4 ms·

Far too dangerous and noisy for that to ever happen, surely. And too fragile/explodey for niche military uses (long range troop drops?)

bdamm 7mo ago
If you're thinking of passenger service, perhaps it is a bit unattractive in the short term. No good launching and landing spots. But for military use - think logistics. Rapid delivery of equipment to unusual places. This applies to civilian purposes as well. All kinds of use-cases for speeding up cargo. The entire economics of Starship and rapid reusability was presented at the beginning of the Starbase work, way back when Hoppy was a thing. He's been sticking to the plan since then. You might want it to be fiction, but he's been very good at figuring out business plans to leverage his ultimate goals.
- coldtea 7mo ago
  >You might want it to be fiction, but he's been very good at figuring out business plans to leverage his ultimate goals. Not very good on delivering tech though, which is what makes it more fiction than not.
  - JonChesterfield 7mo ago
    Who makes the bar for "good at delivering tech" if the guy pushing spacex, starlink and tesla simultaneously doesn't reach it?
    - coldtea 7mo ago
      Many promises that never materialized or resulted in mediocre or bad products, from the Mars mission to the Hyperloop, and from Teslas dismal software and often promised, never materializing fully autonomous drive to the Cybertruck. Let's not go into the robot vapourware either...
      - gibolt 7mo ago
        Hyperloop is the only thing you listed that is accurate, although it was only a whitepaper + competition. It was open for others to pursue. Tesla easily has the best vehicle software + OTA and has since the S in 2012. It still feels better than most new vehicles. You can buy a Tesla (including Cybertruck) today that will do 95+% of drives with 0 intervention. It may not be 100% autonomous yet, but there isn't anything obvious limiting the last step. The robots exist but are still being developed. Within 5 years, it is hard to imagine them not becoming super valuable within factory settings.
        coldtea 7mo ago
        >Tesla easily has the best vehicle software + OTA and has since the S in 2012 Sure: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/05/the-vehicle-suddenly-accelerated-with-our-baby-in-it-the-terrifying-truth-about-why-teslas-cars-keep-crashing https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/05/the-vehic... https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-drivers-are-paying-big-bucks-to-test-flawed-self-driving-software/ https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-drivers-are-paying-big-buc... https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/tesla-employees-shared-horror-stories-behind-its-illusive-product https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/tesla-employees-shared-... https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-04-15-musklemons-more-like-edison-amirite-431fcfc25723 https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-04-15... https://www.torquenews.com/17998/after-software-update-left-his-tesla-model-y-completely-dead-owner-told-youll-need-new https://www.torquenews.com/17998/after-software-update-left-... https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/tesla-autopilot-crash-public-transit/ https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/tesla-autopi... the cases are endless... >The robots exist but are still being developed. Within 5 years, it is hard to imagine them not becoming super valuable within factory settings. Yeah, let's check back in 5 years. https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaSupport/comments/1poig9a/nightmare_software_update_a_fired_tesla_employee/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaSupport/comments/1poig9a/night... https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/when-a-software-update-breaks-safety-my-tesla-model-3-experience.352236/ https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/when-a-software-upda...
        bdamm 7mo ago
- bluescrn 7mo ago
  > But for military use - think logistics. Rapid delivery of equipment to unusual places. Surely it's too fragile/explodey for military use - the whole thing's a very volatile fuel tank - could it survive being shot at, even a single high-powered rifle bullet (during landing, or even post-landing) without going boom?
  - NetMageSCW 7mo ago
    It doesn’t have to be able to deliver in a combat zone to be able to deliver halfway around the world close to a combat zone. Or do you think the Hercules is worthless because it isn’t armored and doesn’t have weapons?
testing22321 7mo ago
> Far too dangerous Falcon 9 is clearly proving that doesn’t have to be the case.

bdamm 7mo ago

If you're thinking of passenger service, perhaps it is a bit unattractive in the short term. No good launching and landing spots. But for military use - think logistics. Rapid delivery of equipment to unusual places. This applies to civilian purposes as well. All kinds of use-cases for speeding up cargo. The entire economics of Starship and rapid reusability was presented at the beginning of the Starbase work, way back when Hoppy was a thing. He's been sticking to the plan since then. You might want it to be fiction, but he's been very good at figuring out business plans to leverage his ultimate goals.

coldtea 7mo ago
>You might want it to be fiction, but he's been very good at figuring out business plans to leverage his ultimate goals. Not very good on delivering tech though, which is what makes it more fiction than not.
- JonChesterfield 7mo ago
  Who makes the bar for "good at delivering tech" if the guy pushing spacex, starlink and tesla simultaneously doesn't reach it?
  - coldtea 7mo ago
    Many promises that never materialized or resulted in mediocre or bad products, from the Mars mission to the Hyperloop, and from Teslas dismal software and often promised, never materializing fully autonomous drive to the Cybertruck. Let's not go into the robot vapourware either...
    - gibolt 7mo ago
      Hyperloop is the only thing you listed that is accurate, although it was only a whitepaper + competition. It was open for others to pursue. Tesla easily has the best vehicle software + OTA and has since the S in 2012. It still feels better than most new vehicles. You can buy a Tesla (including Cybertruck) today that will do 95+% of drives with 0 intervention. It may not be 100% autonomous yet, but there isn't anything obvious limiting the last step. The robots exist but are still being developed. Within 5 years, it is hard to imagine them not becoming super valuable within factory settings.
      - coldtea 7mo ago
        >Tesla easily has the best vehicle software + OTA and has since the S in 2012 Sure: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/05/the-vehicle-suddenly-accelerated-with-our-baby-in-it-the-terrifying-truth-about-why-teslas-cars-keep-crashing https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/05/the-vehic... https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-drivers-are-paying-big-bucks-to-test-flawed-self-driving-software/ https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-drivers-are-paying-big-buc... https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/tesla-employees-shared-horror-stories-behind-its-illusive-product https://www.thestreet.com/automotive/tesla-employees-shared-... https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-04-15-musklemons-more-like-edison-amirite-431fcfc25723 https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-04-15... https://www.torquenews.com/17998/after-software-update-left-his-tesla-model-y-completely-dead-owner-told-youll-need-new https://www.torquenews.com/17998/after-software-update-left-... https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/tesla-autopilot-crash-public-transit/ https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/10/tesla-autopi... the cases are endless... >The robots exist but are still being developed. Within 5 years, it is hard to imagine them not becoming super valuable within factory settings. Yeah, let's check back in 5 years. https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaSupport/comments/1poig9a/nightmare_software_update_a_fired_tesla_employee/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaSupport/comments/1poig9a/night... https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/when-a-software-update-breaks-safety-my-tesla-model-3-experience.352236/ https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/when-a-software-upda...
        bdamm 7mo ago
bluescrn 7mo ago
> But for military use - think logistics. Rapid delivery of equipment to unusual places. Surely it's too fragile/explodey for military use - the whole thing's a very volatile fuel tank - could it survive being shot at, even a single high-powered rifle bullet (during landing, or even post-landing) without going boom?
- NetMageSCW 7mo ago
  It doesn’t have to be able to deliver in a combat zone to be able to deliver halfway around the world close to a combat zone. Or do you think the Hercules is worthless because it isn’t armored and doesn’t have weapons?

testing22321 7mo ago

> Far too dangerous Falcon 9 is clearly proving that doesn’t have to be the case.