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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]

#91

Post by sunstone »

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…

I wonder if 3G's while lying on your back on a gel cushion isn't a lot easier to take than 3G's standing on your feet?

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

#92

Post by Semirhage »

et2o wrote: post #20
byw wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also I'm not sure where SpaceX gets its methane from. If it's from above-surface sources wouldn't its net carbon contribution essentially be zero?

Did a little googling. Methane is primarily obtained from natural gas fields which are below ground. Atmospheric concentrations are relatively low (on order of parts per billion) although it is still an important greenhouse gas (30x more potent than CO2 per ton). There's a lot of ongoing research into generating CH4 from CO2 using renewable energy but it's relatively energy intensive to date.

So there’s noise pollution on a grand scale, it depends on natural gas extraction or a breakthrough in electrolysis, and it will produce CO2 when burned in flight. Great. It will also cost a fortune, and even SST isn’t viable, yet somehow this will be?

I could not be more skeptical.

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

#93

Post by ChuckMcM »

pjmorris wrote: post #32

How do you tell the difference between commercial scheduled rocket flights and incoming ICBM's?

Presumably you see where they take off and where they are headed for its pretty straight forward. Current ICBM's seem to have "relatively" minor down range maneuverability so once you're ballistic you can plot a big circle of where you can land. Is that near a spaceport? cool. Is it near a missile silo? better check into it.

Bombers are the same way, there is nothing that prevents building a nuclear bomber in the shell of a 747 and calling it a cargo plane on its transponder.

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

#94

Post by ChuckMcM »

I'm glad Gwynne is talking about this rather than Elon as I always take what Elon says with a large grain of "execution" salt (as in sure you can do that but not when you think you can).

Things will be very different when BFRs are flying regularly. BFRs imply full reusability, and full reusability implies a short 'cycle' time, which implies a much greater earth to orbit capacity, with implies a greater supply and more reliability to orbit, which implies that it stops being crazy to require that you have three or four launches in a single year to get all of your "stuff" into orbit.

The logistics of space launch are still crazy. You can launch two rockets in a weekend using two launch pads but you can't yet launch multiple rockets a week from the same launch pad.

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

#95

Post by assblaster »

glbrew wrote: post #68
mulmen wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an industry ready for disruption. If only these damn regulations weren't holding us back. /s (sort of).

GE has been trying to disrupt anesthesia for quite some time: http://www3.gehealthcare.com/en/products/categories/anesthes... Edit: Since its not obvious, they have some machines that can go in autonomous mode and alert the hospital if the patient needs an actual doctor to fix something.

Can you show me a GE product which doesn't need an anesthesiologist present at all times?

As far as I can tell, none of those devices acts autonomously or even close to it.

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

#96

Post by assblaster »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #50
dangero wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be a stupid question, but could people be put under for 30 minutes and just be woken up at landing?

So you'd need a licensed anesthesiologist monitoring every passenger? Sounds expensive.

It's a matter of monitoring and dosage. You can easily do mass scale sedation with proper monitoring and appropriate patient selection. If your BMI is over 25 or you have OSA, you wouldn't qualify. If you're healthy, fit, and consenting, you could be sedated for a long haul flight and have minimal hangover, perhaps even feeling rested.

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

#97

Post by Diederich »

sunstone wrote: post #91
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…

I wonder if 3G's while lying on your back on a gel cushion isn't a lot easier to take than 3G's standing on your feet?

It certainly is more comfortable; is it more comfortable enough? I'm betting a lot of people would be fine with it.

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

#98

Post by Diederich »

jedisct1 wrote: post #57

Does that mean no food, no snacks during the flight? That sucks.

There would be neither the time nor the inclination for food service. A non-trivial percentage of passengers will be dealing with nausea during the thankfully brief 0g float.

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

#99

Post by Diederich »

mkirklions wrote: post #15

SpaceX is promising something that is feasibly decades away? Do people still believe in Elon? Or have we figured out these are advertisements.

As far as timelines go, Gwynne Shotwell is in an entirely different class than Elon Musk. If you haven't watched the video, you should, there's some interesting tension going on between her and Elon.

If she says it'll happen in the next X years, I'll put it at a >75% chance of being accurate. If Elon said something like that, i'd put it at 33% chance.

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

#100

Post by manicdee »

lccarrasco wrote: post #80
soared wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How many of that 45% took a first class or business class international flight?
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