LIFTOFF - THE STORY OF SPACEX

[MooneyMitch]

This book, written by Eric Berger, is the story of the formative years of
SpaceX.

Like the great American Mooney story, decades later is another great
American story of men and women with extreme passion, perseverance and
ingenuity who carried (carry) out the world changing visions of Elon Musk,
creator of SpaceX.

As his father, Elon Musk is an engineer. In fact, he is Chief Engineer at
SpaceX.

I had a difficult time putting the book aside! With that said, I read LIFTOFF over a two day period.

SpaceX is a wonderful example of American men and women who didn't (don’t) ever give
up or give in.

SpaceX, an incredible and amazing American story!!

 

[EricJ]

Musk's main talent is hype and self-promotion.    Just imho. 

[MooneyMitch]

Eric. 

Maybe think about reading the book.  It's quite an amazing story that you might enjoy.  Reading about what these people have accomplished is the great story.  The author did extensive interviews from the folks that were, and are there, making it all happen. 

[toto]

The Ashlee Vance biography is also quite good. The number of times that Musk spent his last dollar to keep SpaceX afloat was an interesting eye-opener for me. 

[A64Pilot]

6 hours ago, EricJ said:

Musk's main talent is hype and self-promotion.    Just imho. 

I have a tendency to agree, but that goes with being rich I think

I would say his real talent is finding people who can accomplish impossible feats, 10 years ago I would have laughed at you if you said a booster could land with nothing but engine thrust as that was silly 1950’s movie nonsense.

‘But I was sitting on my boat as close to the launch facility as your allowed to be when his super heavy or whatever it’s called three booster rocket launched, the launch was neat, but the two booster coming back was really, really impressive.

 

[MooneyMitch]

51 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

I would say his real talent is finding people who can accomplish impossible feats, 10 years ago I would have laughed at you

The essence of the story is just that, overcoming incredible negativity and rejection only to overcome all with incredible world changing success.

It is truly an amazing story!  If you have the opportunity, read the book.

Go USA!!! 

[flyboy0681]

1 hour ago, A64Pilot said:

 10 years ago I would have laughed at you if you said a booster could land with nothing but engine thrust as that was silly 1950’s movie nonsense.

 

Heck, ten years ago I would laughed if someone told me that there would be a practical, mass produced electric car that had range beyond eight miles.

[Hank]

7 hours ago, EricJ said:

Musk's main talent is hype and self-promotion.    Just imho. 

He hyped electric cars into high volume production. He hyped his rockets into space, then he self-promoted his rockets into unmanned landings on ships at sea, then he hyped his rockets into delivering men and cargo to the International Space Station. Along the way, he self-promoted himself into several billion dollars. 

We could do with a few more self-promoting hypers like that! Maybe even one who likes airplanes with "funny tails"!

Do I like or agree with everything he's done or how he's done it? Not necessarily. I'll grudgingly buy an electric car:  when I can't drive myself anymore due to physical infirmity; or when gas becomes practically unavailable, and not a day sooner. Oh, and I'll cut the wires to the whole self-steering part . . . .

[flyboy0681]

Just now, Hank said:

 

We could do with a few more self-promoting hypers like that!

 

Cold fusion anyone?

[Hank]

Just now, flyboy0681 said:

Cold fusion anyone?

Didn't some self-proclaimed genius back in '89 or '90 announce vaingloriously that he had achieved this, and even duplicated his results?      

[flyboy0681]

Just now, Hank said:

Didn't some self-proclaimed genius back in '89 or '90 announce vaingloriously that he had achieved this, and even duplicated his results?      

That's exactly was I was referring to. You are our grand prize winner todaaay.

[Hank]

26 minutes ago, flyboy0681 said:

That's exactly was I was referring to. You are our grand prize winner todaaay.

Yaay!! I'll PM my address so you can send my Chicken Dinner . . . .  

[carusoam]

MS word of the day winner! 
 

vaingloriously

 

One thing for sure…. Elon knows what many people want…. And knows how to deliver that… then scale it up mega style…

Combining…

• Engineering
• marketing
• manufacturing
• finance

Think big…

Think details…

Connecting the entire world through the internet…

Way to go Hank!

Thanks to Mitch for bringing this topic up…. 

Best regards,

-a-

[A64Pilot]

17 hours ago, flyboy0681 said:

Heck, ten years ago I would laughed if someone told me that there would be a practical, mass produced electric car that had range beyond eight miles.

No, that’s actually not a difficult Engineering problem, of course what it took was Li-Po or Li-ion batteries, Although I have not kept up, but the Tesla used to use something like over 7,000 panasonic 18650 cells, the same battery I use in flashlights, so it’s not any kind of Engineering marvel, just they were the first to actually do it large scale, and that is an Engineering marvel, plus the software etc to manage that battery pack, keep it within temp limits etc, but it was an application of existing technology.

Which actually is what Space-X is, I don’t think there is any actual new technology, just very smart usage of what’s there

‘However what has gotten under my skin is the belief that electric cars are the savings of humanity, with no thought of where the electricity will come from therefore instead of building efficient vehicles, we are headed down the SUV and pickup road with electrics, which is illegocial if the purpose is to be “green”

The average US house uses 877 KWH per month, the upcoming Hummer electric which I admit is not the average, but it will have a 200 KWH battery pack, due to inefficiencies of charging if you use all of its capacity once a week. then your using as much electricity as the average house, it will be a 9,000 lb vehicle.

It just changes the form of energy used, not the total, i’m fact I bet it’s an increase.

 

I had assumed that when the “real” auto manufacturers got involved like say GM and Toyota, then you would see real practical electric cars. but that’s not happening it seems.

my next car will be electric, I had planned on a used Nissan Leaf, nit because I liked it, but because a year or two ago when I was looking you could get a used one with 10,000 miles or so on it for 5K or so. I guess many bought and didn’t like and no one wanted a used car because the Government would pay the first 5K on a new one, but nothing on a used one, so the depreciation was horrendous, perfect CB car.

‘I don’t need range, I’m Retired and trips of any distance I plan on flying and renting a car at destination, then flying home, so a cheap short range electric fits my needs.

Edited July 14, 2021 by A64Pilot

[carusoam]

The Leaf is short on range…. Hence the reason so many became available…

Some people… like pilots… really know how much energy they have in the tank at all times…

My finance friend/ leaf owner… lived in fear running out of juice on the way home…. That leaf got sold early….

 

Looks like coal fired electricity manufacturing is making a comeback… your Leaf could be coal powered…. 

Best regards,

-a-

[neilpilot]

8 hours ago, carusoam said:

Looks like coal fired electricity manufacturing is making a comeback… your Leaf could be coal powered

It takes about 4.8kWh of energy, often electricity, to produce a gallon of gasoline.  So the typical ICE is also partly coal powered.

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

1 hour ago, neilpilot said:

It takes about 4.8kWh of energy, often electricity, to produce a gallon of gasoline.  So the typical ICE is also partly coal powered.

That coal, (and all fossil fuels), came from prehistoric vegetation that grew using solar radiation, which is caused by fusion. 

All energy is actually nuclear in origin.

QED

Edited July 15, 2021 by AH-1 Cobra Pilot
clarification

[MooneyMitch]

More ingenuity from SpaceX.....................on June 30, SpaceX launched the second polar orbit Transporter-2 mission from Cape Canaveral.  The following is quoted from a July 15, 2021 article from Space Flight Now.

"Instead of launching toward the northeast or east, the Falcon 9 darted through a cloudy sky and arced to the south-southeast from Florida’s Space Coast, then made a right turn to fly along the east coast of Florida over Fort Lauderdale and Miami on the way to a polar orbit.

The launch Sunday was the first from Cape Canaveral to fly on a southerly track since 1969. Since then, most U.S. launches into polar orbit have departed from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which has an open range over the Pacific Ocean that does not require rockets to make an in-flight turn, or “dogleg” maneuver, to avoid flying over land.

The nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9’s first stage shut down about two-and-a-half minutes after launch, then the booster — reused from three previous missions — separated and flipped around to begin thrusting back toward Cape Canaveral.

After firing engines to slow down, the booster extended landing legs and returned to Landing Zone 1 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station about eight minutes into the mission, touching down as a powerful sonic boom rippled through an atmosphere thick with humidity.

It was the 18th time SpaceX has landed a Falcon 9 booster at Cape Canaveral since 2015, and the 59th successful recovery of a Falcon 9 first stage overall, including landings on SpaceX’s ocean-going drone ships."

Reusable booster/Merlin engines..............tremendous cost savings for space missions!

[N201MKTurbo]

1 hour ago, AH-1 Cobra Pilot said:

That coal, (and all fossil fuels), came from prehistoric vegetation that grew using solar radiation, which is caused by fusion. 

All energy is actually nuclear in origin.

QED

The science on the origin of petroleum is not settled. 

I personally prefer the theory that the core of our planet contains a vast amount of hydrocarbons that have been percolating towards the surface since the planet was formed. They mostly evaporate into the atmosphere where they react chemically to form all the carbon based life we have on this planet. some of it gets trapped in impermeable rock formations, which is where we get our petroleum from.

Unfortunately, we are pumping it out way faster then it is accumulating. 

I am still a peak oiler, when demand for petroleum exceeds the worlds ability to produce it, the wishes of the global warming crowd will be satisfied.

https://petrowiki.spe.org/Origin_of_petroleum

 

[steingar]

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I am still a peak oiler, when demand for petroleum exceeds the worlds ability to produce it, the wishes of the global warming crowd will be satisfied.

I am fairly convinced that the advent of Peak Oil will be the end of civilization as we know it.  I just hope I don't live to see it.  The petrochemical companies have gotten very good at finding oil in out of the way places, so it sounds like I won't, which suits me just fine.

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

1 hour ago, N201MKTurbo said:

The science on the origin of petroleum is not settled. 

I personally prefer the theory that the core of our planet contains a vast amount of hydrocarbons that have been percolating towards the surface since the planet was formed. They mostly evaporate into the atmosphere where they react chemically to form all the carbon based life we have on this planet. some of it gets trapped in impermeable rock formations, which is where we get our petroleum from.

Unfortunately, we are pumping it out way faster then it is accumulating. 

I am still a peak oiler, when demand for petroleum exceeds the worlds ability to produce it, the wishes of the global warming crowd will be satisfied.

https://petrowiki.spe.org/Origin_of_petroleum

 

Jump to the bottom of your link and you will find  "Overwhelming evidences for organic origin of petroleum".  I think that does a pretty good job of refuting all the other theories. 

Quite some time ago, I read about an advocate for one of those abiotic origins of oil convincing his home country's government, (somewhere in Europe, known to not have much oil), to drill extensively where his theory determined oil should be.  No surprise, they found nothing.

[AH-1 Cobra Pilot]

16 minutes ago, steingar said:

I am fairly convinced that the advent of Peak Oil will be the end of civilization as we know it.  I just hope I don't live to see it.  The petrochemical companies have gotten very good at finding oil in out of the way places, so it sounds like I won't, which suits me just fine.

The Peak Oil theory was destroyed several years ago when petroleum production hit another peak which was higher than the last one.  The theory precluded this, making it obviously refuted.

I suggest reading Julian Simon, as opposed to Paul Ehrlich.

Edited July 15, 2021 by AH-1 Cobra Pilot
additional material

[EricJ]

3 hours ago, AH-1 Cobra Pilot said:

All energy is actually nuclear in origin.

QED

Except maybe geothermal. 

 

[N201MKTurbo]

20 minutes ago, AH-1 Cobra Pilot said:

Jump to the bottom of your link and you will find  "Overwhelming evidences for organic origin of petroleum".  I think that does a pretty good job of refuting all the other theories. 

Quite some time ago, I read about an advocate for one of those abiotic origins of oil convincing his home country's government, (somewhere in Europe, known to not have much oil), to drill extensively where his theory determined oil should be.  No surprise, they found nothing.

if you go up from there you will find:

Overwhelming evidences for inorganic origin of petroleum 

The article doesn't draw any conclusions.

When Hubbert wrote his thesis in 1956, he specifically mentioned that a change in extraction technology could affect  the curve. That technology is horizontal precision drilling combined with hydro fracturing (fracking). If you remove the petroleum produced by fracking, the curve is pretty close to the mark.

 

Just so we can get all the religious wars taken care of:

Are you LOP ROP? TO/W flaps or WO flaps? T&Gs?

[N201MKTurbo]

51 minutes ago, steingar said:

I am fairly convinced that the advent of Peak Oil will be the end of civilization as we know it.  I just hope I don't live to see it.  The petrochemical companies have gotten very good at finding oil in out of the way places, so it sounds like I won't, which suits me just fine.

I hope you are right. The effects on society will be more dire than anything the climate change folks are claiming.

Oil won't go away over night, it will by supply and demand economic theory, become too expensive for the common people to afford. How else do you reduce demand other then make it too expensive to buy. Ask anybody how expensive gasoline has to get before they stop buying it? they will give you a puzzling stare and say "I have to buy gas".