tater Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 7 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said: It's likely that Booster 4 will still use 29 engines, they already have its thrust structure on site (as you said) and it should be plenty for a launch without payload. True. Particularly as they are expending it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Well, this is interesting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Just now, CatastrophicFailure said: Well, this is interesting... Least it's just a reservation, not "I'm flying next week." Hopefully he said he'd do it after they land on Mars, the chance of a LOC event on that thing must exceed commercial crew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 2 minutes ago, tater said: Least it's just a reservation, not "I'm flying next week." Hopefully he said he'd do it after they land on Mars, the chance of a LOC event on that thing must exceed commercial crew. I expect he wouldn't use that ticket until SS2 has a significant commercial flight record behind it, indeed. Plus, as he and Branson are friends, he's likely privy to some engineering data the rest of us are not that maybe boosts his confidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said: I expect he wouldn't use that ticket until SS2 has a significant commercial flight record behind it, indeed. Plus, as he and Branson are friends, he's likely privy to some engineering data the rest of us are not that maybe boosts his confidence. SS3 is already made, I'm sure that gets some flights, and they have sold a bunch of tickets over the years, they must have a backlog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 4 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said: Well, this is interesting... That may be a class move... But foolish. Once Musk is no longer at the helm SX begins the slow but inevitable change into 'just another aerospace company'. His innovativen and willingness to accept failure is a woefully rare combination Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 2 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: That may be a class move... But foolish. Once Musk is no longer at the helm SX begins the slow but inevitable change into 'just another aerospace company'. His innovativen and willingness to accept failure is a woefully rare combination When was anything said about Musk leaving SpaceX? He's only booked a seat on a future Virgin Galactic flight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 7 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said: When was anything said about Musk leaving SpaceX? He's only booked a seat on a future Virgin Galactic flight. We were referring to the fact that a SpaceShip 2 (Two? Their naming seems as screwy as SpaceX version numbers) is pretty dangerous, and he could go for a joy ride and find himself dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealKerbal3x Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 8 minutes ago, tater said: We were referring to the fact that a SpaceShip 2 (Two? Their naming seems as screwy as SpaceX version numbers) is pretty dangerous, and he could go for a joy ride and find himself dead. Ah. Well, I hope that doesn't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 SN59 installation is ongoing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmuckatelli Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 12 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said: When was anything said about Musk leaving SpaceX? He's only booked a seat on a future Virgin Galactic flight. 3 minutes ago, tater said: ...he could go for a joy ride and find himself dead. This. Sounds fun. Kind of thing a Billionaire Playboy would want to do. Branson (afaik) does not have young kids. Musk does. Plus, his company is aggressively innovating. That is what I fear losing: the willingness to push hard and fail and keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 10 hours ago, tater said: Hi S20! Nice to meet you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beccab Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 9 minutes ago, Minmus Taster said: Hi S20! Nice to meet you It's likely that won't be a flight hardware, just a pathfinder. It doesn't have flap mounting points. Isn't the nosecone on the right, the one spotted some days ago with the heat tiles, the S20 one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 6 minutes ago, Beccab said: It's likely that won't be a flight hardware, just a pathfinder. It doesn't have flap mounting points. Isn't the nosecone on the right, the one spotted some days ago with the heat tiles, the S20 one? Hi Mystery nosecone 2.0! Nice to meet you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 6 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said: Branson (afaik) does not have young kids. Musk does. Plus, his company is aggressively innovating. That is what I fear losing: the willingness to push hard and fail and keep going. Yeah, I have to say atthis point in my life, similar age to Musk, I want someone around pushing this hard enough I actually get to see it. The Shuttle era practically cured me of my interest in spaceflight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 12 minutes ago, tater said: The Shuttle era practically cured me of my interest in spaceflight. We gonna dump on the shuttle now, can I join you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakaydos Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 20 minutes ago, Minmus Taster said: We gonna dump on the shuttle now, can I join you The shuttle was politically viable for the very reason it was economically dead- hordes of well paid goverment jobs in a number of different congressional districts. There still is no political will for derailing the gravy train, but rightwing tax cuts have given corporations power formerly reserved for nations, and a few are using that power to pursue space. in ways Congress will not allow NASA to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 (edited) Corporate taxes have zero impact on this, and businesses don't pay taxes anyway, their customers do via increased product costs. (the US corp tax rate 5 years ago was ~2X the rate in Europe, so presumably that means Europe was more "right wing" at that time?) Shuttle was really cool, and watching footage still gives me goosebumps, but it just went nowhere. It built ISS. OK, great. It should have built something else... anything else. Assemble a lunar tug, then start working in cislunar with that, perhaps. I'd be fine with STS as part of the System it was initially supposed to be part of. It sucked finite money out of NASA and we are where we are. Heck, I would have been fine with Shuttle C, or legitimate "Shuttle derived" follow-ons (vs SLS, which shares nothing but overpriced engines with Shuttle at this point). ObSpaceX: This guy has done good work, and many of his ideas based on parts delivered on how they might fit together have turned out to be correct: Edited July 12, 2021 by tater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakaydos Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 23 minutes ago, tater said: Corporate taxes have zero impact on this, and businesses don't pay taxes anyway, their customers do via increased product costs. (the US corp tax rate 5 years ago was ~2X the rate in Europe, so presumably that means Europe was more "right wing" at that time?) Shuttle was really cool, and watching footage still gives me goosebumps, but it just went nowhere. It built ISS. OK, great. It should have built something else... anything else. Assemble a lunar tug, then start working in cislunar with that, perhaps. I'd be fine with STS as part of the System it was initially supposed to be part of. It sucked finite money out of NASA and we are where we are. Heck, I would have been fine with Shuttle C, or legitimate "Shuttle derived" follow-ons (vs SLS, which shares nothing but overpriced engines with Shuttle at this point). This isn't "orang man bad", this is a comment on reganesque tax policy since Regan, including "centrists" like Clinton. Check up on the tax policy we had during the Apollo era. That was how america beat the soviets to the moon. But since it became a platform of the republican party to cut taxes, and cut services to pay for it (but only services for other people) there hasn't been budget for adventurous space projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Rakaydos said: This isn't "orang man bad", this is a comment on reganesque tax policy since Regan, including "centrists" like Clinton. Check up on the tax policy we had during the Apollo era. That was how america beat the soviets to the moon. But since it became a platform of the republican party to cut taxes, and cut services to pay for it (but only services for other people) there hasn't been budget for adventurous space projects. Literally none of this is true. You can look at US revenues by year, and they have grown in constant dollars (the dips near current time are after 9-11, and after the financial crisis): Tax policy had nothing at all to do with Apollo. Most US tax rev by far is income taxes and payroll taxes (FICA). When marginal rates change, collections don't change (they can rise or dip a year or two/three after a change, then they stabilize again—you can see Reagan there, elected 80, cuts in 81, take effect, then drop, then right back up again). It's not like anyone paid 90% tax, or 70% tax in the 60s, there were many more write offs, and the effective tax rates on the top end ended up if anything lower. The rates dropped, and so did all the write-offs. ObSpaceX: That's the stuff in that render vid Edited July 12, 2021 by tater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tater Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rakaydos Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 (Interesting... looks like the deflection point on your chart is the war on terror, or slightly earlier) I wonder if those "empty hexes" are deliberate, to test tile failure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minmus Taster Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Starhopper is is just waiting to be put in a meme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCgothic Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Cryo test Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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