4 ms·

not long ago Musk's Mars plans were seen as unrealistic by many and now they are started appearing to be possible...looking at the breakneck speed of developmen

by jp42 6y ago

not long ago Musk's Mars plans were seen as unrealistic by many and now they are started appearing to be possible...looking at the breakneck speed of development at Boca Chica..you right my friend, Mars is not far off. :-)

ISL 6y ago
Only 160,206,027 km, according to https://theskylive.com/mars-info https://theskylive.com/mars-info
- PopeDotNinja 6y ago
  And only 54.6 million kilometers at the closest approach! You can actually get to Mars in way less than 9 months if you don't mind crashing into the surface at a bajillion km/sec.
hliyan 6y ago
I'm reminded of the 4-minute mile. All it takes for something once thought technically impossible to be achieved repeatedly, is for someone to do it once. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile
- ctdonath 6y ago
  In other news, Starman is at his orbit's apogee now (past Mars). https://www.whereisroadster.com https://www.whereisroadster.com
  - hliyan 6y ago
    Do we have a video link? Never actually seen proper video streamed at interplanetary distances (only photos). Maybe that's another thing SpaceX could try to solve: an interplanetary inter-network protocol. TCP/IP is not going to work because of the minute-range latencies and the heavy packet losses.
    - ctdonath 6y ago
      No data link. There is an “interplanetary Internet”, look into it.
- chrischattin 6y ago
  This is such a great example of human psychology and our ability to adapt to new paradigms. The amazing thing about the four minute mile, is once someone broke the previously thought impossible barrier, we had high school kids routinely running four minute miles within a few years. I think it also says something about how hard it is to truly do something unique and break new trail. But, it opens things up for the rest of humanity. It takes a special person.
  - AtlasBarfed 6y ago
    And then in America, a drought of high schoolers running 4 minute miles for what seemed to be two decades. Whoa, it was actually over 30 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_students_who_have_run_a_four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_s...
- jml7c5 6y ago
  >The claim that a four-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by "informed" observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_m...
starpilot 6y ago
I'm still blown away by reusable rockets. If you had asked anyone involved in rockets (possibly even Musk himself) 20 years ago if we would be landing rockets today, I doubt you'd get a single "yes." That's just not where the industry looked headed and unlike anything up until today.
- NikolaeVarius 6y ago
  We had the space shuttle 20 years ago.
  - valuearb 6y ago
    Which is what made it seem impossible.

by jp42 6y ago

ISL 6y ago

Only 160,206,027 km, according to https://theskylive.com/mars-info https://theskylive.com/mars-info

PopeDotNinja 6y ago
And only 54.6 million kilometers at the closest approach! You can actually get to Mars in way less than 9 months if you don't mind crashing into the surface at a bajillion km/sec.

hliyan 6y ago

I'm reminded of the 4-minute mile. All it takes for something once thought technically impossible to be achieved repeatedly, is for someone to do it once. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile

ctdonath 6y ago
In other news, Starman is at his orbit's apogee now (past Mars). https://www.whereisroadster.com https://www.whereisroadster.com
- hliyan 6y ago
  Do we have a video link? Never actually seen proper video streamed at interplanetary distances (only photos). Maybe that's another thing SpaceX could try to solve: an interplanetary inter-network protocol. TCP/IP is not going to work because of the minute-range latencies and the heavy packet losses.
  - ctdonath 6y ago
    No data link. There is an “interplanetary Internet”, look into it.
chrischattin 6y ago
This is such a great example of human psychology and our ability to adapt to new paradigms. The amazing thing about the four minute mile, is once someone broke the previously thought impossible barrier, we had high school kids routinely running four minute miles within a few years. I think it also says something about how hard it is to truly do something unique and break new trail. But, it opens things up for the rest of humanity. It takes a special person.
- AtlasBarfed 6y ago
  And then in America, a drought of high schoolers running 4 minute miles for what seemed to be two decades. Whoa, it was actually over 30 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_students_who_have_run_a_four-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_high_school_s...
jml7c5 6y ago
>The claim that a four-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by "informed" observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_mile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister#Sub-4-minute_m...

starpilot 6y ago

I'm still blown away by reusable rockets. If you had asked anyone involved in rockets (possibly even Musk himself) 20 years ago if we would be landing rockets today, I doubt you'd get a single "yes." That's just not where the industry looked headed and unlike anything up until today.

NikolaeVarius 6y ago
We had the space shuttle 20 years ago.
- valuearb 6y ago
  Which is what made it seem impossible.