• SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System
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[video=youtube;0qo78R_yYFA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qo78R_yYFA[/video]
Reminds me a lot of what was proposed in the book The Martian, except the interplanetary vehicle was more of a station and not the shuttle itself. Pretty cool though how the reusable booster just lands, refuels and has the tanker equipped for another run. Hopefully the real deal can happen within our life times. It would be really cool to see.
umm, blue mars?
[QUOTE=Ithon;51117227]umm, blue mars?[/QUOTE] yeah, the planet does have an blue atmosphere :)
[QUOTE=Ithon;51117227]umm, blue mars?[/QUOTE] Terraforming is part of Musk's long-term plans. Also the tenuous atmosphere does still look mostly blue, although much paler than Earth's.
I hope I get to see this fly in person someday.
Err so people are just going to live in 0 g for the trip?? What about return trips? Mars semi direct still seems like the best plan. Or Mars direct if you're a bit more ballsy.
[QUOTE=gman003-main;51117258]Terraforming is part of Musk's long-term plans. Also the tenuous atmosphere does still look mostly blue, although much paler than Earth's.[/QUOTE] The atmosphere is also blue at sunrise and set near the horizion. Mind you its not quite as dramatic as that hatch opening scene. [editline]photo[/editline] [IMG]http://www.blastr.com/sites/blastr/files/1381995121519_mars_sunset.jpg[/IMG] Actually it isn't too far off.
I think it's so fucking cool that they recover the engine boosters. I wonder how many millions of dollars they save instead of letting them burn up in the atmosphere, as we've been doing for the past 40> years.
[QUOTE=MILKE;51119419]I think it's so fucking cool that they recover the engine boosters. I wonder how many millions of dollars they save instead of letting them burn up in the atmosphere, as we've been doing for the past 40> years.[/QUOTE] Don't forget the fact that they don't need to set aside time/labor cost to launch it back up and only need to replace a few parts and the fuel.
[QUOTE=IceWarrior98;51117174]Hopefully the real deal can happen within our life times. It would be really cool to see.[/QUOTE] Here's a prototype fuel tank for it, and the first test of the engine model that it will use. [img_thumb]https://puu.sh/rpXiX/3c155f7446.jpg[/img_thumb] [img_thumb]https://puu.sh/rpXkf/abac42ba0b.jpg[/img_thumb] [img]https://puu.sh/rpXdU/0578b99376.jpg[/img] Plus all the animations are based off engineering design work. It's a little more real than a speculative what if. As explained in the presentation it's still about ~10+/- years out.
how do they get back home?
[QUOTE=Scratch.;51119489]how do they get back home?[/QUOTE] Process CO2 and H2O into Methane and oxygen, load it up, ignite. Go home.
[QUOTE=Scratch.;51119489]how do they get back home?[/QUOTE] Mars is their home now
While the idea of Terraforming Mars sounds good, there's always that horrible feeling that it'll end up being as much of a shit hole as Earth.
honestly, seeing this animation and watching the press conference have really made my week. seeing a private company led by a large group of highly determined individuals laying out a timeline and making steady steps towards their goal is exactly what the industry needs right now, and will be key in inspiring future generations and aspiring astronauts and engineers. the fact that they're planning red dragon missions for as soon as 2018, and possibly flying IPS/booster test missions as early as 2019 is stunning. i hope they can pull it off.
I think SpaceX is trying to move too fast. They have barely made landing a used booster a reality and they already want to have gigantic Earth-Mars transports? They are showing this off like it's happening next year if you didn't know anything about space travel. There should be some thought into the idea that this is highly conceptual and not going to happen that quickly. I feel like they're trying to do OLED 4k TV when they just invented the CRT. Hey guys, check out what we are going to do in the future! [media]https://youtu.be/gZpEOpeha3Y[/media] /sarcasm
[QUOTE=Smoot;51121713]I think SpaceX is trying to move too fast. They have barely made landing a used booster a reality and they already want to have gigantic Earth-Mars transports? They are showing this off like it's happening next year if you didn't know anything about space travel. There should be some thought into the idea that this is highly conceptual and not going to happen that quickly. I feel like they're trying to do OLED 4k TV when they just invented the CRT. Hey guys, check out what we are going to do in the future! [media]https://youtu.be/gZpEOpeha3Y[/media] /sarcasm[/QUOTE] It's a management technique used to motivate people where you set out specific deadlines to have specific goals achieved. You can see it used quite well with Elon Musk businesses. He's lets a constant stream of cool releases keep the business in the light and makes non-employees excited for new things and makes employees motivated to work on things that are clearly defined and are seen as good for the future. This is why Elon almost always misses deadlines. He purposely cuts them closer than the businesses can handle. It makes people work hard at them and actually does cut down the effective timeline quite well. Realistically we probably won't see this thing head to mars for a good 15 years, if at all. [editline]28th September 2016[/editline] It was also to spark interest in Mars colonization and maybe inspire businesses and entrepreneurs to make moves in support industries like hydroponics or fuel processing on mars and the sort of stuff we'll need to colonize the planet. He sort of unintentionally did that with the Hyperloop. I think he was hoping this release would light a candle under world governments to make Mars efforts real.
[QUOTE=thrawn2787;51118814]Err so people are just going to live in 0 g for the trip?? What about return trips? Mars semi direct still seems like the best plan. Or Mars direct if you're a bit more ballsy.[/QUOTE] astronauts that lived on the ISS for a year straight were fine
Sure it's cool private space is developing, but the problem with all those ambitious plans to colonize other planets is that as for now they are not commercially effective, they are pure science and not gonna generate any potential short- or even middle-term revenue by themselves, which is essential for any private company, spacex included. Eventually, they will end up looking for a customer to order their transportation services, and only governments have enough money to spend on plans so ambitious and unprofitable in the short run. So in the end, it's all about if our governmens will be willing to spend money on that. [QUOTE=GHOST!!!!;51121266]While the idea of Terraforming Mars sounds good, there's always that horrible feeling that it'll end up being as much of a shit hole as Earth.[/QUOTE] So what's the problem? Are little martians gonna be sad if we build a couple of factories there? Mars is just a huge lifeless rock, so it's not like we can make it any worse. Probably moving some industries there in a really distant future when interplanetary transportation gets cheaper might make Earth a bit less of a shithole as well.
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