StrandedonEarth

E: ya know, with my lousy eyes, it's easy to read "Main St" as "Maw St," and it makes sense in that context too!

A little perspective....

When you have welds like this, absolutely yes! (F1 gimbal mount)

Hmm, yes, not to mention cold-rolled steel is work-hardened, which makes it tougher. Can't get that with a 3d print

Tooling, no, but if they had to build a new smelter/foundry to feed such large tooling, I would expect that to run 8-9 digits. And the basic 9m diameter, stainless steel barrel design hasn't changed since it changed to steel. Although by the time they want to make such wide rolls, they may as well run the steel straight from the rollers to the tube-former and skip the hassle of forming and transporting extremely long rolls of stainless steel sheet. It might make sense once they have a finalized design to start cranking out Starship and SH boosters, although the tooling to form tubes that large would also be an expensive challenge. Now, if they could build a press to start stamping out bulkheads and nose parts, that would be another use for extra-wide rolls.

Well, yes, you get more production by having slaves do the work, instead of having the invading soldiers turn worker. Except slaves (especially human ones) have a nasty tendency to revolt... May I suggest Tales from the Man-Kzin War, vol X?

Well, it wouldn't be any different than making the current rolls they make now, just bigger. But I can imagine making a roll 30m (over 150' feet!) wide would require a whole new, huge smelter/foundry, which would probably cost in the billions, if not tens of billions

Again, I recommend reading Footfall by Larry&Jerry (Niven and Pournelle)

So now SpaceX is leaving parts for kerbals to find by the side of the road...

A month ago I was scorekeeping for half a day at the brand new ice rink in town (doesn't even have wifi yet). But I didn't notice until today that the ice resurfacing machine is not a Zamboni. It's an IceBear electric ice resurfacer made by Olympia. Not a propane tank in sight! I kinda miss that propane-exhaust smell... I think Tesla missed a niche here. They should at least try to supply batteries for the thing...

“They say the universe is made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons, but they keep forgetting the morons...” - unknown ”Of all the thing I’ve lost, it’s my mind I miss the most!” - ?

In conjunction with 'control from here'?

It seems my earlier guess-answer was correct. From https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-raptor-engine-test-stand-upgrade/

... "Galactic Sterilization Complete..."

Looks like he/she's sitting on a...

Oh, but they can. Red light cameras are increasingly common in Greater Vancouver, due to the stupid number of accidents caused by red-light-runners. Recently another feature of the cameras has been activated at some locations: full-time speed cameras, active even when the light is green. Photo-tickets are mailed out. Some people complain that the actual driver isn't being ticketed, but IMO the vehicle's owner is responsible for who drives it. So the tech is there, but the political will is not. AFAIK urban speed limits haven't changed in decades, while vehicle tech (not just the electronics) has evolved considerably. I see no reason why speed/red-light cameras cannot be installed at every traffic light, as long as traffic laws and speed limits are also revamped, and drivers have a clear understanding of what speed will trigger the cameras (atm they don't). Highways would simply need speedcams at strategic, accident prone locations, again with realistic speed limits. Mass production of cams would keep costs down, and they'd pay for themselves with reduced accident frequency. Driving in Alberta decades ago, I was told that sure, the police tolerate speeds 10-20kph above the speed limit on a certain highway. The province wouldn't raise the limit, because it's understood that people habitually speed over the posted limit, and the road wasn't safe at the speeds drivers would go if the limit was raised to the current normal speed of traffic. I imagine this logic is prevalent in many places. I find it frustrating trying to turn practically anywhere I go, since the speed of oncoming traffic can vary by as much as 50%. Naturally I err on the side of caution, and find myself missing many turning opportunities when traffic is moving slower than expected (only going the speed limit?!? What a rare concept!) Which brings me back on topic, sort of: tests with self-driving cars have shown that they tend to hold up traffic while waiting for a perfect turning opportunity, assuming oncoming traffic maintains their current speed. V2X communications would be a huge assist with this, as vehicles could directly signal other vehicles to adjust their speed slightly to allow a turn, which would allow traffic to flow more smoothly. Which is why Tesla needs to adopt V2X ASAP. And then traffic could flow like in India: Mods: my apologies for doing this to the thread (again)

Yes, but it’s a bigger fraction of 50 than 75. And I did say “over 70” It’s an easy stretch of road to get speeding on, but I limit myself to 70. And I slow down before the light and make every effort not to run red lights. Because that’s when collisions happen, often severe. On the highway, 120 in a 100 kph zone is generally accepted by police, but people go blowing by at 140 or more quite often, traffic permitting.

Well, I did say significantly, and I don’t consider 85 in a 75 to be significantly over. But I would consider 20 over to be significant, which is common in my area. Worse when people blow a red light at over 70kph in a 50kph zone, which regularly happens 50 feet from my driveway.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). In fact, the local provincial auto insurance monopoly, ICBC, offers a discount for vehicles with AEB. IMO, it should be mandated as standard equipment for all vehicles going forward. Even if a particular manufacturer's system is inferior, it's better than nothing. I don't think any FSD system (capable of rendering pedals and steering wheels redundant) can be operational without the infrastructure for V2X connectivity (vehicle to other vehicles as well as traffic monitoring and control) in place. I'd love to get into a discussion of how I think traffic control should be overhauled, which is long overdue, but that would require politics. But it certainly seems Tesla missed the boat by not monitoring for driver attentiveness. Odd that Autopilot allows cruise control to be set significantly higher than the posted speed limit.

I can imagine all the hurdles to clear to set up an F9 (and fairing?) LZs in Cuba, except there's probably ones I haven't imagined...

Since the engine (and supporting hardware and feed lines) will be mounted vertically, it wouldn't have to handle the loads associated with a horizontal orientation? Also: