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Thanks To The Succesful Flight Of Star Ship IV, We Are On The Cusp Of A Transportation Revolutin


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2024 Jun 7, 4:51am   198 views  5 comments

by ohomen171   ➕follow (2)   💰tip   ignore  

#starshipiv The launch of Space X's Star Ship IV was a rousing success. When the first stage ignited, 32 of the 33 engines fired. Engine number 33 on the outer ring failed to ignite. The other 32 engines were "throttled up" and overcame this power deficiency. The first stage separated smoothly. As it fell back to earth, the 6 gimballed engines in the inner ring fired and slowed down the booster for a smooth landing in the Gulf of Mexico. This means the booster can be recovered in subsequent flights making the rocket economically viable.
Starship's 6 engines fired. It went into a sub-orbital arc that took it over the Indian Ocean. On the last flight, Star Ship broke up and disintegrated on reentry. This time it survived reentry, even after losing one fin used for maneuvering. Its excellent cameras recorded the entire reentry. The six rocket motors fired again. Star Ship was slowed for a smooth landing in the Indian Ocean.
A few of my readers are die-hard space enthusiasts (me included). For us, this is a joyous happening. The rest of our readers wonder, "What does this matter to me?" I was in the pool with one of our readers. I pointed out to her that as a result of Star Ship, we are on the cusp of a transportation revolution here on Earth.
Please fast forward roughly 12 years. Very large urban airports around the world will evolve into airports/spaceports. Those of us who travel internationally know all too well the pain of very long airplane flights including jet lag, loss of sleep, dry skin, blood circulation problems, etc. I suspect that over the last 57 years, I have accumulated several thousand hours flying in jets. My longest plane flight came in September of 1981 when I flew 20 hours from Rome to Sydney, Australia. Elena experienced a similar time in the air from Argentina to Europe.
The Star Ship revolution will change all this. Let us assume that you are flying from Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro, Seattle to Shanghai, San Francisco to Buenos Aires, etc. When you go to the international terminal for your flight, you will not board an aircraft. You will board a Star Ship. The Star Ship will blast off. You will have a gentle ride up to the stratosphere. You will spend more than an hour flying through space. You will get some incredible views. You will experience weightlessness. Your Star Ship will then reenter the earth's atmosphere. Some two hours after lift-off, you will land at your faraway destination that once required 14-16 hours of travel in pressurized tin cans. You will spend far more time in security, passport control, customs, and immigration than in travel time.
An exciting new world is just around the corner.

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1   WookieMan   2024 Jun 7, 7:39am  

ohomen171 says

I suspect that over the last 57 years, I have accumulated several thousand hours flying in jets.

And? On international travel you just sit there, have some beer, time your sleep so you're not jet lagged on the safest mode of transportation on the planet.

I sure as shit will never get on a rocket. Also you fail to mention the $500k+ price tag that it would likely cost to shave international travel down to 1 hour. That's one expensive fucking hour. It's also likely you'd have to sit for 2 hours on your back waiting for them to prep for launch. The infrastructure build out would be massive.

You could fly to every country in a year for that price and still have time and money to do a day trip.

Oh, and you're not factoring people's schedules. Or flight scheduling. Or this thing called planet earth where every launch has to be timed exact and have above average conditions. Ah shit, sorry, your flight got delayed a week due to weather.

Fact is it's not practical at all for passenger travel. Never will be. Space X is doing good things. None of it is for big groups of passengers to go from A to B except B might be another planet where they'll die. Just look at the fuel tanks at the launch pad.... That's more than the fuel storage for all of Midway airport here in Chicago with roughly 30 flights an hour for 737's. That doesn't include small jets and general aviation.

You'd have to build billion dollar spaces pads for the 0.001% that could afford it. Not happening probably ever.
2   HeadSet   2024 Jun 7, 7:41am  

ohomen171 says

you will not board an aircraft. You will board a Star Ship

Nonsense. Why do those who see themselves as visionaries always forget economics? These "Starship" trips will cost well over $100k per seat. Why don't rural folk all have private helicopters? After all, helicopters are technically feasible with an acre of open land.
3   socal2   2024 Jun 7, 8:35am  

I dunno about Commercial flying - but SpaceX has already revolutionized rocketry with Falcon 9 and is going to change even more with Starship.


4   🎂 Ceffer   2024 Jun 7, 8:42am  

A few seconds in the Van Allen Belt, and your liver and spleen will have a suntan. The only craft that can safely navigate space are the anti gravity ones, which apparently have existed for a while. The rockets are carnival acts for the primitive besotted ignoramuses.
5   WookieMan   2024 Jun 7, 9:20am  

socal2 says

I dunno about Commercial flying - but SpaceX has already revolutionized rocketry with Falcon 9 and is going to change even more with Starship.

I agree, which is why I said SpaceX has done good stuff. The space port stuff may happen in a couple centuries, but it's not happening in our lifetime.

My bigger concern is space junk. Most of this is going to be for satellites and probably massive payloads of Star Link stuff. We have oceans with islands of plastic junk and now we're doing it in orbit. At what point are we not able to leave the planet because of a collision with the shit we put out there?

I think Musk is multitasking too much and should just focus on SpaceX. Below is an actual Tesla in my driveway today (not mine). My Armada behind it so you guys know I'm not bull shitting you. And my golf cart. And barely part of the trailer. Not trying to derail the thread, but just showing I am truthful in my comments/posts. Probably too much. Photo through my window, so shitty.

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