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There is a lot of cross pollination between his companies, that’s is fine: - new materials from SpaceX make it into Tesla cars - productions techniques from T

• riffraff 4y ago
  Has SpaceX developed any new materials? It was my understanding they use pretty standard steel alloys.
  • xcskier56 4y ago
    I’m not sure if they developed them themselves, but the alloys SpaceX uses in the pre burners in the raptor engines are really advanced and likely have not been known (in the US) before. They have to be able to withstand pure (nearly) oxygen gas at very high temperatures and pressures. I wouldn’t be surprised if these super specialize alloys were developed by spacex. The Soviets figured it out during the end of the space race and US engineers basically assumed they were lying bc they thought the metallurgy was impossible.
    • shapefrog 4y ago
      SX 300 & soon SX 500. Kind of a modern version of Inconel superalloys Inconel is known in the US as it was invented there in the 1930s - well before Musk was born. They might be called superalloys, but there is nothing particularly sophisticated about them from a scientific perspective. SX300 / SX500 are minor revisions which take some R&D but technologically it is 1930's stuff.
      • dotancohen 4y ago
        This is plain wrong. In the US it was assumed that Oxygen-rich preburners would erode any manufacturable material - metal, ceramic, or exotic. When the RD-170 (If I remember correctly) was found to have an oxygen-rich preburner, very knowledgeable people called it a lie, misrepresentation, or proclaimed that is was severely wearing (possibly ablating) and thus had to be very heavy. The Raptors are reusable (even air-ignitable, with centisecond timing precision to achieve a specific thrust) engines with an oxygen-rich preburner, and to boot they have the highest chamber pressure of any rocket engine ever. Thus, they also have a very high (possibly highest, we don't know) pump pressure (the preburner _is_ the pump), and they're doing that with oxygen-rich combustion. There is some crazy material making up that preburner chamber, and the pipes down to the pintles. Materials that until recently were though to be beyond manufacturing capability. And this is in a reusable engine that costs less than an RD-68. Frankly, it looks like magic.
        • shapefrog 4y ago
          Elon Musk disagres with what you think Elon Musk does. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1008385171744174080 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1008385171744174080
          • dotancohen 4y ago
            I made no reference to Elon Musk, I do not see why you are invoking him here. I should have been more specific. My response regarding "plain wrong" is in response to this: > They might be called superalloys, but there is nothing particularly sophisticated about them
      • deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  • alfor 4y ago
    I heard that the advanced materials team of SpaceX went to help design the alloys used for the castings. They needed a castable aluminum resistant to corrosion, rigid enough that didn’t need heat treatment. From what I heard at Munroe they had to design a new alloy to meet all requirement and that is unheard of in the automotive market (off the shelf components culture) It make sense that SpaceX had expert in that field (for turbine components)
• HWR_14 4y ago
  > Our goal should be to make things better first and then to make money second While I would rather live in that world, you don't seem to have described America, corporate laws or capitalism. In fact, TSLA should be listed as a public benefit company if that's the case.
• ratg13 4y ago
  Now do Amazon and give your take on how it's great for society for them to branch out into every business sector imaginable.
  • karencarits 4y ago
    I think this is an example of the differences in image that Bezos and Musk have made, Musk creating an impression (and perhaps even being) more of an idealist
  • fallingknife 4y ago
    It's great for customer like me, and there are hundreds of millions of us, so that's quite a lot of benefit to society. And the things that Amazon is criticized for, like treatment of its employees, are not unique to Amazon itself, but standard in the industries that they operate in. It's just that journalists don't report on it when other less successful companies do it. The case against Amazon, and other billionaires, is driven by envy much more than anything else.
    • ratg13 4y ago
      The thing about Amazon is that they have proven that they are willing to operate at a loss for as long as it takes to destroy their competition and take a monopoly on the market (diapers.com, etc.) The true American dream!
• baxuz 4y ago
  And how does Twitter fit into Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink?
  • MrMan 4y ago
    marketing
  • alfor 4y ago
    Best engineers in machine learning go help self driving team. Expert in data centers help Tesla build its cluster. Experts on internet security help Tesla, SpaceX with their information security.
• chris_wot 4y ago
  Imagine the possibilities of Twitter to help improve SpaceX. No, I mean really, if you have that broad an imagination then I consider you to be the next Edward de Bono.
  • ethanbond 4y ago
    Well it can amplify praise and neuter criticism, of course.