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Yeah wow you sure showed those people trying to power rockets with solar power.

MayeulC 5y ago
I mean you can produce methane trough CO2 capture and a lot of solar power. That's basically what musk said was the goal on mars, so they could develop that tech as well. Or space-based solar. If anyone has the capability, it's spacex.
- Jweb_Guru 5y ago
  Musk says a lot of dumb things. I'm about as far as a Musk fan as you can be. But acting like rockets are going to be powered by clean energy in the foreseeable future is just wishful thinking.
  - rpmisms 5y ago
    > But acting like rockets are going to be powered by clean energy in the foreseeable future is just wishful thinking. So were practical electric cars 20 years ago.
    - nsonha 5y ago
      it was already practical? The 20 years was just for the economics to work it out. If you want to make that comparison watch how long commercial clean energy air travel will take. Then we can make prediction about rockets, which, mind you, escape freaking Earth's gravity
dragontamer 5y ago
The FAA document is pretty clear on this subject. SpaceX is building a 1MW solar plant and a 250MW natural gas plant. See the document in question: https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship/media/Draft_PEA_for_SpaceX_Starship_Super_Heavy_at_Boca_Chica.pdf https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_star... Just Ctrl-F on "250 MW", to find page 130/131, which discusses the 1MW solar + 250MW natural gas plan. -------- As such, we know how they're planning on powering the rocket. With traditional natural gas methodologies: a 250MW natural gas power plant, as well as this liquid-natural-gas processing plant.
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  Oh thought they were burning the gas for more base electricity. This does make sense, but it is odd that the existing gas market is not sufficient.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    > This does make sense, but it is odd that the existing gas market is not sufficient. Its not very clear why the PEA is setup in this manner at all. We know that SpaceX wouldn't ask for something from the regulators unless they had a plan for it, but that's about it. I think it would have been reasonable to just pipe 99.9% pure methane from some other producer (it is Texas after all, surely there's a supplier out there willing to sell a bunch of methane to SpaceX??). What's absurd is that the PEA calculations seem to be calculated from the standpoint of a raw-mining operation, and not pre-treated methane. This implies that SpaceX is planning on purifying its own methane, instead of buying it up from a large market that already exists in the area. ---------- I'm sure rocket fuel needs more treatment steps than commodity natural gas. But starting from commodity natural gas probably would have been easier, rather than starting from a well?

I mean you can produce methane trough CO2 capture and a lot of solar power. That's basically what musk said was the goal on mars, so they could develop that tech as well. Or space-based solar. If anyone has the capability, it's spacex.

Jweb_Guru 5y ago
Musk says a lot of dumb things. I'm about as far as a Musk fan as you can be. But acting like rockets are going to be powered by clean energy in the foreseeable future is just wishful thinking.
- rpmisms 5y ago
  > But acting like rockets are going to be powered by clean energy in the foreseeable future is just wishful thinking. So were practical electric cars 20 years ago.
  - nsonha 5y ago
    it was already practical? The 20 years was just for the economics to work it out. If you want to make that comparison watch how long commercial clean energy air travel will take. Then we can make prediction about rockets, which, mind you, escape freaking Earth's gravity

dragontamer 5y ago

The FAA document is pretty clear on this subject. SpaceX is building a 1MW solar plant and a 250MW natural gas plant. See the document in question: https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship/media/Draft_PEA_for_SpaceX_Starship_Super_Heavy_at_Boca_Chica.pdf https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_star... Just Ctrl-F on "250 MW", to find page 130/131, which discusses the 1MW solar + 250MW natural gas plan. -------- As such, we know how they're planning on powering the rocket. With traditional natural gas methodologies: a 250MW natural gas power plant, as well as this liquid-natural-gas processing plant.

Ericson2314 5y ago
Oh thought they were burning the gas for more base electricity. This does make sense, but it is odd that the existing gas market is not sufficient.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  > This does make sense, but it is odd that the existing gas market is not sufficient. Its not very clear why the PEA is setup in this manner at all. We know that SpaceX wouldn't ask for something from the regulators unless they had a plan for it, but that's about it. I think it would have been reasonable to just pipe 99.9% pure methane from some other producer (it is Texas after all, surely there's a supplier out there willing to sell a bunch of methane to SpaceX??). What's absurd is that the PEA calculations seem to be calculated from the standpoint of a raw-mining operation, and not pre-treated methane. This implies that SpaceX is planning on purifying its own methane, instead of buying it up from a large market that already exists in the area. ---------- I'm sure rocket fuel needs more treatment steps than commodity natural gas. But starting from commodity natural gas probably would have been easier, rather than starting from a well?