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Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

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Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#81

Post by nickik »

thelambentonion wrote: post #24
annerajb wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe I recall talking about using water in the wall lining of the crewed area as shielding for radiation. Also the radiation exposure during flight which would be the worse is equivalent to smoking for two years and dropping it. (I personally thought it was gonna be higher)

> ...the radiation exposure during flight which would be the worse is equivalent to smoking for two years and dropping it... Please provide a citation for this. As far as I'm aware, we simply have no idea the kinds of effects that radiation encountered during the flight would have on humans. The sample size for human exposure to space-based radiation is incredibly small (limited to just the astronauts on the ISS, and…

Radiation has been studied since the 60s. Multiple Mars mission had the equipment on board to do the measurements. Nothing to surprising was measured, the same results on Curiosity and Viking.

We know a lot about both type of radiation, cosmic and solar. Why know the basic physics, and we know how to prevent it. Both types of radiation have different properties and have different levels of danger, thus need different solutions.

This had been known for a while and solutions are possible. Thus, its not the most important problem in Humans to Mars architecture, as we know much less about reusable rockets and carbon cryo tanks.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#82

Post by nickik »

to3m wrote: post #13
0majors wrote: post #9

The leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth are barely starting to talk about some small human missions to Mars and then there is Elon, casually discussing glass domes and tunneling drones creating underground networks on Mars. Truly incredible.

NASA have also managed to put nobody on Mars, while saying a lot less. Who says government is inefficient? ;)

That is totally false. NASA has a huge amounts of marketing pushing for Humans to Mars, they call it #journytomars.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#83

Post by nickik »

M_Grey wrote: post #25
thelambentonion wrote: post #22

I'd encourage everyone reading the AMA to take a lot of what Musk is saying with a grain of salt. The Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) is a wildly ambitious project that is attempting to accomplish more things in a shorter period of time than the Apollo program (and on a substantially smaller budget to boot). Check out Robert Zubrin's article, which presents a much more salient critique of SpaceX's current plans…

It's good to see that the initial nearly religious fervor has worn off, and comments like yours can survive the voting process here. There are a number of issues with the "colony" concept, even beyond that excellent article, but until recently such a point was met with some version of fury. The general theme seems to have been that getting people excited, even with empty promises, was somehow virtuous and might lead…

What I don't understand about people like you is how you can still talk this crap.

Musk has done incredible stuff already, he has shown multiple prototypes of what they are building. Sure, maybe they will fail, but I don't understand how you can call everything "empty promises".

He promised a orbital rocket landing, he delivered.

He promised a reusable rocket, this he is very close to as a used rocket was already did multiple full duration test fires.

He promised a new engine, he shows this new engine and its first tests.

He actually delivered a prototype of a carbon-fiber tank that literally nobody in the community was expecting.

Will people like you only be happy if there are 1 Million people living on Mars?

It seems to me that you have never read the actual communication and you are just going of on statements by third parties.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#84

Post by nickik »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #63

Right now, it still feels like the "brainstorming" phase of the project. I guess it's OK to criticize various ideas, but it would be more interesting if alternatives were offered, then have a discussion of pros and cons. That is, assuming the goal is to make it happen, vs. prove it's infeasible. Since it's such a blue-sky project, I'm hoping more to enjoy the design process -- the discussion of science and ideas. I w…

They have showed actual prototypes of multiple different aspects. Usually you start rocket design with a engine, and build the rocket on top. The engine in testing already and they seem to have nailed down the basic specs and all the important parts.

That's more then brainstorming, thats actually prototype testing of specific sub-components.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#85

Post by verytrivial »

thelambentonion wrote: post #22

I'd encourage everyone reading the AMA to take a lot of what Musk is saying with a grain of salt. The Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) is a wildly ambitious project that is attempting to accomplish more things in a shorter period of time than the Apollo program (and on a substantially smaller budget to boot). Check out Robert Zubrin's article, which presents a much more salient critique of SpaceX's current plans…

I would be most interested hearing exactly how many catastrophic launch failures the project is expecting to sustain whilst still going forward. SpaceX today has a somewhat above average launch success rate but the last two failures got the markets into a tizz, which is very significant here if this is meant to be at least a partially commercial venture.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#86

Post by javier2 »

thelambentonion wrote: post #46
1457389 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally fair to be skeptical; not very impressive though unless you have detailed cause. Not quite as fair, or impressive to make comments like these with no effort or backing: >Glass domes and underground Martian tunnels make for some very interesting science fiction, but I'm concerned about the engineering challenges that he seems to be ignoring in favor of his grand statements of intent. The AMA, and even that spe…

> The AMA, and even that specific question was all about the engineering challenges... Re: that specific question, I may just have a different view of what constitutes a question on engineering challenges. That AMA is of exceptional caliber, however, and there are definitely some gems to be found (see [0] and [1], in particular). The fuel tank and rocket tech represent novel advances in rocket tech that are as-yet un…

Which has been the case in all of Elons endeavours. They usually take twice the time at double the cost, and probably cost some marriages along the way. But he does get publicity and funds it out of his own pocket as far as he can.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#87

Post by M_Grey »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #54
M_Grey wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a little sad, because it implicitly gives up on the notion of real progress in favor of PR and imagination. I'm excited about SpaceX, but not because of their "Mars Colony" PR. I don't think the situation is so dire that we need to suspend our skepticism and become mindless cheerleaders in the name of "dreams".

It's definitely a good idea to keep expectations grounded, but at the same time there's no reason why the current mind-numbingly slow crawl that space travel has come to should be taken as some kind of rule or requirement or inevitability. Musk's timeframes are overwhelmingly optimistic at best, but the current pace of development is also unacceptably slow.

...And when people realize that this was PR and hype, you think there won't be a cynical backlash?

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#88

Post by M_Grey »

aptwebapps wrote: post #58
M_Grey wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a little sad, because it implicitly gives up on the notion of real progress in favor of PR and imagination. I'm excited about SpaceX, but not because of their "Mars Colony" PR. I don't think the situation is so dire that we need to suspend our skepticism and become mindless cheerleaders in the name of "dreams".

I think that's a bit of a false dichotomy. I don't think some portion of the public being swayed by PR is going to stop SpaceX (or other entities) from making real progress. Musk is definitely not giving up on that notion. If you just mean that it's sad that people need this kind of hyperbole to get excited about space, well, different strokes for different folks. You don't need it, they do.

The thing about false hope, is that it doesn't last, and in its wake you get cynicism and apathy. In the long run, lying to gin up excitement backfires.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#89

Post by pm »

M_Grey wrote: post #52
pm wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people getting excited about space and space travel again is a good thing. It's the first step to getting people involved again, even if only to remember what we're capable of as a species, despite all our flaws and all the other problems we've yet to solve. Whether you agree with Musk's methods or not, I enjoy living in a time where we dream about the possibilities of new worlds, rather than reminiscing abou…

I think that's a little sad, because it implicitly gives up on the notion of real progress in favor of PR and imagination. I'm excited about SpaceX, but not because of their "Mars Colony" PR. I don't think the situation is so dire that we need to suspend our skepticism and become mindless cheerleaders in the name of "dreams".

Agreed, what's required is solid discourse, to fill in the endless details of a plan that will no doubt take longer than expected. However, the broad strokes are there, the goals have been set, and action is being taken. This is what makes me excited - not SpaceX, not Elon Musk, but that someone is trying to make commonplace space travel in my lifetime a possibility.

Re: Elon Musk SpaceX AMA

#90

Post by to3m »

nickik wrote: post #82
to3m wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NASA have also managed to put nobody on Mars, while saying a lot less. Who says government is inefficient? ;)

That is totally false. NASA has a huge amounts of marketing pushing for Humans to Mars, they call it #journytomars.

Well, TIL. Musk wins again, then. NASA with this huge budget, and I hear nothing. Then Dear Elon does ONE reddit AMA and I doubt I'll hear the end of it before 2023 ;)
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