So a colony in Mars maybe preserves intelligent life with roots in the human species, but I do not think it will preserve the human species as we know it. That's sufficient for my desires of making humanity multiplanitary (and eventually spanning multiple solar systems). I don't desire freezing humanity as it exists today, I desire ensuring the human project continue as long as we can keep it going.

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 11:27 PM UTC

alapsa wrote: post #8

bryanlarsen wrote: post #3

> It’s also the first launch vehicle to offer return from orbit “down-mass” capacit Wasn't the shuttle first? What about Dream Chaser? Is your second stage designed to fly on top of New Glenn's first stage? Do the fins on the New Glenn provide enough authority to counteract the control surfaces on your stage? Or are you planning on flying encapsulated like Dream Chaser does?

Sorry for the confusion! There are plenty of space vehicles that have had "down-mass" capacity - Gemini, Soyuz, Apollo, Dragon, Shuttle, X-37B, etc. They are all spacecraft, although Shuttle is a close in-between. The distinction here is this is a true upper stage, which can also return items from orbit. We are looking to serve a complementary market to New Glenn and are not planning to fly on that vehicle.

Post by ncallaway » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

ncmncm wrote: post #32

ncallaway wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So a colony in Mars maybe preserves intelligent life with roots in the human species, but I do not think it will preserve the human species as we know it. That's sufficient for my desires of making humanity multiplanitary (and eventually spanning multiple solar systems). I don't desire freezing humanity as it exists today, I desire ensuring the human project continue as long as we can keep it going.

It must be said, though, that Mars is a place where it is easier to freeze humans than not.