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Not to minimise their accomplishments but, once again, the table has been set pretty well by decades of publicly funded research and development. It is actually

by rue 16y ago

Not to minimise their accomplishments but, once again, the table has been set pretty well by decades of publicly funded research and development. It is actually possible to be vertically integrated again with all the shared know-how.

Retric 16y ago
The largest breakthrough by spaceX is the realization that fuel not the largest cost of getting to space. They do several things which dramatically reduce cost at the cost of using more fuel but it's a net win.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  This is exactly the strategy outlined in the real-engineering fiction book The Rocket Company. The vehicles in that book also use friction-stir welding, though they are all aluminum. In that book, some billionaires get together to fund a fully reusable TSTO rocket operable from the field.
hyperbovine 16y ago
Agreed. I just got back from the National Air & Space Museum where I saw a few rocket engines, and it occurs to me that somebody had to figure out how to build such an amazing piece of machinery once upon a time, and that somebody was NASA. SpaceX is doing an amazing job, but there's no way in hell they could go from a twinkle in Elon Musk's eye to orbit in 7 years without Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, etc. Even SpaceX's location (El Segundo) was specifically chosen because of its proximity to all the SoCal aerospace contractors. Great example of government priming the pump.
- benn 16y ago
  Fuck off. Nasa improved idea from the nazis who improved ideas from the 20s that invented techniques based upon principa. What a bunch of moaning bitches.
- berntb 16y ago
  >>somebody had to figure out how to build [rocket engines] and that somebody was NASA Exactly what are you talking about that was totally new and not done/planned 1945 by von Braun et al? (Or, for that matter, by Goddard.)
- quickpost 16y ago
  I've seen interviews where Elon specifically points this out. The explosion of innovation on the internet was largely made possible by the work of DARPA, and he compares this to the decades of experimentation and research that is enabling this nascent space revolution. (SpaceX, BlueOrigin, SpaceShipOne, etc.) The real difference isn't the technology, but the mindset with you how you apply it. Big aerospace contractors (Boeing, Lockheed, etc.) do everything from a "one off" perspective - they are effectively the world's largest contracting firms. Their business model isn't making something repeatable and cheaper, it's about building custom things from the ground up over and over again. And they are REALLY expensive. Elon is simply taking all that collective knowledge and converting it into a repeatable process that can be incrementally improved and drive down cost over time. Making the Honda Civic of Rockets, as opposed to the Lamborghini. :)

by rue 16y ago

Retric 16y ago

The largest breakthrough by spaceX is the realization that fuel not the largest cost of getting to space. They do several things which dramatically reduce cost at the cost of using more fuel but it's a net win.

stcredzero 16y ago
This is exactly the strategy outlined in the real-engineering fiction book The Rocket Company. The vehicles in that book also use friction-stir welding, though they are all aluminum. In that book, some billionaires get together to fund a fully reusable TSTO rocket operable from the field.

hyperbovine 16y ago

Agreed. I just got back from the National Air & Space Museum where I saw a few rocket engines, and it occurs to me that somebody had to figure out how to build such an amazing piece of machinery once upon a time, and that somebody was NASA. SpaceX is doing an amazing job, but there's no way in hell they could go from a twinkle in Elon Musk's eye to orbit in 7 years without Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, etc. Even SpaceX's location (El Segundo) was specifically chosen because of its proximity to all the SoCal aerospace contractors. Great example of government priming the pump.

benn 16y ago
Fuck off. Nasa improved idea from the nazis who improved ideas from the 20s that invented techniques based upon principa. What a bunch of moaning bitches.
berntb 16y ago
>>somebody had to figure out how to build [rocket engines] and that somebody was NASA Exactly what are you talking about that was totally new and not done/planned 1945 by von Braun et al? (Or, for that matter, by Goddard.)
quickpost 16y ago
I've seen interviews where Elon specifically points this out. The explosion of innovation on the internet was largely made possible by the work of DARPA, and he compares this to the decades of experimentation and research that is enabling this nascent space revolution. (SpaceX, BlueOrigin, SpaceShipOne, etc.) The real difference isn't the technology, but the mindset with you how you apply it. Big aerospace contractors (Boeing, Lockheed, etc.) do everything from a "one off" perspective - they are effectively the world's largest contracting firms. Their business model isn't making something repeatable and cheaper, it's about building custom things from the ground up over and over again. And they are REALLY expensive. Elon is simply taking all that collective knowledge and converting it into a repeatable process that can be incrementally improved and drive down cost over time. Making the Honda Civic of Rockets, as opposed to the Lamborghini. :)