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Re: Rocket Lunches

#241
Future tense lunch aspirations:
Updated SpaceX Grand Plan. Elon also provided some new BFR detail and concept art.
Initial Mars Mission Goals

2022: Cargo Missions
Land at least 2 cargo ships on Mars

Confirm water resources and identify hazards

Place power, mining, and life support infrastructure for future flights
2024: Cargo & Crew Missions
2 crew ships take first people to Mars

2 cargo ships bring more equipment and supplies

Set up propellant production plant

Build up base to prepare for expansion
Spoiler:      SHOW
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"omg such tech many efficiency WOW" ~ Josh Parnell
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#242
The part that really blows my mind is that Musk intends to (at some undisclosed point in the future) create a new transit system to "transport passengers between any two major cities in under an hour" using spaceflight - and that it'll cost little more than a good plane ticket. Wouldn't that be so amazing? I'm not even sure he can pull it off; it sounds like a sci-fi dream. I mean, it's technically possible, sure, but... I mean, I don't know, right? It sounds like science fiction. Could that even be cost-effective? Could it be safe?

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Re: Rocket Lunches

#243
The BFR [auto-censored] looks delightfully like a pulp sci-fi rocketship. It'll be too late for me, but I hope they deliver!
As for Earth to Earth: breakfast in London, elevenses in Sydney, lunch in LA, tea in Cape Town, and dinner in London.



I wasn't aware the forum had an auto-censor. I'll have to experiment - excellent fun! <sniggers>
Last edited by Cody on Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oolite Naval Attaché
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#246
On the Earth-to-Earth thing, I haven't watched the video (not a big Musk fan), but I guess they're taking about ballistic trajectories?

Cody wrote:
Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:32 pm
The BFR [auto-censored] looks delightfully like a pulp sci-fi rocketship.

I love those, too. I don't collect many things, but one of my prized pieces of stuff is a print of this, signed by Chesley Bonestell:


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which I mention in part because it would make me unreasonably happy if Victor, that avid collector of cool things, thought this was worthwhile.
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#247
Very nice, Flat! :) And I share some skepticism about SpaceX's claims from time to time. But I can't deny that they're sometimes able to deliver some impressive feats. This is a bit much, though. I don't imagine it will be anywhere near as easy as they expect, especially because these rockets will bear so much similarity to ICBMs and headed directly toward major cities.
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#250
Qualifies as a rocket launch!

To end the topic of missiles heading to major cities, the second Soyuz launch from Vostochny cosmodrome. Rocket itself worked just fine, but the final orbital insertion stage malfunctioned. According to some leaks, it's because somebody forgot to program the orbital insertion stage and sent it up with its old Baikonur-launched flight profile :ghost: I'll poke some people and try to find out whether that was the case.
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Survivor of the Josh Parnell Blackout of 2015.
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#251
Flatfingers wrote:
Fri Sep 29, 2017 9:32 pm
I love those, too. I don't collect many things, but one of my prized pieces of stuff is a print of this, signed by Chesley Bonestell:
which I mention in part because it would make me unreasonably happy if Victor, that avid collector of cool things, thought this was worthwhile.
Prepare to be unreasonably happy, Flat. That's a superb piece of print art. :thumbup:

Sorry for the delay in spotting your post. :angel:
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#253
Cody wrote:
Mon Dec 04, 2017 8:12 pm
Not a lunch exactly, but the first firing of Voyager 1's thrusters since 1980 - article at El Reg.
Read it elsewhere, really impressive how it can last so long and still function perfectly. A masterpiece of a probe.

In the meanwhile, another routine Soyuz launch to the ISS. Seems like it's one of the last launches in Soyuz-FG modification as its production will stop sometime next year, replaced with Souyz-2.1b.

Edit: also, because people oft accuse me of only caring about Russian stuff, here's some Falcon 9 but three times more explosive Falcon Heavy:

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Survivor of the Josh Parnell Blackout of 2015.
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#254
Victor Tombs wrote:
Fri Dec 01, 2017 3:05 pm
Flatfingers wrote:
Fri Sep 29, 2017 9:32 pm
I love those, too. I don't collect many things, but one of my prized pieces of stuff is a print of this, signed by Chesley Bonestell:
which I mention in part because it would make me unreasonably happy if Victor, that avid collector of cool things, thought this was worthwhile.
Prepare to be unreasonably happy, Flat. That's a superb piece of print art. :thumbup:

Sorry for the delay in spotting your post. :angel:

I also have a print of Kim Poor's "Attitude Hold" in my office. But I'll admit that owning a thing with the actual signature of Chesley Bonestell fills me with a sense of incredibly intense satisfaction. It's the most tenuous possible connection to the optimism of the Space Age, but it's a connection.

And I'll acknowledge here that this connection matters to me both intellectually and personally, because I got to watch Neil Armstrong step onto the face of the Moon as it happened. My mother, seven months pregnant with my youngest brother, was sewing in the other room and wouldn't get up to come see our black-and-white TV as I exclaimed in amazement at what was happening on July 20, 1969... but there was never any doubt in my mind that I was witness to a pivotal moment in human history as it happened, even if no one else cared.

If you think I must be disappointed that there was no sustained follow-up to this achievement -- no Moon bases, no exploration of Mars, no asteroid mining, no generation ships flung in hope toward the nearest stars -- you'd be right. My God, here it is, nearly 2020 -- 2020! -- and we're still just squatting here on Earth, arguing furiously with each other about how many genders there are instead of linking arms and working together to expand our personal human knowledge of the astonishing universe we share.

If my life, from The Lone Ranger to quantum teleportation, is a weird amalgam of optimism and pessimism, I hope I can be forgiven for it. To have so much possibility, and to feel so little desire to achieve great things with all these resources... it's hard to reconcile these.
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Re: Rocket Lunches

#255
Flatfingers wrote:
Wed Dec 20, 2017 4:39 pm
If you think I must be disappointed that there was no sustained follow-up to this achievement -- no Moon bases, no exploration of Mars, no asteroid mining, no generation ships flung in hope toward the nearest stars -- you'd be right. My God, here it is, nearly 2020 -- 2020! -- and we're still just squatting here on Earth, arguing furiously with each other about how many genders there are instead of linking arms and working together to expand our personal human knowledge of the astonishing universe we share.
I'd like to echo this sentiment of yours, Flat. :( With how far we've come in the past century, it's shocking to see people squabbling over silly, meaningless things instead of working together for a more beautiful goal. I hope at some point we as a species grow up and "act our age". :P

This is something I've thought about on several occasions and it never fails to sadden me. We ought to be working for the betterment of mankind, not getting caught up in our own insecurities, discomfort and greed.
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