With everything negative going on in the world today it is very easy to lose sight on the awesome stuff that is happening. In the greatest example of how humanity runs the gamut from mouth breathing idiocy to brilliance, SpaceX released a video yesterday that shows how it will send people to Mars. This is not a joke, a drill, or a pipe dream. This is something that the company is actively working on doing. Yes, they recently had a rocket failure but the point is not that their rocket blew up but the fact that they are a private company pioneering what will be a large industry at some point and that’s the commercial and private space transportation industry.
When you watch this video you’ll see a few things but the most noticeable is the fact that the booster rocker that is an important part of the program needs to launch the vehicle into space, land vertically to be refueled and then launch back into space to gas up the vehicle fully. These guys proved that they could do the vertical landing stuff this year and while it is early in the process, the pieces are coming together.
We spend our days seeing news that makes us question every aspect of human kind. Stupid people, senseless killings, twisted views, and stuff that makes sensible people shake their heads in amazement that it is actually happening. Well Elon Musk has proven himself a man of action many times over and this is far less a computer animation as it is a look into something that will be happening in a not too distant future.
Watch this and remember that overall we’re pretty damned smart and when we apply the limited percentage of brain power that we can, amazing things are possible. If you want to live on Mars, you may be able to someday. Remember, a couple of hundred years ago, people thought it impossible to cross an ocean and survive. Our “ocean” is a whole lot bigger.
Cool, just needs a 5 speed..!
Elon is the man. My favorite thing he said (paraphrased) is ” I am going to Mars. I am not going to spend my time convincing people I can go, I am just going.”
So he’s going to send a giant penis up to Mars is he?
I always thought that Elon Musk was a bit of a dick but this takes the biscuit…
By the way I thought that somebody with such wealth and vision would be seeking to look outside the traditional “firework on a stick” model of propulsion and be working on functioning warp drives or something like that….
Still have to get out of Earths gravity well. So far a firework on a stick is the most cost-effective way of accomplishing this task.
I like the hint of Terra-forming at the end of the video.
62,000mph coast speed. Interesting. That translates into roughly 2000 hours, or merely 3 months. Wow. I hadn’t realized we had developed the engines necessary for that timeline.
Neat stuff Bangshift! Thanks for sharing!
First off, according to the video there are 3 steps of the candle-on-a-stick routine to get this thing out of earth orbit. Someone above mentioned that this is the most efficient method known. Really Sparky? If thinking outside the box is Elon’s claim to fame, I think he could do better making razor blades to shave my beard.
Have you not been exposed to Ion propulsion systems? Add another wing to the existing International Space Station, assemble said space vehicle in modules at said “New Wing”, fire off a minimum amount of fuel to get out of earth orbit, fire off multiple Ion engines. Land vehicle as shown in the video, fire off fuel powered rockets to get off of Mars, re-engage Ion engines to get back to Int’l space station, and park the damn thing at the space station for later re-use. When you want to use it again, have your ticket ready and ring the concierge.
Seems like a lot of effort spent to go someplace that looks like Wyoming.Can`t we find a planet with nice beaches.
Ole Mr. Subsidy himself wants to go to Mars, eh? Hopefully he takes all the politicians with him, and never makes contact with Earth again.
I actually like this planet, and goofy stuff like this takes our eye off the ball. We should put effort into making this planet survive, and that’s not going well if you’ve noticed.
Well said. Let’s finish ruining this planet before we go and muck up another.