5 ms·

I'm not sure that this will ever be viable for the general population. Think about the acceleration at launch and reentry. It's more an amusement park experien

I'm not sure that this will ever be viable for the general population. Think about the acceleration at launch and reentry. It's more an amusement park experience than travel by car, ship or plane. There will be people mentally and physically fit for that (past some age and before another one) and people that will never be. Other problems like cost, time from home to spaceport and boarding can be fixed or be irrelevant (if I live too far away, too bad for me, I'll fly.)

londons_explore 5y ago
You can launch and land with fewer g-forces if you like. It just uses more fuel, reduces payload, and increases costs. But it could be done.
deadbunny 5y ago
Man If I could fly (rocket?) to AUS from the UK in a handful of hours I'd be all over that vs. the 24+ hour flights + connections. Sure it doesn't make sense for all routes but for super long distance I can see it being competitive for some section of the market.
- pmontra 5y ago
  I'd do that too, but I keep my point that it's not for everyone in the same way that a flight is. Babies, old people, pets. They can fly to space (untested for babies AFAIK) but is it advisable? I think that there will be a market for 27 hours long flights to Australia even after starships. We'll wait and see.
- midasuni 5y ago
  27 hours of travelling in a first class suite isn’t that bad
  - avmich 5y ago
    8 days of traveling USA to Europe by ship could be nice, but markets largely killed that.
  - pintxo 5y ago
    People able to afford first class are mostly time constraint, not money constraint. If you offer something using only 1/10 the time, they will buy it.
    - midasuni 5y ago
      But they didn’t with Concorde. There are more first class seats across the Atlantic (well pre covid) than Concorde, but the latter failed to be as profitable, and super sonic business jets aren’t a thing.
      - pintxo 5y ago
        Afaik, Concord was run profitable. But due to noise protection regulation on both sides of the Atlantic, there where not enough profitable routes available to be able to recoup development costs.
tim333 5y ago
They launched people to the space station ok. The max acceleration isn't actually at launch as the rocket is heavy with fuel then - it increases as it gets lighter.

londons_explore 5y ago

You can launch and land with fewer g-forces if you like. It just uses more fuel, reduces payload, and increases costs. But it could be done.

deadbunny 5y ago

Man If I could fly (rocket?) to AUS from the UK in a handful of hours I'd be all over that vs. the 24+ hour flights + connections. Sure it doesn't make sense for all routes but for super long distance I can see it being competitive for some section of the market.

pmontra 5y ago
I'd do that too, but I keep my point that it's not for everyone in the same way that a flight is. Babies, old people, pets. They can fly to space (untested for babies AFAIK) but is it advisable? I think that there will be a market for 27 hours long flights to Australia even after starships. We'll wait and see.
midasuni 5y ago
27 hours of travelling in a first class suite isn’t that bad
- avmich 5y ago
  8 days of traveling USA to Europe by ship could be nice, but markets largely killed that.
- pintxo 5y ago
  People able to afford first class are mostly time constraint, not money constraint. If you offer something using only 1/10 the time, they will buy it.
  - midasuni 5y ago
    But they didn’t with Concorde. There are more first class seats across the Atlantic (well pre covid) than Concorde, but the latter failed to be as profitable, and super sonic business jets aren’t a thing.
    - pintxo 5y ago
      Afaik, Concord was run profitable. But due to noise protection regulation on both sides of the Atlantic, there where not enough profitable routes available to be able to recoup development costs.

tim333 5y ago

They launched people to the space station ok. The max acceleration isn't actually at launch as the rocket is heavy with fuel then - it increases as it gets lighter.