That isna terrible name for a rocket.

I think of him more as an Oppenheimer figure, with the eccentricities of tesla. He has the chops technically, but it's the ability to organize and the absolute singular drive that gets him here.

The fact he has stood firm in his refusal to go to space because he's afraid his vision will die has always been endearing, and gets him a lot of respect in my book, both for the moral and ethical courage to defend his vision, but also the willingness to admit they aren't perfect.

BudFox7 said:

---

How do you value a company who's upside is controlling another planet?

---

Carefully, and without making them angry lol

December 21st 2015 was the first time SpaceX landed the F9 booster successfully.

Nearly 2700 days have gone by since then and no one has replicated it. That's a lot longer than most expected 7.5 years ago.

I suspect it will be a full decade before anyone else can do it.

Premium said:

---

Speaking of Blue Origin, it looks like they are trying to copy the fully landing thing, have they been successful?

They also say the New Glenn has 2x the capacity of any existing rocket.

https://www.blueorigin.com/new-glenn/

---

Convenient of them to not include Starship ;]. I mean I get why as it's not currently a production vehicle but still that is the competition… any bets on which is viable first?

New Glenn
7 m faring
13-45 ton capacity

Starship
9 m faring
100-150 ton capacity

New Glenn is vaporware. Given the engines haven't flown even a test flight for ULA and the rocket itself hasn't even flown a test flight (and Thursday should show everyone what a test flight normally ends in) it will be years before NG launches its first payload.

Malachi Constant said:

---

December 21st 2015 was the first time SpaceX landed the F9 booster successfully.

Nearly 2700 days have gone by since then and no one has replicated it. That's a lot longer than most expected 7.5 years ago.

I suspect it will be a full decade before anyone else can do it.

---

And in that nearly 2700 days they've... Per Wikipedia,

Quote:

---

Falcon 9 first-stage boosters landed successfully in 186 of 197 attempts (94.4%), with 158 out of 163 (96.9%) for the Falcon 9 Block 5 version. A total of 161 re-flights of first stage boosters have all successfully launched their payloads.

---

Some other fascinating Falcon 9 trivia..

• First launched in 2010
• 223 launches with 221 full mission successes
• 1 partial failure -- delivered cargo to ISS but secondary payload stranded in wrong orbit
• 1 complete failure when CRS-7 exploded after launch
• 1 cargo, AMOS-6, lost during a pad static fire
• 162 Falcon 9 Block 5 missions -- 100% success rate

BudFox7 said:

---

How do you value a company who's upside is controlling another planet?

---

This

Premium said:

---

Speaking of Blue Origin, it looks like they are trying to copy the fully landing thing, have they been successful?

They also say the New Glenn has 2x the capacity of any existing rocket.

https://www.blueorigin.com/new-glenn/

---

Nope. Starship is now an existing rocket

TexAgs91 said:

---

BudFox7 said:

---

How do you value a company who's upside is controlling another planet?

---

This

---

The nearest analogy were the European outfits like British East India co., Dutch East India Co. (VOC) etc.

Mars might become very valuable, or not, in 20-50 years from a colony standpoint, though I think the prospect of using it as a base for the expansion of robotic asteroid mining is probably the primary reason.

If SpaceX reaches Mars, I wonder how control of their activities on Mars will play out. SpaceX/Elon Musk would be 100% responsible for making that happen.

NASA would probably contribute in some minor way like they are with the moon landing when it's very evident that SpaceX doesn't need them and NASA just wants to be able to say it's their project.

But I'd really like to see SpaceX/Elon Musk in the driver's seat with how Mars is developed.

TexAgs91 said:

---

If SpaceX reaches Mars, I wonder how control of their activities on Mars will play out. SpaceX/Elon Musk would be 100% responsible for making that happen.

NASA would probably contribute in some minor way like they are with the moon landing when it's very evident that SpaceX doesn't need them and NASA just wants to be able to say it's their project.

But I'd really like to see SpaceX/Elon Musk in the driver's seat with how Mars is developed.

---

Who owns and controls land sales, mineral rights?

Premium said:

---

TexAgs91 said:

---

If SpaceX reaches Mars, I wonder how control of their activities on Mars will play out. SpaceX/Elon Musk would be 100% responsible for making that happen.

NASA would probably contribute in some minor way like they are with the moon landing when it's very evident that SpaceX doesn't need them and NASA just wants to be able to say it's their project.

But I'd really like to see SpaceX/Elon Musk in the driver's seat with how Mars is developed.

---

Who owns and controls land sales, mineral rights?

---

Sounds like squatter's rights.

SpaceX will need NASA's expertise on habitats to make any colony realistic.

Since we're talking streaks, I believe Tuesday will mark the 200th consecutive Falcon 9 flight without a failure. In that timeframe the only failure was the on the pad loss of a satellite that Facebook had invested in so really only a partial failure.

It will also be something like 111 consecutive landings of the first stage without a failure.

bthotugigem05 said:

---

SpaceX will need NASA's expertise on habitats to make any colony realistic.

---

Will they though? I was skeptical of reusability years ago, but they've proven it out pretty well. I think NASA may one need SpaceX's January expertise.

Premium said:

---

TexAgs91 said:

---

If SpaceX reaches Mars, I wonder how control of their activities on Mars will play out. SpaceX/Elon Musk would be 100% responsible for making that happen.

NASA would probably contribute in some minor way like they are with the moon landing when it's very evident that SpaceX doesn't need them and NASA just wants to be able to say it's their project.

But I'd really like to see SpaceX/Elon Musk in the driver's seat with how Mars is developed.

---

Who owns and controls land sales, mineral rights?

---

Obviously we'll have to send Elon to broker a deal with the Martians

Premium said:

---

Who owns and controls land sales, mineral rights?

---

SD CARD FOUND BY JACK

— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) April 22, 2023

Launch of Starship! @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/EaHBKA1Vga

— Michael Baylor (@nextspaceflight) April 22, 2023

.

Check this video out at 2:57:00 to see how that happened
https://www.youtube.com/live/eAl3gVvMNNM

Good time to turn that into a Grand Caravan Ute

Malachi Constant said:

---

December 21st 2015 was the first time SpaceX landed the F9 booster successfully.

Nearly 2700 days have gone by since then and no one has replicated it. That's a lot longer than most expected 7.5 years ago.

I suspect it will be a full decade before anyone else can do it.

---

New Shepard says hi.

Nah.

I struggle with why they went with the pad setup the way they did. Is it possible part of the purpose is to see how it did without out the water deluge and other diversion methods?

May have already been discussed. From the Dodge Caravan, I assume that was a piece of the launch pad.

Interesting.

Because they wanted to launch quickly. Easier and faster to blow it up and start over than dismantle and remove existing.

Maximus_Meridius said:

---

You're seriously going to equate landing that (barely) suborbital rocket on flat west Texas land with landing an orbital class booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean?

---

It's relanding and reusing a launch vehicle is it not? Everyone is quick to minimize Blue Origina accomplishments. They move slow, but they have equally advanced technology and have taken more people to space than SpaceX. Yeah, not orbit, but you make it sound like getting to space is easy and anyone can do it. No, that is hard. New Shepard has been quite reliable, and I expect New Glenn will as well.

Blue Origin isn't burning out is workforce like SpaceX. There has been a drain of senior engineering talent from SpaceX in the last year, and they're having trouble replacing them.

Still early in analysis, but the force of the engines when they throttled up may have shattered the concrete, rather than simply eroding it. The engines were only at half thrust for the static fire test.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2023

bmks270 said:

---

Maximus_Meridius said:

---

You're seriously going to equate landing that (barely) suborbital rocket on flat west Texas land with landing an orbital class booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean?

---

It's relanding and reusing a launch vehicle is it not? Everyone is quick to minimize Blue Origina accomplishments. They move slow, but they have equally advanced technology and have taken more people to space than SpaceX. Yeah, not orbit, but you make it sound like getting to space is easy and anyone can do it. No, that is hard. New Shepard has been quite reliable, and I expect New Glenn will as well.

Blue Origin isn't burning out is workforce like SpaceX. There has been a drain of senior engineering talent from SpaceX in the last year, and they're having trouble replacing them.

---

If SpaceX's goal was to send people to "space" as a parlor trick such as Blue Origin I'm quit sure they'd have sent more.

(damn boat)

fka ftc said:

---

I struggle with why they went with the pad setup the way they did. Is it possible part of the purpose is to see how it did without out the water deluge and other diversion methods?

May have already been discussed. From the Dodge Caravan, I assume that was a piece of the launch pad.

Interesting.

---

They are going to need multiple launch pads for the pace he wants to launch. Like everything else, trying to find the cheapest setup that works.

Plus it was cheaper to excavate this way with the launch.