51–57 of 57 posts
Mars is not somewhere to live, it's somewhere to explore.
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You are forgetting a few things: 1-Coal is not the only power source there is 2-Batteries are not the only energy storage device there is 3-It is difficult to upgrade a whole fleet, as we can see by the difficulty of changing it to be a electric-only fleet. Power plants are much easier to upgrade by comparison - all cars are then instantly more efficient. 4-Electric engines do not have to be kept running while the ca…
Points 4, 6, and 7 are a pretty compelling argument for electric cars, at least in cities (plus the shifting of exhaust outside the city). I just find it difficult to believe that converting three times (electricity source -> electricty -> storage -> mechanical energy) is going to be more efficient than converting once (gasoline -> mechanical).
Tesla has yet to accomplish anything notable except for getting a half billion dollars from the government. Hopefully they are successful in producing and supporting their Model S.
I believe they have quite some involvement with Toyota with regard to transmissions / battery packs or something along those lines. Commercially it seemed a successful deal for them.
If I dare ask, why does the human race want to leave the earth? There's no reason or benefit. There are more interesting, more pressing issues having mostly to do with our biology.
There are at least a couple reasons: 1) A lot of the conflict that destroys so many lives is motivated by limited resources such as land. Getting off this planet could make that kind of conflict disappear (eventually). 2) Diversification. If climate change/oil scarcity/nano/GE get out of hand, it'd be good to have someplace else to go. Even if you're sceptical about the environmental risks from climate change and oil scarcity, GE and nano pose big risks. The easier nano and GE get, the more likely some bio-/nano-hacker somewhere creates an irreversible problem for us (whether accidentally or intentionally).
If I dare ask, why does the human race want to leave the earth? There's no reason or benefit. There are more interesting, more pressing issues having mostly to do with our biology.
tldr; To mitigate existential risks. There are at least a couple reasons: 1) A lot of the conflict that destroys so many lives is motivated by limited resources such as land. Getting off this planet could make that kind of conflict disappear (eventually). 2) Diversification. If climate change/oil scarcity/nano/GE get out of hand, it'd be good to have someplace else to go. Even if you're sceptical about the environmen…
The way i see it we 're still in 'space exploration' not colonization. Perhaps if we master biology, life and intelligence first, we 'll have our drones do that for us.
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I was going to simply counter your "meh" with another "meh" regarding battery vaporware, but unless that site is straight up lying those are some impressive stats. I've always been more a fan of battery replacement stations instead of batter charging, but with a 20min charge and 150km range who cares.
From their performance page [0]: POWER: 1088 hp MOTOR TORQUE: 3.800 Nm BATTERY CAPACITY: 92 kWh RANGE: 600 km ACCELERATION 0-100 kph: 2,8 sec. TOP SPEED: 305 kph The battery capacity for the Tesla Roadster is 53kWh, weights 450kg and is advertised to last 350km on a charge (and Roadster's world record at 500km). 92x350/53 magically gives us 600km. It also gives us a little short of 800kg of batteries (although they'r…
Here are two more tidbits about the Concept One:
1. You may see it in (very limited) action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkpetEjePUo
2. The company is from Croatia, where Nikola Tesla was born. ;)
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What does "definite" mean? Greater than zero? That's useless here. Either you made it to orbit or you didn't. Either you're pregnant or you're not. Either you are alive or you are dead. There is quite a lot of binary stuff happening in the universe, and none of it relies on things like "0.24% likelihood". SpaceX's record is abysmal, and you forgot a few facts. 1) Soyuz is a government project with the pride of a nati…
If you don't try to do things differently, there will be no innovation. The current system (NASA, et. al.) does not scale up to what is needed, so different strategies are required. It's really as simple as that. Will he succeed? Highly unlikely. But I'm glad he's trying, and anyone who kills themselves on one of his rockets will know what they're getting into. Flying in space is inherently dangerous.