SpaceX - Falcon9 - DragonX - Elon Musk

My wife gave me a biography of Musk for my Bday...I'm about halfway through it. I agree...he's in the same class as Ford, Hughes. Edison and others. BUT: He sounds like a mighty tough guy to work for.
 
I work for a company that sells many sensors/safeguarding devices for the Tesla plant. I can tell you that he hires extremely intelligent, competent people. Every time I get a call from a Tesla employee asking questions about our products I can tell you that it will be a very good conversation. You should see the Tesla plant - there is a youtube of it.


So, if they make a car with this sophistication think of the thought that went into their space program!
 
I read an interesting article about Tesla
IIRC they bought modern production facilities and tooling for pennies on a dollar which made Tesla possible. Very opportunistic (and smart). If they had to tool up at full costs Tesla probably wouldn't have happened.
 
Elon's fly by the seat of his pants is all good and well until human safety is at risk. I'm concerned about the potential for catastrophy when the vehicles become manned.
 
Elon's fly by the seat of his pants is all good and well until human safety is at risk. I'm concerned about the potential for catastrophy when the vehicles become manned.
I suspect there is going to be a long trial period before they start putting "spam in the can" again. The last thing NASA needs is another disaster setback. The press goes wild, and the public gets fed misinformation that sets a public mindset that somehow traveling into low earth orbit should be as safe as strapping into a 737.. They have made great strides in safety but breaking free of earths gravity hold will always have certain risks.
 
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Call me impressed, too. Two things to add:

  1. One of SaceX's stated goals is to do a one-day turnaround with a tail-landed used rocket. OMG.
  2. Tesla is leveraging their battery technology to supply homes. A battery, with inverter installed (2nd generation), can power a small home for a full day off the grid. The batteries are smart and can charge when rates are cheap (low peak), or they can be charged with solar, wind, etc. The battery/inverter is around $5.5k, $1k for professional installation. The batteries are small, discrete, and can be stacked for more reserve. Think of the remote places that can consider reliable electric power, not to mention existing home retrofits, new construction with solar roofs, etc.
 
After having that bad luck with last years explosion they learned from it and are really rolling now. 8 launches so far this year, with another scheduled for tomorrow. Another re-used booster yesterday and earlier this month flew a re-used cargo capsule.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/spacex-goes-for-a-launch-doubleheader-this-weekend/

These people have become serious players in the launch market. The big guys are running scared now because they have some real competition that seriously undercuts their prices.

Cheers,
James
 
My son was there to observe the launch and support the Iridium satellites placed in orbit
He works for Orbital Sciences

It made it very tense for me but it all worked
 
My son was there to observe the launch and support the Iridium satellites placed in orbit
He works for Orbital Sciences

It made it very tense for me but it all worked

You must be very proud of your son. I think that it's cool as heck that he could be there for that. :thumbsup:

Cheers,
James
 
This is awesome. Not only did SpaceX just successfully launch the most powerful rocket since Apolo but they successfully landed all 3 of the core boosters for reuse. And they did it for a small fraction of the cost of what anyone else is doing That's just, well, heavy man.

Cheers,
James

edit: Wait, the vote's not in yet on the 3rd booster. Still a monumental achievement.
 
Tesla is leveraging their battery technology to supply homes. A battery, with inverter installed (2nd generation), can power a small home for a full day off the grid. The batteries are smart and can charge when rates are cheap (low peak), or they can be charged with solar, wind, etc. The battery/inverter is around $5.5k, $1k for professional installation. The batteries are small, discrete, and can be stacked for more reserve. Think of the remote places that can consider reliable electric power, not to mention existing home retrofits, new construction with solar roofs, etc.

This. For all the splashiness of his space efforts, his work in renewable energies and battery technology has the potential to fundamentally change the world.
 
This is awesome. Not only did SpaceX just successfully launch the most powerful rocket since Apolo but they successfully landed all 3 of the core boosters for reuse. And they did it for a small fraction of the cost of what anyone else is doing That's just, well, heavy man.

Cheers,
James

edit: Wait, the vote's not in yet on the 3rd booster. Still a monumental achievement.
No, only two -- they were cagey about the third one yesterday. Musk tends towards the cagey.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/musk-falcon-heavy-soars-core-180207054158335.html
 
Third booster (center one) failed to get a relight on two of the three engines, and "landed" at 300 mph near but not on the recovery landing barge. Barge got "peppered" with shrapnel. I saw what appeared to be a flickering fire in the cluster of rocket bells upon part of the initial descent shutdown in the video coverage. I thought "uh oh", then dismissed it as I thought: "that area gets hot as heck during operation, so that may not be of consequence."
 
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