
Elon Musk Testing ‘X-Wing’ Fins, Seafaring Spaceport Drones for Landing/Take-Off - ph0rque
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/22/space-x-x-wing-rocket-drone-landing-pads/
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nabla9
Folding lattice fins are old technology. Soviet N1 rocket had them. Russians
have used them in ballistic missiles and air-to-air missiles since 70s.

~~~
andrewflnr
That's SOP for SpaceX, right? Take proven technology and actually make it work
commercially.

~~~
stefan_kendall3
Given that the primary lender and customer is the government, "commercially"
is a stretch there.

~~~
pixie_
7 launches this year. 3 Nasa. 4 commercial.

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jccooper
The post-Grasshopper "F9R" testbed has flown with these before. You can see it
here:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLBIdVg3EM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLBIdVg3EM)

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andrewflnr
And these fly-swatter fins work. I guess I needed a reminder of just how weird
aerodynamics is.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_fin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_fin)

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001sky
This article is sachharine.

Checkout one of the other several HN submissions.

(no disrepsect to the OP, just the sad state of TC)

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zobzu
Funny how the article implies Elon designed all this and engineers employed
there have nothing to do with it. It's all him.

~~~
jfoster
Same thing with Steve Jobs. The interesting thing is that there's an element
of truth to it. Elon Musk's companies always seem to achieve amazing things.

It doesn't mean he's doing the bulk of the work, but he is playing a role that
is irreplaceable, and it may not matter so much who the other people are so
long as they are competent. It seems he is able to achieve similar results
each time.

~~~
shetter
>Employ talented and inspired people

>Give them meaningful objectives

There

~~~
twhitney
I would agree with this. That is the way to success... as well as finding
people who share the goals that you'd like to accomplish.

The thing I like about Space X is their balance that was referred to earlier
in these comments. Risk vs. profitability vs. engineering cool things. They
also take the position of mitigating risk through USING their engineering and
technology skills. At the heart of it, using repurposed thrusters from oil
rigs to make a seafaring landing platform isn't "difficult" per se... but
there certainly is ingenuity there. Not only did they make something cool with
their engineering skills and ideas, but they made something that makes their
development of "spaceships" safer.

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_almosnow
Opening line: "Let’s face it: Elon Musk is probably a time traveller sent back
to help us leave earth behind and achieve the next phase of human evolution."

I wonder how much is Musk paying the media to continually publish lines like
that one.

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sz4kerto
Nothing. He has the same 'reality distortion field' that Jobs had.

~~~
threeseed
Which is amazing given that Jobs' story is filled with so many achievements,
disappointments, dramas etc.

I am surprised no one has written about the PR machine behind Musk. Because it
is truly masterful.

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olympus
Are you implying that Elon Musk doesn't have any achievements? Co-founding
PayPal and then following up with Tesla and SpaceX aren't too shabby,
considering that all three of those companies are profitable. He's a little
dramatic pushing his "big ideas," but he's never been fired from his position
as CEO as Jobs once was.

~~~
hnnewguy
> _Co-founding PayPal and then following up with Tesla and SpaceX aren 't too
> shabby_

He didn't co-found Paypal, and was an early investor in Tesla, not a founder.
He did found SpaceX.

This isn't to take away from his accomplishments, just pointing out the
inaccuracies that are perpetuated in the media that make him seem larger than
life.

> _but he 's never been fired from his position as CEO as Jobs once was._

Wasn't he fired from Paypal after they acquired his company?

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butwhy
He created a company that acquired another company. Combining these companies
together created Paypal and Musk was the largest shareholder in this entire
thing. So yes, he did co-found Paypal.

"just pointing out the inaccuracies that are perpetuated in the media that
make him seem larger than life" \- You don't have a great track record so far,
noting you have just made some incorrect statements yourself.

On that note, I've seen quite a few people come to this conclusion. They hear
about him doing good things and think he must have some ulterior motive. They
see him release patents and think he MUST be doing it for some secret business
advantage. But no. That's just him. And now that you say it, I do actually
think he is larger than life.

