Thanks guys,
I'll do my best to post 'em.
I won't post *every* launch; there's often several a week these days. But the ones above are, I think, notable. To me, it's like watching the future happen; chances are high that we'll have humans on the moon within 5 years, and Mars within 10.
Bonus links: SpaceX TESS static fire test yesterday (13 April), Indian launch from 12 April (both YouTube)
(, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 2:39, Share, Reply)
"chances are high that we'll have humans on the moon within 5 years, and Mars within 10."
Phrase of the year 1964
(, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 8:39, Share, Reply)
Fusion reactors are perpetually ten years away too.
(
wheresthefish Partly filled with wrong, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 9:30,
Share,
Reply)
You sure "Fusion reactors are perpetually ten years away"?
I know that's been the case, but... www.lindau-nobel.org/where-is-fusion-research-today/
Besides, what has this got to do with getting to Mars?
(, Sun 15 Apr 2018, 2:15, Share, Reply)
You're right, but that was gov budgets
SpaceX is making real, observable, fast progress. Lots of delays, of course; but progress all the same. April 2nd was only the second time a private company went to ISS; they are testing their capsule to carry people, and they are contractually obliged (with NASA) to get that going in 2019 - there's billions on the line, that even Musk can't afford to lose. BFR (the next-gen rocket) is being built; last week we saw the first picture of the huge machine for making the carbon-fibre core.
The current Falcon 9 ('block 4') can only be reused a few times (hence we've seen just a few landings), but block 5 should launch in May, and should be re-usable 100+ times.
Before SpaceX, nobody ever landed and reused a stage 1 rocket, now it's every couple weeks. They're working on recovering the fairing too - they tried to catch the last one, but the parachute failed and it snapped in half. But that's part of the process of test/improve. And then the BFR should be 100% reusable.
If at first you don't succeed...
(, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 11:51, Share, Reply)
I get how as a private company they can make money chucking things into space for other people, but how are they then intending to make a trip to Mars profitable? Tourism? Seems a bit far fetched. Is there some other revenue stream with Mars? I like space and rockets and stuff but I know bugger all about SpaceX'es's business model.
(, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 17:47, Share, Reply)
They're planning a satellite launcher version of BFR
Which will provide a handy revenue stream. SpaceX's goal with Mars isn't to provide the whole infrastructure, it's to provide the transport. The idea is that once you've proven you have a reliable method of getting there and back with a decent amount of cargo, people will find their own reasons for buying that ticket. Tourism will undoubtedly be a reason, as will exploration, and there's likely to be a queue of research institutions wanting tickets for their researchers. After that, who knows?
(
evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 20:52,
Share,
Reply)
2 short answers
I could write pages about that, but to keep it short,
1. Imagine the kudos they'd get; the publcity. Have you heard of a guy called Neil Armstrong? Heard of Apollo? In fact, it might make him as well remembered as Columbus. SpaceX could become the dominant space company for 100 years; if someone wants to launch things, who ya gonna call? Can you imagine the global audience watching people land on Mars - almost certainly the largest ever. How many times have you seen pictures of Apollo? Everyone has, for 50 years. Every newspaper, every TV station, books, movies... all about SpaceX.
2. Feel free to be sceptical, but I honestly don't think it's all about the money. While studying for PhD, Musk made an early 'city guide' website, which made him a multi-millionaire; he invested that to make Paypal, which made him a billionaire. He invested that in SpaceX, which was incredibly risky, and he could have lost almost everything. But at this point, he has so much that why worry - he can buy absolutely anything he may want, without it making a dent. He also has Tesla, and a bunch of other ventures. He could have made SpaceX public, for many billions, but said he'll hold off on that because he doesn't want a corporation just getting as much $ as possible from SpaceX (by launching commercial satellites, etc); he - personally - wants to go to Mars.
(, Sat 14 Apr 2018, 22:57, Share, Reply)