SpaceX just made history.

[mschmoyer]

I don't follow the situation..

So I assume he's had no luck with getting nasa to just turn over everything they know? They seem to be pretty good at getting stuff into orbit, and if he's saying he doesn't think it will make it that far, well there are some people you could ask.

"Hi uh, NASA, you can build rockets right?" -elon
"Well, we canned our shuttle because it was too expensive, unsafe, and not really reusable. But we outsource a few expensive, low-tech rockets!" -NASA
"Oh uh, well do you launch anything BIG?"
"We've been talking about building a big one for years now, but it's delayed due to technical issues and budget constraints, so no."
...

NASA is evolving into a payload company. Soon they'll be hitching rides and not building any rockets. They aren't the end-all-be-all of rocketry these days.

This is all a marketing ploy anyways. If you want the real, boring truth of it, this is a "demonstration" flight meant to test capabilities. You can't QA test a rocket in simulations forever. Best data gained by tossing one up with the expectation that everything will work, but also acknowledging thousands of unknowns.

[Sgt Beavis]

And someone edited a Saturn V into the SpaceX vid for scale.

That's pretty sweet..

[Strychnine]

Do we have a launch date for the triple dildo?

"Later this month" is the most specific I've seen. They'll do a static test fire on the pad first to test/verify all the processes, and if that goes well then a launch date will be set.


And someone edited a Saturn V into the SpaceX vid for scale.

[Sgt Beavis]

Do we have a launch date for the triple dildo?

[svauto-erotic855]

Wouldn't be a complete waste. Good marketing if he was ever able to get that car to the surface, on a flat area. The car would run fine on mars. And you could take it off some sweet jumps.

Make an ad that says "Do not attempt on earth"

To operate in a hard vacuum any system needs to designed around that operating environment. The coolant in a Tesla's battery pack would go away nearly instantly if it not freeze solid first and the individual cells themselves would freeze and split. Every bearing that has grease in the entire car would also have to be redesigned along with LCD anythings. Any mechanical switch that has tight tolerances would have to be redesigned. The tires would have to be replace with metal disc and the brakes hydraulic system would be a nightmare.

[Strychnine]

It's on the pad

"With more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff—equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft at full power—Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two."

https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/ExcitableAcidicHornshark

[Gasser64]

Mobile so can't repost, but look here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdA94kVgQhU/

Wouldn't be a complete waste. Good marketing if he was ever able to get that car to the surface, on a flat area. The car would run fine on mars. And you could take it off some sweet jumps.

Make an ad that says "Do not attempt on earth"

[Strychnine]

Mobile so can't repost, but look here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdA94kVgQhU/

[jw33]

just no...

[Gasser64]

I don't follow the situation..

So I assume he's had no luck with getting nasa to just turn over everything they know? They seem to be pretty good at getting stuff into orbit, and if he's saying he doesn't think it will make it that far, well there are some people you could ask.

[Sgt Beavis]

If he is so certain its going to blow up why not put it off work on tech a year or 2 versus BLOWing a few hundred million....if i was an investor I would be leary when the leader says it is not going to work

Did you see how many failures they had in trying to land their rockets? What was it, more than a dozen? Now SpaceX has the ONLY orbital grade booster that can be landed and reused. They are years ahead of the competition. The closest competitor is New Origin's rockets, which can be landed, but they aren't powerful enough for orbit.

[Strychnine]

If he is so certain its going to blow up why not put it off work on tech a year or 2 versus BLOWing a few hundred million....if i was an investor I would be leary when the leader says it is not going to work

Fail fast, learn faster. Or in Elon's words, "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."
Even if it does the RUD trick they'll end up with way more actionable information in a much shorter time. Doing it this way they'll make some big fireworks shows, but also probably have everything nailed down and doing revenue flights in that two year time.

And if you were building Mars rockets wouldn't you rather base future decisions on real world data, rather than estimations and best-guesses from simulations?


That's just how he rolls, and with the results they're getting I'd say he's doing ok

[zachary]

If he is so certain its going to blow up why not put it off work on tech a year or 2 versus BLOWing a few hundred million....if i was an investor I would be leary when the leader says it is not going to work

[Strychnine]

FWIW, gotta remember that even ol' Elon isn't too optimistic about this first flight.

Back in July he said there's a "good chance" that it won't make it to orbit, and followed up with “I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest.”

[Strychnine]