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Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

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Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#71

Post by ithinkinstereo »

jjeaff wrote: post #40
aphextron wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but will your grandma say the same? My point is that this will never be a normal every day thing for the masses like air travel today.

My grandma isn't travelling on a plane 12 hrs to anywhere. Long haul travel is more for the youngish anyway (think baby boomers). And my parents would take a 30 minute roller coaster over a 12 hr flight even if that meant using a puke bag every time.

At the price point, I imagine it won't be as competitive as a business class fare, which 99% of people will choose over 30 mins of non-stop barfing. No?

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#72

Post by phyller »

aphextron wrote: post #37
soared wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20 minutes of discomfort to save 12+ hours of flight time? Sounds worth it to me.

Sure, but will your grandma say the same? My point is that this will never be a normal every day thing for the masses like air travel today.

If you can bear with modern air travel today, the process, the rush, the waiting, the hassle with luggage, and worst of all being cramped in little seats with hundreds of other people around for really long periods of time, then I think you will probably be able to handle the rocket. The devil is in the details though.

Regardless, not only do I think I would I appreciate the shorter, more violent flight more as I got older, I would also appreciate the roll of the dice that if anything goes wrong we just all die instantly. Not a bad way to go, really.

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#73

Post by XR0CSWV3h3kZWg »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #59
XR0CSWV3h3kZWg wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assume that there aren't commercial scheduled airline flights going straight through a warzone?

Assume there aren't commercial scheduled spaceline flights taking off from nuclear missile silos.

I haven't heard of missile defense systems that are capable of determining the origin of an ICBM while deciding if it should try and take it out.

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#74

Post by [deleted] »

phyller wrote: post #72
aphextron wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but will your grandma say the same? My point is that this will never be a normal every day thing for the masses like air travel today.

If you can bear with modern air travel today, the process, the rush, the waiting, the hassle with luggage, and worst of all being cramped in little seats with hundreds of other people around for really long periods of time, then I think you will probably be able to handle the rocket. The devil is in the details though. Regardless, not only do I think I would I appreciate the shorter, more violent flight more as I got…

[deleted]

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#75

Post by mikeash »

aphextron wrote: post #23

Rocket based travel will never ever ever happen on a widespread scale simply because of the G forces involved. Passengers on an airliner will begin feeling uncomfortable at around 1.2 G's and > 20 degrees of bank angle. The thought of subjecting regular paying passengers to 3+ G's and a full 360 degrees of pitch/roll is absurd. It could definitely be a niche thing for people that are physically fit, but this just isn…

Don’t underestimate the discomfort of spending a dozen hours in economy class. I’d take the rocket ride every day and twice on Sunday over that, and I’m not terribly fond of crazy rides.

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#76

Post by abakker »

phyller wrote: post #72
aphextron wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but will your grandma say the same? My point is that this will never be a normal every day thing for the masses like air travel today.

If you can bear with modern air travel today, the process, the rush, the waiting, the hassle with luggage, and worst of all being cramped in little seats with hundreds of other people around for really long periods of time, then I think you will probably be able to handle the rocket. The devil is in the details though. Regardless, not only do I think I would I appreciate the shorter, more violent flight more as I got…

Ever been bobsledding? I question how well even a fit adult deals with G forces that high. I consider myself pretty fit, but I found my experience at 4Gs to be completely unexpected. I could barely keep my head out of my lap. Sure, it was fun, and I didn't die, but they would not let the elderly, those with spinal injuries, or pregnant women ride a bobsled even for 90 seconds.

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#77

Post by bdamm »

bmcusick wrote: post #14

The main thing I'm thinking of is noise pollution. You think living near an airport is loud? I cannot even imagine what living near a BFR spaceport would be like. For coastal cities maybe it would be worth it to build a landing pad on an ocean platform some miles out to sea, but what about for cities like Atlanta or Beijing? There's nowhere around them to build that isn't already a suburb.

Perhaps, but maybe the model ends up being only a handful of BFR ports on each continent. Would you fly 1 hour to Mojave so you could rocket to SE Asia and fly another 1 hour to Singapore? Sign me up!

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#78

Post by bdamm »

sounds wrote: post #70
hackpert wrote: post #60

I think a major point that isn't being talked enough about in public (although I'm sure people in SpaceX have considered it before coming up with numbers) with the "point-to-point" transport system is simple demand-supply economics. Sure, let's say they can run 10 100-person flights per day from New York to Shanghai but do that many people even want to travel that route on that particular day?

More speculation here, I don't have any knowledge on the matter, but... If the flight time drops from 12 hours to 30 minutes, and prices are in the same ballpark of $2,000, then there would be more demand. The execs could all be in Shanghai for the board meeting and some of them could be back in NYC for dinner.

Not so, due to time zones. Although I fully realize that if you can rocket out, meet, and rocket back, and go to sleep in the same time zone you woke up in, it would be a very significant development.

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#79

Post by DiThi »

DiThi wrote: post #12
Semirhage wrote: post #5

What would be the environmental impact of ubiquitous rocket launches for business travel?

It will eventually be very low, much lower than planes. The same technology that is being developed to make propellant on Mars can be used on Earth to extract CO2 from the air and/or sea water. A few squared km of solar panels on floating structures can produce enough propellant for one BFR trip a day. The same propellant (methane) can also be used on planes, eventually, so BFR will bring many technologies advances i…

Much lower than planes nowadays*

Obviously planes in the future can use cleaner propellants too.

Re: Gwynne Shotwell: SpaceX's Plan to Fly You Across the Globe in 30 Minutes [video]

#80

Post by lccarrasco »

soared wrote: post #61
baq wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...only? that's a first world problem if i've ever seen one :)

haha well I meant only 45% of the population isn't really "the masses"

I'd argue that it is, that's almost half the total population and an even larger percentage of working age adults.
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