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1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Without a doubt SpaceX has produced more results (many times over) than Blue Origin but I didn't realize the upcoming plans of Blue Origin could have them leapfrog SpaceX in the near future:

Regardless I hope that both of them succeed.  Good time to be alive.

Everybody has Grand plans on paper but they usually  get scaled back when reality comes knocking.   

Blue Origin's next gen rocket engine (BE-4) has only been fired for about 200 seconds in the lab.   That's along way from real world use.   The New Glenn space launch vehicle that's going to use the BE-4 isn't going to have a first test flight until 2020 at the earliest.   After the first flight, they're probably going to need to revise/enhance/fix lots of stuff just as SpaceX did with the Falcon.  Realistically, IF they can stay on track, New Glenn won't be ready for business until about 2024.     Where's SpaceX going to be in 6 years?

 

 

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What happened to Ramjet?  I miss his takes, updates, and gifs.

I'm usually on my phone and don't update what I read.  Very cool stuff on the BFR.  I like how we have a new space race.

Interesting a clothing designer in China is going to be the first to fly around the moon.  Very cool that he bought out the place, and is offering Artists of all fascists to join him.  It has to be a life changing experience to create art, music, etc.  

It seems like they are doing ok without NASA funding, but I am not opposed to it.

 

Astrophysicist Francis Rocard lead the Solar System exploration program at CNES. He was interviewed by a French newspaper Courrier International. Rocard showed that Ariane is still in denial about SpaceX. They accept Falcon 9 and now the block 5 Falcon 9 are the lowest cost rockets and that the reuse of first stages is a huge breakthrough. Rocard does not talk about Falcon Heavy.

Ariane-6-ESA.jpg

Rocard believes or hopes that SpaceX will not get the BFR funded. Rocard believes that NASA will not supply the $2 to 10 billion because of the funding of the Space Launch System (SLS).

Rocard is not wanting to recognize that there are components of BFR already being built and that the Raptor engines appears to be close to working.

SpaceX is dominating commercial launch already and will be making $20-40 million from each commercial launch and $40-100 million from NASA and military launches.

Nextbigfuture expects SpaceX to win more and more NASA and military launches.

SpaceX made $200-400 million from the pre-sale of the moon orbiting mission for billionaire tourist Yasuku Maezawa.

SpaceX has demonstrated to the world that they can reuse launchers, rockets, which is a real revolution currently in the space field.

Elon Musk is completely crazy.

His long-term approach is extremely questionable ethically since he wants to colonize Mars. Mars is for him plan B. And I find it extremely questionable. This is not the American approach and it is certainly not the approach of CNES.

Rocard is saying that making humanity multi-planet is unethical. The ethical thing is to only have one planet and to help Earth. Nextbigfuture observes that Dinosaurs were ethical according to Rocard.

And what he announces loudly in high-traffic conferences, his Big Fucking Rocket (BFR ), his Raptor, all that is science fiction… And Musk is only concerned about one thing: transportation. In fact, it has the same approach as the Falcon 9. Let me explain: SpaceX, with its Falcon 9, sold the idea of a cheap launcher. NASA paid to see and funded SpaceX up to $ 500 million. SpaceX was serious and it is going well. NASA has contracted $7 billion.

I do not believe [BFR] too much because Nasa has already invested billions of dollars on a launcher called the Space Launch System, the SLS. NASA has no interest in shooting itself in the foot by financing the BFR. SpaceX alone will not be able to finance the BFR and the Raptor … In the very long term, Elon Musk’s approach is bluffing.

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One article I read was about how we are going to have to reach more acceptance over people dying in space.  I still remember being in Jr High watching the Space Shuttle launch with the teacher on board that blew up.

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On 10/1/2018 at 6:08 AM, BNB said:

One article I read was about how we are going to have to reach more acceptance over people dying in space.  I still remember being in Jr High watching the Space Shuttle launch with the teacher on board that blew up.

Possibly but we could go the other direction.  Private companies open themselves up to more liability of killing people than NASA.

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3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Possibly but we could go the other direction.  Private companies open themselves up to more liability of killing people than NASA.

I would think people would sign life waivers.  

I just listened to this the other night.  I love Stuff Podcasts.  A good listen on every conceivable thing about moving to Mars.

In 2017, Elon Musk laid out plans to build a permanent colony on Mars -- one with at least a million human inhabitants. What would this colony look like? How would it work? Most importantly, could we use a Martian colony as an opportunity to improve on the socioeconomic practices of Earth? To find these answers, Ben, Matt and Noel went to the smartest guy they know: Marshall Brain, the founder of HowStuffWorks and author of "Imagining Elon Musk's Million-Person Mars Colony."

https://www.stufftheydontwantyoutoknow.com/podcasts/moving-to-mars.htm

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Will courts accept people signing a waiver to release their employer from liability of them dying because of a workplace accident?  If so, why doesn’t every employer require employees to sign that now?  

im completely on board that we can progress faster if we were willing to accept more accidents and deaths.  I just don’t know if that will happen.    

 

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
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In the context of space travel, where the risks are obvious and the employee specifically is employed to take those risks, I would think a damage/liability waiver would be enforceable. There isn't a lot of coercion in that particular employer/employee relationship. Perhaps unlike many or most other employment relationships. No one becomes an astronaut just to put food on the table. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Today's live broadcast included a 1st stage that had a rough water landing instead of its usual landing zone touchdown.

You could tell it was in trouble as the camera started spinning after the re-entry burn.

Unfortunately, Spacex shut off the video and focused on the 2nd stage.

Dragon on its way to resupply the ISS.

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5 minutes ago, RamjetFDO said:

One of the stabilizer fins stuck - that system is single-string and one fault will kill the whole system.  It was said in a followup that they'll be rethinking that and going to a two-string/redundant system on the hydraulics for the stabilizer fins from now on.

two-strings and three ball-bearings.  'Cuz it's all ball-bearings these days.

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SpaceX announced a workforce reduction of about 10%, test facility in McGregor sent some folks home yesterday and told 'em "no need to come back".

https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/SpaceX-plans-workforce-reduction-some-local-employees-sent-home--504244091.html

I feel for those folks losing their jobs but they had to know that this wasn't a forever job when they signed on. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Spokesman for one of the Texas RR commissioners on how SpaceX is falling behind: https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/426463-is-the-space-industry-moving-beyond-spacex?amp&__twitter_impression=true

Weird opinion piece.   SpaceX May eventually be passed by others but I don’t see them in danger yet, and I’m a big fan of blue origin. 

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I hadn't really checked or kept abreast of this, as I thought it had been cancelled early on by the previous administration, but it appears that NASA is continuing forward with their Orion system and still look to take it to the moon and mars. It is currently a joint effort between NASA and the ESA. What, if any, impact this has on SpaceX I cannot say. My guess is not much in the big scheme of things.

Doesn't look like a manned test is expected for at least 2 years, if not closer to 4, in 2023.

Edited by thunderlounge
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  • 4 weeks later...

SpaceX to launch first commercial moon mission Thursday:

 

https://www.apnews.com/76bc9dbc1b1e4d8b94afa919468177bb

Quote

First private Israel lunar mission to be launched this week

RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — A nonprofit Israeli consortium said Monday that it hopes to make history this week by launching the first private aircraft to land on the moon.

SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries told a news conference that the landing craft — dubbed “Beresheet,” or Genesis — will take off from Florida, propelled by a SpaceX Falcon rocket on its weekslong voyage to the moon.

The launch is scheduled late Thursday in the United States, early Friday in Israel. It had been originally slated for last December.

SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby and Opher Doron, general manager of the IAI’s space division, said the spacecraft will slingshot around the Earth at least six times in order to reach the moon and land on its surface on April 11.

If the SpaceIL mission is successful, Israel will become the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the Soviet Union, United States and China.

SpaceIL has attempted to drum up public excitement for the lunar mission in Israel in recent months, visiting classrooms around the country and sponsoring television advertisements that put Israel on par with global powers.

The small craft, roughly the size of a washing machine, is equipped with instruments to measure the moon’s magnetic field, as well as a copy of the Bible microscopically etched on a small metal disc.

Israel’s space program chief Avi Blasberger said he hopes SpaceIL will create a “Beresheet effect” in Israel, akin to the Apollo effect, to promote science among a new generation.

SpaceIL was founded in 2011 and originally competed for Google’s Lunar Xprize, which challenged private companies to try to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon. But the $20 million competition was scrapped by the tech giant last year when it became clear none of the five companies would meet a preset deadline.

The SpaceIL project has ballooned in cost over the years to around $100 million, financed largely by South African-Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and other donors from around the world.

Kahn said he believes that “every Jew, not only every Israeli, will remember where he was when Israel landed on the moon.”

 

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On 2/19/2019 at 9:45 AM, smokebomb said:

The small craft, roughly the size of a washing machine, is equipped with instruments to measure the moon’s magnetic field, as well as a copy of the Bible microscopically etched on a small metal disc

Way to bring Religion into space you assholes 

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On 10/1/2018 at 3:51 AM, BNB said:

I started playing this video game Star Control.  There is an easter egg early on where you find a Tesla roadster on a planet.

ap_space_spacex_new_rocket_97189852.jpg?

Wait... what? Star Control has a new sequel? Are Ford and Reiche involved?

 

Edit: No, but I see they got at least two of the SC2 composers, including an old friends of mine, and I used to hang out with Wardell and Bucholz on a message board for about ten years, ten years ago...

Edited by Rimbo
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10 hours ago, MrPhlegm said:

And Dragon is hard docked to ISS. Awesome to be able to watch in real time. Way cool. Every bit as cool as watching Gemini and Agena docking.

Video of the docking: 

 

Edited by smokebomb
Added NASA link of docking.
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