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SpaceX is exciting because Elon is one of us. He's a silicon valley founder who put all his personal money on the line to change the world. Paraphrasing PG, he

SpaceX is exciting because Elon is one of us. He's a silicon valley founder who put all his personal money on the line to change the world. Paraphrasing PG, he didn't forget his dreams and he's inspiring many of us to remember our own. SpaceX is just beginning. His launch costs are now as low as the Russians (the cheapest). The Falcon 9 heavy will cut that in half, and reusability is intended to cut it by 80% again (10x improvement is the next goal). Watch this animation to see reusability, it's awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IbxqsWLXsw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IbxqsWLXsw Elon has said he will consider the company to have failed if they dont get reusability to work. These cost improvements will make many things possible and change the world. And these too are just the beginning.

adriand 14y ago
It's also exciting because it is potentially of cosmic significance. There may come a time when the entire universe is affected and altered by people, and this is an important step in the journey to attaining that level of science and technology. There are certainly medical steps along that journey and those will generate great excitement as well; for example, when a "cure" for aging is developed, I'm sure it will generate a great deal of enthusiasm on HN, if HN is still a going concern when that happens.
koide 14y ago
That video gave me the creeps: "One hundred thousand dead after engine of spacex launcher fails." Do you have any clue about how they intend to solve this problem?
- jamesaguilar 14y ago
  Where the hell are you getting this 100,000 people dead stuff? It's a rocket engine, not a nuclear weapon. What problem is it you're suggesting they need to solve?
  - koide 14y ago
    I was thinking about the launcher falling on a skyscraper for example. My number was off by an order of magnitude, sorry. The problem is: making sure the launcher lands where it has to or else falls on an unpopulated area. I expect this to be harder than with the free fall capsules, where you only have to calculate a trajectory and gravity does the rest.
    - nknight 14y ago
      WTF?! I'd call that more like three orders of magnitude, and the world has been launching rockets and landing capsules since 1961. Nothing even remotely like what you are speaking of has ever come remotely close to happening. No one launches rockets over populated areas, nobody aims capsules for populated areas, the CIA spent the 1960s recovering CORONA satellite film canisters with such precision they captured them with planes in mid-air. Stop fear-mongering.
    - koide 14y ago
      Come on, I'm just ignorant, not a fear monger, it really gave me the creeps in my ignorance. I was not aware of any of the marvellous feats you mention. Thanks for the information. I was merely wondering if a propelled launcher would be a harder safety problem than a non propelled one, but it seems that has already been solved also. (This is in answer to nknight)
      - nknight 14y ago
        Where exactly have you lived that you've avoided knowledge of Vostok, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Soyuz, the Space Shuttle, Skylab, Salyut, Mir, the International Space Station, and the thousands of observation, spy, communications, and scientific satellites that have been launched since Sputnik in 1957?
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - koide 14y ago
neilk 14y ago
He's one of us? I wish. We should aspire to be a crowd of Elons. That goes for the investors reading this too. This is what I tweeted a couple of days ago: > All the other rich people in the world should be kidnapped and forced to attend a seminar by @ElonMusk on Advanced Zillionairing. https://twitter.com/flipzagging/status/204847457782345728 https://twitter.com/flipzagging/status/204847457782345728
stcredzero 14y ago
They're going for TSTO full reuse, vertical landing?

adriand 14y ago

It's also exciting because it is potentially of cosmic significance. There may come a time when the entire universe is affected and altered by people, and this is an important step in the journey to attaining that level of science and technology. There are certainly medical steps along that journey and those will generate great excitement as well; for example, when a "cure" for aging is developed, I'm sure it will generate a great deal of enthusiasm on HN, if HN is still a going concern when that happens.

koide 14y ago

That video gave me the creeps: "One hundred thousand dead after engine of spacex launcher fails." Do you have any clue about how they intend to solve this problem?

jamesaguilar 14y ago
Where the hell are you getting this 100,000 people dead stuff? It's a rocket engine, not a nuclear weapon. What problem is it you're suggesting they need to solve?
- koide 14y ago
  I was thinking about the launcher falling on a skyscraper for example. My number was off by an order of magnitude, sorry. The problem is: making sure the launcher lands where it has to or else falls on an unpopulated area. I expect this to be harder than with the free fall capsules, where you only have to calculate a trajectory and gravity does the rest.
  - nknight 14y ago
    WTF?! I'd call that more like three orders of magnitude, and the world has been launching rockets and landing capsules since 1961. Nothing even remotely like what you are speaking of has ever come remotely close to happening. No one launches rockets over populated areas, nobody aims capsules for populated areas, the CIA spent the 1960s recovering CORONA satellite film canisters with such precision they captured them with planes in mid-air. Stop fear-mongering.
  - koide 14y ago
    Come on, I'm just ignorant, not a fear monger, it really gave me the creeps in my ignorance. I was not aware of any of the marvellous feats you mention. Thanks for the information. I was merely wondering if a propelled launcher would be a harder safety problem than a non propelled one, but it seems that has already been solved also. (This is in answer to nknight)
    - nknight 14y ago
      Where exactly have you lived that you've avoided knowledge of Vostok, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Soyuz, the Space Shuttle, Skylab, Salyut, Mir, the International Space Station, and the thousands of observation, spy, communications, and scientific satellites that have been launched since Sputnik in 1957?
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
    - koide 14y ago

neilk 14y ago

He's one of us? I wish. We should aspire to be a crowd of Elons. That goes for the investors reading this too. This is what I tweeted a couple of days ago: > All the other rich people in the world should be kidnapped and forced to attend a seminar by @ElonMusk on Advanced Zillionairing. https://twitter.com/flipzagging/status/204847457782345728 https://twitter.com/flipzagging/status/204847457782345728

stcredzero 14y ago

They're going for TSTO full reuse, vertical landing?