Falcon Heavy (page 4)

Finkelstein

I would call this event genius and savvy marketing for Tesla Inc. by Musk

Now the share holders in this company might have a different view or opinion.

Outahere

Simon, forget OR. Embrace the power of AND.

Outahere

Really? Why be a douche and make this somehow political? Since, however, you want to be political it was a replican president who ended the shuttle program and pushed for the private sector to take up the cause of sending payloads into space. Your welcome.

Barack Obama deserves a lot of credit for changing the paradigm as does his NASA admin Charles Bolden.

Fair enough, logic, but that seemed more like a response to you calling him an idiot not simon viewing the space program through a political lense. In either case you and i agree the falcon and related tech is pretty damned awesome

_Morpheus

I agree, outta here, at least on general bolden. In the realm of revealing way to much about myself, i spoke to general bolden at length on this (we shared a common interest in motorcycles and one thing lead to another) and he was passionate about the shift to the private sector. Thats said, bush 100% started the move and ended the shuttle program (prematurely imho). I cant speak on president obamas views beyond the fact that he let general bolden push the agenda forward.

Simon

Please see Simons first post. I'm NOT the one who made it political.

Did I make it politicial? Here is my first post:

While it's interesting from a science point of view and human achievement, this notion that we need to go to Mars is silly and we shouldn't be burning up Earth's resources to do it. We have the best planet imaginable, we should look after it better.

Struggling to find the politics in that - I find it's better to back up a claim, such as someone being an "idiot", with some evidence. Who's the idiot now?

Nope. It's not "just a rocket that landed." It's the implications of re-usability. It's the cost reduction. It's much larger payloads. It's a technology demonstrator for dozens of motors on a single rocket. It's a pathway to the Interplanetary Transport System (BFR). It's the ability to put up giant space telescopes. Etc. Etc. Etc.

"Just a rocket landed" folks, this is what happens when your mind is vandalized by Fox News. You learn to disparage accomplishments by dismissing them as simplistic and insignificant. And you corrupt hope and optimism - with cynicism and distrust.

Apart from the fact that cost reduction is happening in general as time goes on and that NASA will be launching another, bigger, rocket shortly, it really does come down to it being "rockets that landed" as everything else has been done before and could already be done. Elon Musk is developing the same reality distortion field as Steve Jobs, I think they both have an element of P.T.Barnum about them.

But it's another perfect and clear demonstration of what I also claimed - if you voice disagreement about politics with a leftists then all they can do is try to attack anything and everything you then say and try and twist it to be political. They can't argue their politics so they resort to personal insults for anything else you say.

This, folks, is what happens when you voice your objection to leftist ideologies. You are then attacked for any opinion, even the most sensible ones imaginable - such as "wouldn't looking after the earth be the best thing to do". Ironically, a principle that the left shares (in theory) but then they can't help but object to anything that anyone they have labelled 'conservative' says.

Thanks for proving my points perfectly Pinochio. I wonder what string I should pull next ...

My prediction: more insults and attempts to be deleted so he can cry off somewhere claiming "Simon deleted me because my politics were just too convincing for him. Whaaaah"

_Morpheus

Apart from the fact that cost reduction is happening in general as time goes on and that NASA will be launching another, bigger, rocket shortly, it really does come down to it being "rockets that landed" as everything else has been done before and could already be done

I dont disagree. The space shuttle was already reusable, the differance being the boosters had to be recovered. With the space x rockets they return to point of launch. Im also not sure if there is less refurbishing with the space x Boosters. The lift capacity of the falcon exceeds the shuttle by about 5k pounds, so considering its ablity to lift more and land its efficiency is considerably greater

WhatshallIcallmyself

Innovation is how technology progresses. Regardless of whether this venture works or not it is certainly true that this is getting people talking about going back into space. And if it becomes popular enough then governments will also start talking about it. So from that point of view yes this venture is worth the resources spent on it.

It's also good for us as a species. We have all our eggs in one basket at the moment and as of yet no way of making more baskets. One unlucky hit from space, Yellowstone going nova or any other of the many and varied geological ways of changing our environment and it is lights out for us all.

There are problems that need dealing with down here, that is true but maybe if we all stopped being so inward looking and started looking towards that next frontier we might all start to get along a little better. It will also slam another nail to the coffin of the Abraham religions...

Coded Logic

Apart from the fact that cost reduction is happening in general as time goes on and that NASA will be launching another, bigger, rocket shortly, it really does come down to it being "rockets that landed" as everything else has been done before and could already be done.

It's true the SLS will be more powerful. However, it will launch, at most, once per year. And at a cost of over a billion dollars per launch. Compared to the Falcon Heavy, which will be able to launch dozens of times a year at less than 1/10th the cost.

Full and rapid re-usability is something we've never seen before. Not even in the Space Shuttle. The next two or three years are going to be very interesting. And the upcoming BFR is going to be a further game changer. We're going to be able to launch payloads with near the mass of the entire ISS - in one go. And send 100 people to land on Mars in a single launch.

Until yesterday, everything in orbit cost nearly it's weight in gold. Now it will cost a fraction of that. In ten years time reaching Low Earth Orbit wont cost much more than a first class plane ticket. The importance of re-usability cannot be overstated.

Outahere

I agree, outta here, at least on general bolden. In the realm of revealing way to much about myself, i spoke to general bolden at length on this (we shared a common interest in motorcycles and one thing lead to another) and he was passionate about the shift to the private sector. Thats said, bush 100% started the move and ended the shuttle program (prematurely imho). I cant speak on president obamas views beyond the fact that he let general bolden push the agenda forward.
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I'm connected to him too..even met him...soooo hmmm.

Falcon Heavy

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