Im rooting for Space X to fail partly because Starship is such a fantastically dumb idea, which isn't a surprise given the mental decline of Musk over the years.
To have it go to Mars, you have to have something like 20 refueling launches.
Raptor engines are the equivalent of taking a 2.0 inline 4 engine in a car and making it produce 1000 hp. Demonstrating one restart does nothing. You have to demonstrate reliable restart in a variety of conditions.
Vertical landings using engines to slow is inneficient. Sure, you reduce system complexity in not having wings or parachutes, but you gain it all back with things like engine restarts, and the need for high pressure ratio engines.
>I think as a culture we've lost the ability to compartmentalize
There is a limit to how bad a person can get, after which its probably worth for anything adjacent to him to fail so that he can't do the things he does. If Musk was aligned behind someone like George Bush, he would receive a fraction of the hate he does now. But at this point with Doge and his rallying behind a dictator (only to be hilariously dumped and fucked over with the BBB) is bad enough for all hate towards Space X to be justified. We would be better of as a society if people had more of a moral compass and actually did things like quit companies. Its not like there isn't competition with much more sane people at the wheel for Space X and Tesla.
So he's generally an ass to work for, got behind a politician you don't like, and fired a bunch of bureaucrats that probably shouldn't have been fired? Is that it? GWB started a completely unnecessary war, so if that's your example of OK in comparison, then I struggle to understand your standards.
> Vertical landings using engines to slow is inneficient. Sure, you reduce system complexity in not having wings or parachutes, but you gain it all back with things like engine restarts, and the need for high pressure ratio engines.
Well, the most cost effective rocket ever built uses this, but please do elaborate. What system do you propose that would be better?
I was thinkin more along the lines of unconstitutionally cutting things like USAID thats going to actively result in more unnecessary deaths, personal vendetta against LBGT organizations in cutting those budgets, cutting IRS funding which is going to end up costing more ironically as there isn't enough staffing to pursue all the people using tax avoidance
Not to mention in general supporting someone and donating campaign funds who literally tried to coup the government, contributing to him being elected, and thus being responsible for everything that Trump is doing, from fucking up the economy further to playing wanna be dictator with ICE, all of which have long term repercussions.
In comparison to GWB, Trump is going much worse (especially if you want to compare deficit spending), and Musk has a direct hand in that.
>Well, the most cost effective rocket ever built uses this, but please do elaborate.
Cost effectiveness has nothing to do with engineering. For example, I can start a car company, fund it with my other business venture, and then sell cars for $50 and it would be the most cost effective car.
> cutting things like USAID thats going to actively result in more unnecessary deaths
That's bad IMO, but not helping people isn't remotely the same as starting a war that kills them (different if they were US citizens, but in this case they aren't).
> personal vendetta against LBGT organizations in cutting those budgets
I don't even have anything against these organizations, but I would cut their budgets to zero if I were in charge because funding them is none of the government's business.
> cutting IRS funding which is going to end up costing more ironically as there isn't enough staffing to pursue all the people using tax avoidance
This is dumb, but hardly a moral issue.
> In comparison to GWB, Trump is going much worse (especially if you want to compare deficit spending)
I 100% agree, but so was Biden, and I don't blame everyone who supported him either.
Fundamentally I don't blame Elon (or anyone else) for anything that Trump (or whoever they supported) has done that he didn't have a direct hand in e.g. DOGE. It's the nature of politics that you have to swallow a lot of things you don't like when you choose a side to support.
Look bro, we can spend arguing about details, but in reality, its pretty easy to put a nail in this: Trump tried to coup the government in 2020. And Elon supported this. This is not arguable. There is no fake media around this, you can read the lawsuit that resulted in the Supreme Court immunity ruling yourself.
You would have to prove with exceptional evidence that whatever Biden did or Kamala would have done would have been much worse.
Literally no other issue matters until you get over this bridge. Unless of course you are in support of a dictator and think his attempt to throw any legal process and the constitution out was justified, but at that point just say that instead of dancing around the issue.
>It's the nature of politics
No, at this point its solely in the moral/fabric of society territory.
I'm sure there could be better rocket configurations than Starship - but so far Starship is better than other existing schemas. Starship is really good comparing to others - getting the cheapest kilogram to orbit cost in perspective.
> As I said in my other comments, just cause something is sold at a lower cost doesn't mean its optimal.
No, Starship isn't optimal, it's just better than existing alternative by this specific criteria. If you need some other quality, you may rationally choose something else.
The point was that the price of kilogram to orbit is an important criteria for many customers, so they logically choose Starship.
To have it go to Mars, you have to have something like 20 refueling launches.
Raptor engines are the equivalent of taking a 2.0 inline 4 engine in a car and making it produce 1000 hp. Demonstrating one restart does nothing. You have to demonstrate reliable restart in a variety of conditions.
Vertical landings using engines to slow is inneficient. Sure, you reduce system complexity in not having wings or parachutes, but you gain it all back with things like engine restarts, and the need for high pressure ratio engines.
>I think as a culture we've lost the ability to compartmentalize
There is a limit to how bad a person can get, after which its probably worth for anything adjacent to him to fail so that he can't do the things he does. If Musk was aligned behind someone like George Bush, he would receive a fraction of the hate he does now. But at this point with Doge and his rallying behind a dictator (only to be hilariously dumped and fucked over with the BBB) is bad enough for all hate towards Space X to be justified. We would be better of as a society if people had more of a moral compass and actually did things like quit companies. Its not like there isn't competition with much more sane people at the wheel for Space X and Tesla.