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> We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a sign
by runesoerensen 10y ago
> We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission.
Can't wait to hear who booked this trip! Definitely one of the coolest ways to spend a lot of superfluous money :)
- MrZongle2 10y agoMaybe Richard Garriot wants to survey his property (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Garriott#Other_accomplishments_and_interests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Garriott#Other_accompl...) from near-lunar orbit. ;)
- nkoren 10y ago"Not me... yet!" https://twitter.com/RichardGarriott/status/836327841876738048 https://twitter.com/RichardGarriott/status/83632784187673804...
- easytiger 10y agointerestingly his wife was president of a (now failed) space tech company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Dynamics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Dynamics
- solidr53 10y agoSame! I also think that spending money on a roundtrip to the moon is way better for humanity than spending it on champagne, caviar and cars.
- coryfklein 10y agoNot sure everyone will see it that way. One could look at it as taking the whole "wasteful private jet" to the extreme. Think of the sheer amount of fuel burned in the earth's atmosphere so a rich guy can fly in space. At least, I expect many will spin it that way.
- jfoutz 10y agoIsn't the exhaust just water?!?
- daeken 10y agoNot with the fuels used by the Falcon rockets. They use LOX + RP1 (kerosene), rather than LOX + LH (which does produce water).
- CommieBobDole 10y agoNot for the Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy that will be used in this launch; it uses RP-1 (basically very pure jet fuel, AKA kerosene) and liquid oxygen as fuel. The Shuttle and the new Space Launch System will use hydrogen/LOX, which exhausts basically water vapor.
- kobeya 10y agoWell, not the SRB part.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- greglindahl 10y agoYeah, in both cases, the SRBs are the majority of the launch thrust.
- lutorm 10y agoRP-1/LOX also exhausts basically water vapor, plus CO2. There should be little NOx emission since it's not burning air, but there's probably some organic emissions from unburned fuel.
- coryfklein 10y agoIs it? I know very little about rocket fuel, but I always assumed that CO2 is involved. A short bit of Googling "composition of rocket fuel exhaust" wasn't immediately helpful. :/
- paulddraper 10y ago> I also think that spending money on a roundtrip to the moon is way better for humanity than spending it on champagne, caviar and cars. How? I'm not saying you're wrong, but gut instinct is that automobiles are more useful to humans. I'd like to hear your thought process.
- Mithaldu 10y agoFair question. In short: Unless you're buying Tesla your car expenditures won't fund any significant research into improving cars in a way that benefits humankind.
- briandear 10y ago[citation needed]
- Mithaldu 10y agoI'm happy to be corrected if you know more.
- mikestew 10y agoYou're the one that made the claim, it not up to the rest of us to post links refuting it.
- Mithaldu 10y agoYes, i made the claim, however i don't stand by it. I was challenged, realized my knowledge may not be up to snuff and asked that someone more knowledgable than me be nice enough to share, and i meant that earnestly. I'm not interested in winning contests, i just want to have good knowledge. clock_tower did so here, very excellently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13749603 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13749603
- clock_tower 10y ago
- chatterbeak 10y agoQuite a few jobs are created by demand for champagne, caviar, and cars. And also jobs with living wages for farmers, fishermen, production line workers, drivers, and even engineers. While I'm all for space exploration, I wouldn't make any judgement calls on what activities are "better" for humanity.
- cspags 10y agoProbably not them, but it made me think of these two... https://story.californiasunday.com/mars-madness https://story.californiasunday.com/mars-madness
- Swenrekcah 10y agoTrump and Putin on a one-way trip? please?
- rtx 10y agoExport restrictions.
- lazaroclapp 10y agoI didn't realize Trump and Putin personally qualified as weapons of mass destruction, but I guess it makes sense in retrospect...
- chrisper 10y agoWhat if it's Larry Ellison and Travis Kalanick?
- mmaunder 10y agoIt could be Elon.
- neildahlke 10y agoHopefully it isn't. In the event that something goes wrong, we need him here.
- archon810 10y agoNah, if Elon is going somewhere, it's deeper underground with his giant bore.
- gus_massa 10y agoI was thinking the same. Relevant xkcd https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/
- oh_sigh 10y agoI suspect Elon is saving himself for his Mars mission in 2031.
- United857 10y agoJames Cameron? He seems to have a penchant for this stuff.
- grondilu 10y ago> Can't wait to hear who booked this trip! Definitely one of the coolest ways to spend a lot of superfluous money :) Imagine it ends up being some celebrity, like Leonardo di Caprio (who has shown interest in space IIRC) or Lady Gaga. Don't you think it would somehow tarnish the whole thing?
- miketery 10y agoWhy would a figure with so much PR fire power tarnish it? If anything it would put space exploration front and center for so many young and adolescence people.
- grondilu 10y agoEven if it was Justin Bieber? Instead of "One small step for the man...", we'd have Justin singing "baby, baby, baby..." to promote his latest album.
- madamelic 10y agoI'd rather it not be Justin Bieber. Either the rocket would blow up on the pad or it would never come back. ;)
- grkvlt 10y agoI think the image that is being tarnished here is yours... Imagine we aren't told who the astronauts are until a long time after the mission (the photos and video have their faces redacted or something) would the revelation that one of them was Mr Bieber really make it suddenly less of an achievement or 'tarnish' it?
- Noughmad 10y agoNot Leonardo di Caprio, he will stay behind even though there is enough room for two people on that return vehicle. Also, hopefully not Matt Damon.
- emiliobumachar 10y ago
- nsajko 10y agoIt would be cooler if they donated it for sending more robots to Mars...
- TeMPOraL 10y agoMore practical, science-wise? Yes. Cooler? Definitely not. Sending humans to space has a very important non-scientific factor - human emotions and imagination. It's an important driving force that's also necessary until we bootstrap a proper profitable market that'll do the driving.