Musk's gateway to Mars: All you need to
know about Elon's £2.4 BILLION, 395ft-tall
Starship - designed to ferry 100 people
to the Red Planet - ahead of its maiden
launch within Weeks
Daily Mail (UK),
by
Sam Tonkin
Original Article
Posted By: Imright,
1/29/2023 11:44:34 AM
It is a day that could go down in history as the moment humans took their first small step in what will be a giant leap to becoming a multi-planetary species.
Elon Musk's $3 billion (£2.4 billion) Starship – a vehicle that could be a game-changer for long-distance space travel – is now just weeks away from shooting for the stars in what will be a highly-anticipated maiden orbital launch.
On Monday, the 395ft-tall rocket and its accompanying craft achieved a major milestone after being fuelled up and fully stacked for the first time ever, meaning lift-off could happen as early as next month.
So what is Musk's grand vision for Starship,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 1/29/2023 11:52:31 AM (No. 1390035)
A trip to Mars is a suicide mission with current technology.
15 people like this.
Forget Mars. Prioriries, people:
In April 2021, NASA announced that it had selected SpaceX's next-generation vehicle as the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis III mission — due to put the first woman and first person of colour on the moon in 2025.
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 1/29/2023 11:55:57 AM (No. 1390038)
It's a great idea, but Mars is a useless wasteland. Extremely limited water, "air" so thin that is is about like our air at 100,000 feet...nearly nothing there, and toxic. Sunshine is dramatically less than on Earth, too.
Mars is below the critical mass required to have enough gravity to maintain a reasonable atmosphere, and outside of the 'ideal zone' for solar energy input. I respect the technology of these rockets, they are truly impressive works, but Mars is never going to be of much use, even as a "lifeboat" for humanity as Musk imagines.
Perhaps the technological leaps he is developing will lead to other good things like the 1960s space program did. Mars is not any kind of a worthwhile destination.
24 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Quigley 1/29/2023 12:04:34 PM (No. 1390046)
FTA: “ When it is ready to land on Earth, Starship will initially re-enter the atmosphere at a 60-degree angle, before 'belly-flopping' to the ground in a horizontal position.”
Just like Flash Gordon’s rocket in the 1930s.
It really hard to imagine colonizing anything in the foreseeable future or how we get from here to there. Or how to get those windmills up to the moon so we don’t destroy it too. Idiots.
15 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 1/29/2023 12:47:45 PM (No. 1390064)
I think the unmanned space flights provide a lot more bang for the buck. It would be cool if a craft could land on Jupiter. or Saturn, What's down there? Cosmic radiation would kill any human going to Mars or beyond.
7 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Rich323 1/29/2023 12:51:51 PM (No. 1390067)
I'm guessing he's aiming for the future when the Sun expands toward Earth and will eventually burn up all the planets. Of course, that's millions or billions of years away, but it's good to see an American based technology leading the way once again. Probably pisses Obama off bigtime, as he despises any and all American Exceptionalism....
18 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 1/29/2023 12:52:51 PM (No. 1390068)
There needs to be a lot of practice with the moon before attempting Mars.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
bad-hair 1/29/2023 1:00:56 PM (No. 1390071)
Sorry #3
Mount Everest is a useless wasteland. Humans still have to climb it. Not the destination, the trip.
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
LadyHen 1/29/2023 1:03:43 PM (No. 1390073)
The atmosphere and lack of adequate magnetic field on Mars makes it unlivable and down right deadly. Not saying mankind could not make it work in the next 500-1000 years but at present it is a minimum of about 2 years round trip for the equivalent of a drive by sightseeing adventure.
4 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 1/29/2023 1:45:14 PM (No. 1390092)
Folks, we know all the problems and we've known them for a long time. We're a space faring species and we will go.
I do think it would be best to send the honchos from the WEF on the 1st mission just to see how it works out and iron out the kinks. They could run a whole planet!
16 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Highlander 1/29/2023 1:46:14 PM (No. 1390094)
I’ll be more than glad to let somebody else have my seat. I’m happy to stay on terra firma, even with all its problems.
10 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 1/29/2023 2:07:31 PM (No. 1390102)
Re #8. Invalid comparison. No one is suggesting that we go to Mt. Everest and build colonies there to "save humanity".
I agree with the concept of exploring Mars, it's a great adventure, like climbing Everest. But this is NOT what Musk is talking about, he intended to move large numbers of people to Mars and make it a "colony" like the 1950s and 60s SciFi novels. It is certainly possible....ship enough supplies at a mind bending cost to this wasteland and, yes, we can build an outpost and live there for a while. But it will never be self sustaining and able to "cut to cord" (a VERY expensive cord) back to Planet Earth.
Explore.....yep, great idea. Live there long term and be self-sustaining? A pipe dream.
But....I hold zero malice towards Mr. Musk, he's using mostly his own money, and like the proverbial drunken sailor, one may disagree, but it is HIS MONEY to spend how he wants, even if we might do it differently.
Hats off to Musk. But, being realistic about his goals is just hard nosed reality.
18 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Daisymay 1/29/2023 2:07:54 PM (No. 1390103)
I would love to give Elon a few Names of Folks who I would love to put on that Journey!! They all have a "D" behind their Names!!
15 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
brownshoepogue 1/29/2023 2:31:33 PM (No. 1390110)
When we explore we discover. Not yet revealed are the many unknowns that could/will lead to mankind's betterment. Exploring and discovering has usually involved such techniques as "baby steps, island hopping, figurative Lilly pads for use as safe harbor, refueling, re-supplying, colonization.
For me, I would have been one to get on one of those many ships headed to the New World to experience discovery, exploration and adventure. I do understand that there are others less inclined.
For me and maybe some others Teddy Roosevelt comes to mind:
"Far better is it to dare mighty... Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
7 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
hershey 1/29/2023 2:44:54 PM (No. 1390114)
Long but interesting bit of Science Fiction...put 100 people together in 40 cabins for 9 months and you'd probably have human pudding by the time it got there..talk about a 'housing project'....and they want to put the first woman and person of color in space by 2025??? Could get a female lesbian of color and hit all three with one...I'm sure you could find one in Biteme's administration...and the ship looks like the one in Destination Moon from the 50's...
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
MissNan 1/29/2023 2:46:31 PM (No. 1390116)
#13. Nancy and Paulie Pelosi (D)
3 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Enoch Powell 1/29/2023 4:04:28 PM (No. 1390146)
Perhaps we can send all the illegals there?
2 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
SweetPea3 1/29/2023 4:12:34 PM (No. 1390148)
#13, Humper and Diapers.
5 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Zeek Wolfe 1/29/2023 4:25:29 PM (No. 1390150)
I wish we could put this woke and global warming garbage behind us and help Musk shoot for the stars.
8 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
SkeezerMcGee 1/29/2023 5:35:37 PM (No. 1390175)
The Article does not mention that the Starship must pass a first-ever static fire test of its 33 raptor engines. This test had been postponed for months. Musk is afraid this test has about a 50-50 chance of exploding the Boca Chica launch site into smithereens.
2 people like this.
Musk has already accomplished (relatively) cheap ride-sharing for launching satellites into Low Earth Orbit, effectively creating new industries. And he is completing his StarLink global network, which will disrupt the ground-based telecom industry.
His "secret" is that he understands science, engineering, AND economics. That's why the monster Starship is necessary - to establish (relatively) cheap mass transportation to the Moon and Mars. Both bodies have resources that are worth fortunes. And they don't have any nasty natives, Russkies, or ChiComs on them yet. The real fortune is in the Asteroid Belt, which you would need bases on Mars to exploit.
Some have pointed out the lack of air and visible water on the Moon and Mars. This is true. Plus there is lethal solar radiation on the surfaces of both the Moon and Mars. But when humans live on the Moon or Mars, they won't have to worry about these problems since they will be in living underground in pressurized tubes made from local materials.
Musk's vision is to have Starships operate like jets do now - fly, land, get checked, serviced, and refueled within a couple of hours, then take off with another load going somewhere else.
5 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Marzon 1/29/2023 7:42:33 PM (No. 1390212)
Interesting the cost is only $3 Billion. The feds can't even build an aircraft carrier for that amount of money and we've been building those for decades.
5 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 1/30/2023 7:10:12 AM (No. 1390340)
Looks a bit like our old X-15. .
0 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
hoosierblue 1/30/2023 9:32:38 AM (No. 1390436)
Things a really crappy here on Earth but there is no way I would get on this thing.
0 people like this.
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