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>It's the whole architecture: a two-stage, rapidly reusable rocket with as much cargo capacity as anything to ever fly. And just as important for interplanetary

>It's the whole architecture: a two-stage, rapidly reusable rocket with as much cargo capacity as anything to ever fly. And just as important for interplanetary flight: The upper stage is refuelable and is integrated with the passenger compartment and has a large delta-v capability as well as aerobraking/capture/entry. I don't know much about SpaceX, but I do follow Tesla closely: how much of this is reality versus "things we'd like to be able to do in the future"?

avmich 7y ago
What do you mean by "reality"? With SpaceX critics are often in a state of "you're currently here" on the list of steady achievements. In general, SpaceX delivers most of important Musk promises (just doesn't do it as soon as promised), so - Starship is technically possible to build and run. In the future. Like, in 5 years from now.
- navigatesol 7y ago
  >What do you mean by "reality"? For example: is the rocket really "rapidly reusable"? Or is it theoretically "rapidly reusable"? In the same way that all Tesla's sold since 2017 have the hardware capable of self-driving. Are they really capable of it, or theoretically capable? Until you have self-driving software or have rapidly reused the rocket, how do you know? In the same sense, until they landed a rocket, saying "we have a rocket capable of landing" didn't matter; landing it did. I may not be articulating it properly, or perhaps I'm misunderstanding how they test these claims.
  - avmich 7y ago
    Discussing this aspect, I'm still not sure what's the difference between really and theoretically. We assume Falcon-9 first stages are really reusable, right? Not that they are claimed to be reusable, or they are theoretically reusable, but really reusable. Then the question is, what is the criteria to be really reusable? Would only direct demonstration be enough? Then of course Starship isn't real. If there are other ways to claim real reusability, then maybe Elon's plans are real(istic). Also, historically, Elon claimed something for SpaceX before which later became real. There aren't currently proofs that Starship isn't possible to create (with parameters similar to stated).
cellular 7y ago
I had the same question/concern... Until I saw the rockets landing!!!
simonh 7y ago
They are building three (or is it four?) full size flight prototypes right now.

avmich 7y ago

What do you mean by "reality"? With SpaceX critics are often in a state of "you're currently here" on the list of steady achievements. In general, SpaceX delivers most of important Musk promises (just doesn't do it as soon as promised), so - Starship is technically possible to build and run. In the future. Like, in 5 years from now.

navigatesol 7y ago
>What do you mean by "reality"? For example: is the rocket really "rapidly reusable"? Or is it theoretically "rapidly reusable"? In the same way that all Tesla's sold since 2017 have the hardware capable of self-driving. Are they really capable of it, or theoretically capable? Until you have self-driving software or have rapidly reused the rocket, how do you know? In the same sense, until they landed a rocket, saying "we have a rocket capable of landing" didn't matter; landing it did. I may not be articulating it properly, or perhaps I'm misunderstanding how they test these claims.
- avmich 7y ago
  Discussing this aspect, I'm still not sure what's the difference between really and theoretically. We assume Falcon-9 first stages are really reusable, right? Not that they are claimed to be reusable, or they are theoretically reusable, but really reusable. Then the question is, what is the criteria to be really reusable? Would only direct demonstration be enough? Then of course Starship isn't real. If there are other ways to claim real reusability, then maybe Elon's plans are real(istic). Also, historically, Elon claimed something for SpaceX before which later became real. There aren't currently proofs that Starship isn't possible to create (with parameters similar to stated).

cellular 7y ago

I had the same question/concern... Until I saw the rockets landing!!!

simonh 7y ago

They are building three (or is it four?) full size flight prototypes right now.