How to avoid BFR in writing (somewhat hard) Sci-Fi

[NSEP]

BFR is cool and all, but its so good and overpowered of a concept that it just ruins some of my Sci-Fi projects. There is no point in doing your own (rather basic, not real stuff of course) rocket science anymore, the BFR has anything a person can ask for, it has a high payload mass, its cheap, its high in volume, it can refuel, it can get nearly anywhere in the solar system, and so on.

You could bring up the "But BFR isn't likely to go anywhere anyways so uhhhh" argument here, but we are talking Sci-Fi here, not real-life. The last thing i myself, and probably many other Sci-Fi writers want in their Sci-Fi are budget cuts and space-shuttle like flops.

So how the word am i supposed to avoid it while writing Sci-Fi? 

(don't take this thread 100% seriously, i am not a rocket scientist, just a random dude who likes math and space and plays alot of KSP Realism Overhaul)

[Kernel Kraken]

If Congress hadn't basically shut NASA down in the 70's, we would have definitely gotten farther. 60's stuff it is!

[Bill Phil]

One idea I like is to be in the future where there's a spacecraft junkyard and there's a bunch of BFRs there. Maybe the protagonist finds one that happens to be functional?

Eventually chemical rockets won't really be as effective a method of transport. And there's no reason that other space companies won't do something altogether similar.

One thing could be that the BFR, as great as it is, simply can't keep up with demand on its own, and so they end up building a launch loop or something to increase supply (the service being payload launches) and then you can describe the fall of the rocket as the main method of launching payloads or something.

[cubinator]

What if BFR actually isn't perfect? An Apollo 13-esque incident in interplanetary space would make for an interesting story. There are plenty of systems that can fail.

BFR would be used to construct large planetary and asteroid bases, and orbital-assembly spaceships that will make for new scenarios and challenges. Focus on those space operations if you don't want to focus on BFR.

Other space companies will try to come up with competitors to BFR, and we'll end up with something like the airliner industry, where there are a number of manufacturers producing their own vehicles that are largely the same in principle.

 

[kerbiloid]

(Caution. Musk fans should not open.)

Spoiler

"Since the cancellation of the SpaceX's BFprogram after the failed first flight with twenty tourists still hanging out somewhere between the Earth and the Moon, and financial problems of the electric cars company, the humanity was expecting a new space ocean liner.

Not an F-ship, but an S-ship. A Big Safe Ship."

 

[YNM]

Make Von Braun's dream real.

[KSK]

Personal opinion but sci-fi can be as much about the social changes that technology enables or prevents, or about hard decisions that are imposed by technology, rather than the technology itself. Tech for tech's sake is fairly dull, the human story behind that tech, or their struggle to create it, makes for a much more interesting story.

Embrace the BFR. You have a very-near-to-future, plausible way of travelling to almost anywhere in the Solar System. For a hard sci-fi story that's an absolute gift because it gives you realism and scope for story telling. Plus the design for the actual BFR (as opposed to its proposed mission architectures) is still in flux, so you don't have to stick to the SpaceX renders for inspiration as to what your BFR-alike looks like.

If it really doesn't fit with your projects, I vote for rocketpunk and NERVAs

[DAL59]

22 hours ago, NSEP said:

BFR is cool and all, but its so good and overpowered of a concept that it just ruins some of my Sci-Fi projects. There is no point in doing your own (rather basic, not real stuff of course) rocket science anymore, the BFR has anything a person can ask for, it has a high payload mass, its cheap, its high in volume, it can refuel, it can get nearly anywhere in the solar system, and so on.

You could bring up the "But BFR isn't likely to go anywhere anyways so uhhhh" argument here, but we are talking Sci-Fi here, not real-life. The last thing i myself, and probably many other Sci-Fi writers want in their Sci-Fi are budget cuts and space-shuttle like flops.

So how the word am i supposed to avoid it while writing Sci-Fi? 

(don't take this thread 100% seriously, i am not a rocket scientist, just a random dude who likes math and space and plays alot of KSP Realism Overhaul)

As long as you don't actually call it the BFR, its not copyrighted.  SpaceX isn't going to sue you for promoting their rocket.

[Spaceception]

Funnily enough, I have a near-future alien invasion story idea, where I'm thinking of using the BFR concept as a part of it Like @KSK said, I'm embracing it; and they will be retrofitted to become battleships  

That or it will be used to quickly construct battleships for LEO, LLO, and LMO.

[Ultimate Steve]

Musk and Shotwell die in an accident, and there is nobody good enough to replace them. SpaceX is still successful with the Falcon family but they don't quite hit their price/reusability targets and BFR never materializes.

[IncongruousGoat]

Just set your story in the world of Eyes Turned Skywards. That way, you can have your reusable rocket cake, plus some proper space infrastructure and a NASA with some actual launch vehicle experience in the 2010's, without having even a whiff of SpaceX or BFR.

Either that, or just embrace BFR. Cheap launch lets you do so much cool stuff, even in the bounds of hard sci-fi. Run with it. Build 2001-style orbital habitats. Colonize the solar system. Move a million people to Mars. Outer space is your cheap, cheap oyster.

[Nightside]

The first flight of the BFR failed, and the project continued but also had several additional setbacks. It was a huge money sink, drawing SpaceX to the brink of bankruptcy. By that point the Falcon 9/Heavy were the primary US launch carriers and so NASA was forced to step in to help fund and manage the BFR, thereafter the project was perpetually 4 years from its next milestone and eventually faded into obscurity.

Spoiler

The BFR is still less real than the SLS. There is no guarantee that it will work as advertised. It may end up with a much smaller payload capacity or never be safe enough to fly humans.

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by Nightside

[YNM]

13 hours ago, KSK said:

Embrace the BFR

At which point people will just rush to make bigger stuff than BFR. And then it's just massively expanded reusable Saturn MLV/Nova.

Not much different IMO. BFR will be just a pioneer.

 

In any case, make Von Braun's dream real.

[ChrisSpace]

On 7 October 2018 at 9:33 AM, NSEP said:

the BFR has anything a person can ask for, it has a high payload mass, its cheap, its high in volume, it can refuel, it can get nearly anywhere in the solar system, and so on

Hmm, I wouldn't say it's perfect:

- While 100 metric tons to LEO sounds impressive, and it is, it isn't really much compared to how heavy man aspects of sci-fi infrastructure is. A c.500-ton-to-LEO launch vehicle such as the ITS or Sea Dragon could launch any reasonable payload, though.

- It's cheap compared to, say, the Saturn V or N1, but compared to a similarly-sized yacht/plane/submarine it's actually rather expensive.

- It isn't an SSTO, and it needs it's extra booster stage to reach LEO. And it needs to be refilled in LEO to deliver it's 100-ton payload to the moon or Mars.

- Yes, it can go almost anywhere in the solar system if it refuels in Low Mars Orbit, but only if you're willing to spend years and years inside it. For the same reason that SpaceX dropped the plan to send a FH-Dragon combination around the moon, you wouldn't want to send a single BFR to Saturn.

On 7 October 2018 at 11:02 AM, Bill Phil said:

One idea I like is to be in the future where there's a spacecraft junkyard and there's a bunch of BFRs there. Maybe the protagonist finds one that happens to be functional?

Eventually chemical rockets won't really be as effective a method of transport. And there's no reason that other space companies won't do something altogether similar.

One thing could be that the BFR, as great as it is, simply can't keep up with demand on its own, and so they end up building a launch loop or something to increase supply (the service being payload launches) and then you can describe the fall of the rocket as the main method of launching payloads or something.

Precisely. I already have info on the economics of alternative methods to reach Mars, and on alternate orbital launch systems.

4 hours ago, Spaceception said:

Funnily enough, I have a near-future alien invasion story idea, where I'm thinking of using the BFR concept as a part of it

Now this here is something I'd like to see.

[kerbiloid]

Just keep postponing the BFR maiden launch.
They always do that.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

I'd design something of your own on paper, even if you're inspired by the BFR it probably won't be very similar. Personally, I prefer 60's designs with everything super specialized, but you may find that using NTRs will result in even more overpowered concepts. Possibly some kind of rules on where NTRs can fly will help with that.

[Kernel Kraken]

On 10/7/2018 at 2:07 AM, YNM said:

Make Von Braun's dream real.

Yes.

This.

Very this.

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

 

36 minutes ago, Kernel Kraken said:

On 10/7/2018 at 10:07 AM, YNM said:

Make Von Braun's dream real.

Yes.

This.

Very this.

To get some money for Max and Moritz?

 

 

[YNM]

@kerbiloid I was thinking more on Saturn MLVs, Nova etc.

You could either improve them (say, set them in the 80s) or just do it as-is. Or idk, make up some made-up reason as to why you would jump on those horses. Say, aliens ?

Though TBH Von Braun's dream is just "man on other space bodies" at it's core.

[kerbiloid]

An alternative history: Delta Clipper hasn't been cancelled, SpaceX has never appeared.

[Kernel Kraken]

Project: Orion (the one where they planned to nuke ourselves into space)(you probably already knew what it was but there's like twenty project Orion's)

But it's a good idea.

[DAL59]

The BFR but with nuclear gas core engines.   

[Kernel Kraken]

Elon Musk is assassinated by Jeff Bezoz to remove competition then Amazon is broken up and whatever Jeff's rocket company is called is destroyed.

Boom, no more SpaceX!

[kerbiloid]

Describe the passengers who got feral in a BFS lost and orbiting between Mars and Earth.

So, they know no BFS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky

[NSEP]

On 10/14/2018 at 8:59 PM, DAL59 said:

The BFR but with nuclear gas core engines.   

That sounds very statisfying.

I actually like the idea of expanding the BFR-verse rather than completely destroying it.