StrandedonEarth

Thanks! Oh yeah, and HUZZAH! for number 10! See, these F9 launches and landings all the time are starting to get routine and boring, which is a good thing, really. Which is why the Starship program is going, to keep things spicy. Hopefully, SS/SH ops will become routine and boring in five more years. But the spicy must flow, in the form of Mun, Duna, Moon, Mars, and asteroid ops.

My 10 cents (2 cents adj. for inflation) on the asteroid mining economics: Here in BC (British Columbia, not Boca Chica), we have rich resources nestled in the mountains and valleys, carpeted by softwood rainforests. But mining project after mining project has been cancelled due to environmental opposition, not that I can blame them given the pristine watersheds that stand to be spoiled. As the cost of satisfying such opposition rises and the cost of space access falls, asteroid mining becomes more and more attractive.

I'm going to assume this simulation was not done in KSP...

I have to wonder if the edge-of-the-pad landing was a result of the wind. It blew the smoke/steam away from the landing site fairly quickly.

True. This time it didn't break the ground at all.

Hmmm, yes, considering vacuum tubes have glowy hot insides, the temperature shouldn't be a problem. The pressure, on the other hand, will require pretty thick glass on those tubes!

Vent flaring?

Are they gonna get that fire out this time?

Awesome flight! Now is anyone else trying to rotate the screen to get a better look at that little fire?

So, videos and pics will upload at 1 baud?

The only thing I’ve seen metastable metallic hydrogen be good for is “forum fission”

Yeah, I was thinking that, as long as an electrician is coming in, may as well.... Those may be a little slow for my commute, but at least I could move the traffic jams out of the way...

In my case it’s more of a “cost-plus leeches bad” POV. Granted, Starliner won a commercial contract, but it seems that Boeing isn’t putting much resources into getting it flying sooner than later.

Of course, part of making that post was convincing myself that I shouldn't do it, at least not yet. And the two votes so far to stand pat back that up. So I really need to follow the advice I gave my newly-out-on-her-own stepdaughter when she was pondering financing a new car: throw the money I would be spending on payments into a savings account, to see if we can hack it. Then if I do decide to pull the trigger, we'll have saved that much already. Which my wife will then decide to spend on a trip to Florida. She wants DisneyWorld and I want Kennedy, of course. If I wait, and gas prices spike, while used EV availability may plummet, new vehicles should still be available, although the wait list may grow. Right now, ordering a new M3 has a wait time of 6-9 weeks, according to the website. *sigh* I need to postpone this particular dream...

I want an EV. Do I need an EV? Do I even need to replace my 09 Yaris, currently pulling 6.xL/100km for my 100km(round trip)/120kph highway commute? It has about ~250Mm on the clock. For a Toyota, that's just about broken in Nope to both. But I want one anyways. Call it a mid-life crisis want. The old stereotype is buying a Porsche. I want an electric car. So let's have a look... So first, a little background.... So let's look at some numbers: While I haven't been tracking fuel too closely, I'd say the car burns 40-50L/wk with work and other errands. When Covid hit my 2-man carpool broke up, but the price of gas crashed, so that hit wasn't too bad. But now gas is tracking back to historical highs in this region (we consistently get gouged at the pump here. it's often reported that we are paying more than market conditions would indicate, but it continues) While not back to $1.50/l yet, it's been at $1.48/L last week, so it's foreseeable. and it's a nice, round number, so let's go with that. My car seems to be tracking the high 6.xL/100km these days, although I thought it used to be closer to 6. Maybe I'm driving my average highway speed has been faster, or the car is older, dunno. So say my 100km trip to work is likely to cost me >$10/day or $220/mo in fuel. Not including other errands, such as a nightly short jaunt to the school for our mountain labernese to have her run. The engine is usually cold, so it's burning a disproportionate amount of gas for that short trip. A gas wrinkle: Hydro: I see efficiencies of 25-30kWh/100mi thrown around. Choosing 30 for roundness and worst-case estimating, that's roughly 18kWh/100km. Round up to 20kWh from the meter and a 2nd tier hydro rate of over $0.14/kWh (call it 15. Billing here is two-tier instead of ToD, which I think would be better esp. with an EV) or $3/100km, which compares favorably with $10.50/100km. Not including insurance or maintenance. I still need to get insurance quotes, but maintenance should be big savings. But the energy savings alone should amount to at least $7/day or $154/mo savings just on energy for commuting. Hmm, maybe not as big a savings as I hoped. Maybe if I can con my boss into installing a charger so I can charge for free at work... Another wrinkle: Now let's see what's available. Of course I want a Tesla, but at first glance that's way out of my price range. From what I've gathered so far, the Chevy Bolt is the next best thing, and I've chosen to ignore the others for now as I was raised on Chevy and they've led the traditional automaker's tortoise race to useable full electrification. And at a cursory glance the Bolt is slightly less expensive than the others. As for pricing (Cdn$): Well, the smartest (read: less expensive overall) thing to do if I insist on an electric car would be to buy a used Bolt. But If I'm spending this kind of money (that I don't have to) I may as well make it worthwhile, and I would want nothing less than the Premier trim w/ the optional (this safety stuff should NOT be optional IMO, especially at a list price of under $1k for the option) auto-braking, lane-keeping, pedestrian-braking etc. Especially with a new driver in an expensive vehicle. That cuts down on the used Bolts I see in the Fraser Valley region on CarGurus quite a bit, but there are some, depending how far I want to go. I see around (depending on mileage) $27k for a fully loaded 2017 Bolt. But total price isn't everything, right, what about the payments? The "informational purposes only" financing calculators say for a typical used-car financing term of 60months gives a monthly payment of ~$500, or a 72month for $420. Which is about $350/mo (or less) after fuel savings for the 60mo term, not including trade-in (2k if I'm lucky? No idea really). But wait! With new-car financing terms of 96 months, a brand-new Bolt, going for ~$43k after 8k in govt rebates and some advertised $2k dealer rebates, has a monthly payment still around $500/mo. I'm just in hock for a 8 years (again) with a new vehicle, instead of 5 years with a used one, or until we refinance the mortgage again. But wait! If I'm creeping up to $43k, well, that's about where used Model 3s are starting. But that's back to used car financing terms of 60-72 months, with a payment over $700/mo. Nope, too rich for me now. So much for that dream. I'll just dream over to the Tesla site..... Waitaminute.... Again with rebates, an SR+ is in the same price range as a Bolt? $7500 down will get me a new Model 3 SR+ for $548/mo?? Over 8 years, of course, but, now I'm drooling... Not that we expect to have that much of a down payment, but it is do-able.... After fuel and other savings, the net cost should be under $400/mo. Still high but not much more than a Bolt, aside from the down payment. That puts a Tesla actually in plausible reach... As long as I'm dreaming, let's see, a Model 3 AWD w/FSD works out to a payment of over $800 *sigh* yup, firmly in dreamland now.... So here I am, conflicted. I shouldn't even consider buying another vehicle, let alone financing one. But deep down, I badly want an electric car, ideally a Tesla, but I certainly don't need one. At least writing this post forced me to do a little more research, such as electricity cost. So my off-the-top-of-my-head estimated fuel savings of $250/mo becomes a (lowballed; I may save more) net energy cost savings closer to $150, depending on fuel prices. If fuel prices skyrocket, I'll look like a genius. Regardless, ICE vehicles will be mostly obsolete (there will always be a valid, if rare, use case for ICE, IMO) sooner or later, probably sooner. So, what are people's thoughts on my conundrum? Opinions on various EVs? I gotta go for now, but I'll put up a poll soon.

Sounds about right to me, with my limited knowledge

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. SpaceX also protested when they lost a bid, but at least then SpceX had a leg to stand on. BO and Dynetics dont

Sooooooo... Aquatar?

And liquid fuels are portable in ways raw electricity is not. Much easier to refuel a car than recharge a car when it runs out of energy in the middle of nowhere. At night.

Uopn further reflection: 1) Yup 2) Yup. But... 3) Ignoring historical costs, what is the contracted price for this contract? 4) How many Atlas Vs do they have in inventory? Apparently this order eats up most of their inventory. clearing the way for Vulcan

Don’t forget Beagle and Mars Climate Observer. So they can be fixed up and sent to Io or something

It occurs to me that Starship has the size to capture a small asteroid all on its own, bring it back, and provide a shirtsleeve environment to examine it.... Dv requirements are another matter...

Price not an issue? Then probably, depending on the propellants, for a rocket body. But steel retains its strength over a much larger temperature range than CF, meaning a reentry vehicle would need more thermal protection. But as SpaceX noticed, CF cost ten times more; needs an autoclave to cure (as I understand it) and the scrap is garbage. Steel is easily recycled and much more machinable/weldable.