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From that link. Holy cow: "“Looking forward for reusability, we don’t believe it really, really counts unless you can turn it around rapidly, or almost as rapid

From that link. Holy cow: "“Looking forward for reusability, we don’t believe it really, really counts unless you can turn it around rapidly, or almost as rapidly, as you turn around an aircraft,”. I had no idea they were aiming for this level. That is just mind boggling how drastic a change it's going to be.

wahern 8y ago
Musk's Mars plan depends on reducing the marginal costs of launching so much that SpaceX could with minimal expenditure chuck dozens of rockets at Mars every year loaded with supplies and crew. This is important to keep in mind when wondering why a corporation would continue pushing its costs down after obtaining an effective monopoly. As long as Mars is the goal SpaceX won't turn into a ULA or Ariane. But if for some reason SpaceX ceases to pursue Mars then it would likely recapitulate the same business decisions of every other spacefaring corporation.
- TangoTrotFox 8y ago
  On the other hand, one might argue that SpaceX has already permanently changed the space game. If SpaceX fails to keep moving society forward, it would do little more than create a major vacuum that could be filled by companies such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, or other new players. I think this in particular is really the hugest benefit of privatizing space. When we had the government in charge of space, it living or dying was really subject to nothing more than the whims of a gaggle of politicians. As space has become a prominent part of the private industry with ever increasing competition, you remove that aspect of a single point of failure. I think the odds of us entering into another era of stagnation come regression are rapidly approaching 0, and that's incredibly exciting!
- TomK32 8y ago
  one mission to Mars, just think about the workload that ground control would have to deal with. Will there be extra communication satellites involved outside earth's system?
TangoTrotFox 8y ago
You should check out their presentation [1] from 2017. The whole thing is incredibly interesting but if you want to see some jaw dropping stuff, check the tail end. They plan to use the BFR (big.. falcon.. rocket) to carry out suborbital missions. In other words, you hop on the BFR. Take off in New York, enjoy some silky smooth zero g travel, and less than 30 minutes later you're landing in London. I have serious doubts about this, but it's about time that people who have the means and ability to make incredible things happen became so aggressively technological that their ideas seemed doubtful. It wasn't that long ago that many believed that complete rocket reusability impossible (to say nothing of autonomous retropulsive landings on barges getting rocked around in the middle of the ocean). Then it changed it uneconomical. Then it changed to 'oh shit, we're now a decade behind technologically.' I now find myself on the doubter side and look anxiously and happily forward to being proven wrong! [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FY894HyF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FY894HyF8
- TomK32 8y ago
  I think the use case for the suborbital hops is to reduce transport costs for those BFR that go from CA to FL and then to Mars. Shipping them trough the canal is something I'd like to see close up but also a bit mental. But then, western Europe's launches happen from South America...
Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y ago
24-hour 'rapid reusability' has been their stated goal since at least 2013. It's a core part of their mission, perhaps the core.

wahern 8y ago

Musk's Mars plan depends on reducing the marginal costs of launching so much that SpaceX could with minimal expenditure chuck dozens of rockets at Mars every year loaded with supplies and crew. This is important to keep in mind when wondering why a corporation would continue pushing its costs down after obtaining an effective monopoly. As long as Mars is the goal SpaceX won't turn into a ULA or Ariane. But if for some reason SpaceX ceases to pursue Mars then it would likely recapitulate the same business decisions of every other spacefaring corporation.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago
On the other hand, one might argue that SpaceX has already permanently changed the space game. If SpaceX fails to keep moving society forward, it would do little more than create a major vacuum that could be filled by companies such as Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, or other new players. I think this in particular is really the hugest benefit of privatizing space. When we had the government in charge of space, it living or dying was really subject to nothing more than the whims of a gaggle of politicians. As space has become a prominent part of the private industry with ever increasing competition, you remove that aspect of a single point of failure. I think the odds of us entering into another era of stagnation come regression are rapidly approaching 0, and that's incredibly exciting!
TomK32 8y ago
one mission to Mars, just think about the workload that ground control would have to deal with. Will there be extra communication satellites involved outside earth's system?

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

You should check out their presentation [1] from 2017. The whole thing is incredibly interesting but if you want to see some jaw dropping stuff, check the tail end. They plan to use the BFR (big.. falcon.. rocket) to carry out suborbital missions. In other words, you hop on the BFR. Take off in New York, enjoy some silky smooth zero g travel, and less than 30 minutes later you're landing in London. I have serious doubts about this, but it's about time that people who have the means and ability to make incredible things happen became so aggressively technological that their ideas seemed doubtful. It wasn't that long ago that many believed that complete rocket reusability impossible (to say nothing of autonomous retropulsive landings on barges getting rocked around in the middle of the ocean). Then it changed it uneconomical. Then it changed to 'oh shit, we're now a decade behind technologically.' I now find myself on the doubter side and look anxiously and happily forward to being proven wrong! [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FY894HyF8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4FY894HyF8

TomK32 8y ago
I think the use case for the suborbital hops is to reduce transport costs for those BFR that go from CA to FL and then to Mars. Shipping them trough the canal is something I'd like to see close up but also a bit mental. But then, western Europe's launches happen from South America...

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y ago

24-hour 'rapid reusability' has been their stated goal since at least 2013. It's a core part of their mission, perhaps the core.