Spacefarer's Guide to Getting off this Planet

[cobl04]

He has the privilege of not being driven by money, because he's very rich and was born to rich parents. He's done some good things for sure. But his slide into unhingedness has been very, very ugly.

[dazzledbylight]

I'd agree w this.

[LuckyNumber7]

All it takes is a reminder that Boeing. Lockheed Martin, GM, Ford, blah blah blah blah blah all exist and were tremendously okay with changing the front bumper each year (or flat out not changing the product at all for 20 years) to remind yourself that Elon Musk, though an egomaniac, has a vision for his products that is appreciable and if someone is allowed to have an ego, it’s him. We are owned by corporations, and his corporate policies are in favor of changing that. We have a dying planet, and legitimately every single one of his companies has a forward thinking and successful green technological plan in place.

No matter how much of a piece of shit his ego makes him, just always remind yourself that a world without him just meant no forward thinking technology for the better of humans.

[cobl04]

I agree for the most part... but only very rich people can afford to buy a Tesla, and as much as I wish they would, I don't think the average American (at least the average Australian anyway) who is trying to feed their family and live a good life gives a fuck about self-landing rockets or moving to Mars. I also vehemently disagree with your last statement. There are millions of people out there with ideas for forward-thinking technology and solutions (a lot of them unable to do anything with their ideas because they're not white and not rich), and the hole would have been filled were there no Musk.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by cobl04

I agree for the most part... but only very rich people can afford to buy a Tesla, and as much as I wish they would, I don't think the average American (at least the average Australian anyway) who is trying to feed their family and live a good life gives a fuck about self-landing rockets or moving to Mars. I also vehemently disagree with your last statement. There are millions of people out there with ideas for forward-thinking technology and solutions (a lot of them unable to do anything with their ideas because they're not white and not rich), and the hole would have been filled were there no Musk.

Only very rich people can afford to buy a Tesla? It’s a $35,000 car. You have to be well off to afford that right now sure, but you realize it used to be twice the price? To develop technology like tesla and be able to meet demand means you need money. Selling them as luxury cars first and continue to lower the price is sheer brilliance. Making an electric car sporty and cool is brilliance. People *want* Teslas. You know what has a branding for a certain kind of person? A Prius. You know who curbs technology to suit their profit motives? Toyota. For the record, a Prius is a $25,000 car. Tesla’s biggest failure as a company was its ability to meet demand. The future of Tesla very much so has cheaper costing technology... in order to get there you need to be able to produce on a mass scale. Something Tesla can’t do, and something their competitors have done everything they can to stop them from doing. So, for now, the cost of the car is already cheaper than the economic class it provides for and they can’t make enough.

Anywho, Tesla isn’t his only schtick. Don’t forget about SolarCity and the ambition of renewable home energy. And hyperloop, which could revolutionize large regional travel (currently dominated by air travel in the US and Australia). And then there’s SpaceX. You genuinely cannot make some claim that average people don’t care about a rocket landing itself. That’s an apple and an orange. SpaceX has the potential to revolutionize long distance travel in a renewable format, and that impacts all humanity.

As for my comment that you vehemently disagree with, I’m sorry but that’s flat out ridiculous. First, I was talking about big companies like Boeing and SpaceX. You don’t get a SpaceX just because someone had a good idea. Without someone having a lot of money and a lot of ambition (willing to take massive risks) SpaceX never exists, because the monopoly already existed in near 11-figure companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. You can’t stand up to those companies without money. You can’t stand up to Ford and GM and Toyota and BMW and Mercedes-Benz without money.

The notion of thinking that “the hole would have been filled” is ridiculous. It takes a government or another rich person to beat the rich people. Most governments are incompetent and most rich people are rich because they operate a business the way a business operates best - with turning over profit as much as possible. Tell me, why do you think companies like Boeing and Lockheed are so successful? They have no person who answers for them. The evil deeds they commit are tied to the fact that their motives are profits and profits alone, and there is no morality associated with a company. Unless it’s economically more beneficial to go green, it’s worthless.

Elon Musk scares the shit out of his investors. His own boards try to shut him up all the time. In order to break the monopoly, you need someone like that. I’m rambling at this point, but whatever. Just because the guy is an asshole doesn’t mean he’s a big conman Richard Branson.

[DaveC]

i appreciate that spacex is far less entwined with the US military as boeing and lockheed are, and vastly prefer that spacex is the first to do these things with the cringiest bit being that they're driving a tesla to the launchpad, rather than it being a boeing rocket with "US SPACE FORCE" emblazoned on all sides of every stage.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

Elon Musk scares the shit out of his investors. His own boards try to shut him up all the time. In order to break the monopoly, you need someone like that. I’m rambling at this point, but whatever. Just because the guy is an asshole doesn’t mean he’s a big conman Richard Branson.

He scares the shit out of them because he behaves in contravention to the most basic securities laws which has in a number of cases caused wild fluctuation in Tesla stock - something that is bad for shareholders and which is routinely investigated and prosecuted. He has also been investigated a few times but the SEC also struck a deal with him which in my view is ridiculous and not extended to other executive officers of other companies.

He has blatant disregard for his shareholders, and let’s not immediately think it’s just rich guys - investment and pension funds hold a lot of stock belonging to “little people” who are hurt when this asshole opens up his yap on Twitter that his stock should be worth less (absolutely not allowed) and it then plunged. If you were a shareholder, or an investor, you bet your ass that would “drive you crazy”. This is jut one example of many where his privileges CEO status allows him to behave as he does.

I think that he obviously is very good at continuously inventing and pushing boundaries and has great entrepreneurial spirit but he is undisciplined and an asshole and exerts power inappropriately just like the other CEOs.

[Hewson]

But his kid has a cool name, one that will surely prevent him from being beat up at school.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by Hewson

But his kid has a cool name, one that will surely prevent him from being beat up at school.

Yeah, the next time somebody makes fun of a "Latoya", let's remember what rich white people name their kids.

[DaveC]

looks like they're gonna go today unless the weather takes a sudden turn for the worse 45ish minutes till launch...

[DaveC]

that was so cool. kinda surprised that rocket doesn't need any boosters at all.

i've been playing so much KSP lately that my first thought when the second stage separated away was "they don't have any way to terminate that debris, i hope it doesn't stay up there forever", neglecting to remember that LE orbits actually decay IRL

[Hewson]

Crap. Totally forgot about this today.
Replays just aren't as cool as live.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by DaveC

that was so cool. kinda surprised that rocket doesn't need any boosters at all.

i've been playing so much KSP lately that my first thought when the second stage separated away was "they don't have any way to terminate that debris, i hope it doesn't stay up there forever", neglecting to remember that LE orbits actually decay IRL

A typical wet mass space capsule is going to be like 10-12t. Typical super heavy launch vehicle like the Falcon 9 can do 20t to LEO. The difference is what lands the reusable rocket.

Keep in mind that rockets like the Falcon 9 and Atlas and Delta send stuff Mars all the time.

When I think of heavies, I think of GEO or SSO.

[dazzledbylight]

Oh, that was exciting! Only I missed the actual launch b/c I was screen grabbing images and it takes a few seconds to get back to live feed. I screen grabbed at about at "2" of the countdown, so when it came back it was in the air already. So I kept watching live saw the actual blastoff later. Still exciting!
Hopefully I can be up in time to see the ISS docking!

[MrsSpringsteen]

It was so cool, but I couldn't help but think that the timing seemed so inappropriate. Obviously I understand it just worked out that way. But especially with Trump there, it was like a bizarre planned attempt at distraction. Plus Trump probably thinks Musk is his bff, because ooh he defied lockdown.

I just wish I could blast off in that thing and never come back. So disgusted by everything here. Space has never seemed more appealing.

[cobl04]

Q - I keep reading that this is the first time Americans have blasted into space in nearly a decade - but there's been a heap of American astronauts on the ISS in that time hasn't there?

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by cobl04

Q - I keep reading that this is the first time Americans have blasted into space in nearly a decade - but there's been a heap of American astronauts on the ISS in that time hasn't there?

We've had to send them up on Russian ships at a cost of around $85-90 Million per trip since 2011.
Only cost us about $50 Million with Mr. Grimes' outfit.

[LuckyNumber7]

The Americans and Russians have worked cooperatively in space for decades.

[cobl04]

ah I see, thanks!

[dazzledbylight]

31 days till the new Mars Rover = Perseverance takes off! 7/20
Annnnd
they're going try out first time Helicopter = Ingenuity!
W0000t!!! Try for 3 flights.

Just finished watching NASA news conference!