Elon Musk is currently doing an AMA on r/spaceX

[Morgen]

Over now, answered questions below.
Thread:[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/?st=iun65c3z&sh=42069c74[/url]
[QUOTE]Standard subreddit rules will apply in the AMA thread, and rest assured that we [B]will be removing fluff questions[/B] mercilessly. Make sure to [B]research your question before asking it[/B], so that so we're not asking things that have already been answered. In particular, watch the IAC video again; if your question is answered in the Mars Architecture presentation, don't ask it again. Also read through our excellent Community-built FAQ beforehand!
[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/58yc14/elon_musk_will_be_doing_an_ama_on_rspacex_at_3pm/[/url]

[URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ri32/?st=iun7en13&sh=7f5f99fc"]Link to acronym explanations.[/URL]

[B]Links to answers[/B]:
First answered question: [QUOTE]What equipment and procedures will be required for refueling operations on Mars? Will they be designed to function autonomously for the initial unmanned test flight?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ss5a/?context=3&st=iun723sl&sh=83bed104[/url]

Second answered question: [QUOTE]As a follow-up[from the previous question], considering the synodal reuse of the ITS spaceships, what form of permanent habitation do you foresee? Shipped modules or an (eventual) shift to in-situ resource utilization such as Martian rigolith/plastic-reinforced concrete structures?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94t2bv/?context=3&st=iun79n61&sh=2561f9be[/url]

Third answered question:[QUOTE]What SpaceX technology/material still requires the most development for ITS to be a success?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94tbej/?context=3&st=iun7hd46&sh=5a53fa9c[/url]

Fourth answered question: [QUOTE]In addition, what technology (if any) do you think you have nailed down/mastered at this point?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94tk41/?context=3&st=iun7nwfm&sh=d396f720[/url]

Fifth answered question: [QUOTE]What level of completion is the interior habitable area layout of ITS at, and when might we expect to see renderings of it?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94trp9/?context=3&st=iun7uwb2&sh=8dc1d5e2[/url]

Sixth answered questions: [QUOTE]As an add-on, how differently will the ITS be configured internally for a smaller crew (such as the first one) vs. a full 100-man crew?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94txm0/?context=3&st=iun7zqa5&sh=9d96575d[/url]

Seventh answered question: [QUOTE]Can you divulge what the Vacuum Thrust+Isp figures are for the Sea-Level Raptor variant?
The ITS booster is able to hover. Will it ever use this capability to better ensure a successful landing at the expense of some small gravity losses, or is it hoverslams all the way?
What is the expected maximum acceleration that the ITS booster can withstand during entry/landing?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94u6zk/?context=3&st=iun87g2w&sh=b7005982[/url]

Eighth answered question:[QUOTE] If I recall correctly on one of the slides it mentioned that there it will be 4-6 G's upon reentry. It does not specify, however, whether that will be during the landing burn or aerobreaking. It would be nice if that is clarified as well.[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ub7h/?context=3&st=iun8bsbo&sh=5c1814eb[/url]

Ninth answered question: [QUOTE]We got a pretty good idea of what a Mars EDL looks like, but can you explain how the ITS and the Tanker plan to do an Earth EDL? Having talked with you at IAC about the Mars entry, we learned that there's very powerful thrusters that can handle attitude control. These work great for the Martian atmosphere, but what about on earth? There doesn't appear to be grid fins and the thrusters obviously have less authority here on earth, so what's the trick?
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[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ukv8/?context=3&st=iun8jx1y&sh=647242c5[/url]

Tenth answered question:[QUOTE]I think one of the most shocking things in your ITS presentation for many people was the full size carbon fiber tank SpaceX built. Here it is for those who haven't seen it. Can you tell us a little bit more about the design, construction, and role of that particular test article?
[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94urs2/?context=3&st=iun8py6w&sh=c8968319[/url]

Eleventh answered question:[QUOTE]Overall is the landing architecture of ITS booster and distances needed to be covered to be same as Falcon 9’s? Boostback, re-entry burn, landing burn?
Could you give us nuggets on what changes the ”final” Falcon 9 version (”v1.3”) you mentioned will have? Uprated engines obviously from 170k to 190k lbf, but what else? Is it mostly geared towards reusabilty over performance?
Gwynne mentioned 2 weeks ago that F9 v1.2 will be reused only once or twice while ”v1.3” should be reused up to 10 times. Can you talk about what are the limiting factors for Falcon 9 reuse?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94v8p8/?context=3&st=iun955fc&sh=3c6cd6f7[/url]

Twelfth answered question:[QUOTE]ITS Spaceship design question II.:
The ITS Spaceship has two mystical spherical tanks, marked green in this slightly edited image. The whole tank design looks very exciting, and there's rampant speculation on this sub about the purpose of those spherical tanks:
are they for landing fuel?
... or are they storing 'hot' gaseous propellants as part of the autogenous propellant pressurization system?
... or are they used for on-orbit propellant densification to store vapor before it's liquefied again?
All of the above perhaps? 
[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94vcmw/?context=3&st=iun98vhi&sh=a22227dd[/url]

Thirteenth answered question:[QUOTE]Also, why does the booster only have one in 1 tank?[/QUOTE]
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94vdk1/?context=3&st=iun9ch8f&sh=43c246c1[/url]

Fourteenth answered question:[QUOTE]ITS Booster engine placement design question:
The tight cluster of 42 engines of the ITS Booster (cool number!! ) has created speculation on this sub that maybe they are packed so tighty because that way there's a "virtual nozzle" or "virtual aerospike" effect they can take advantage of: they can have shorter nozzles while most of the exhaust momentum of the inner engines is still axial.
Is there any truth to this speculation or is the tight packing done purely to scale up liftoff TWR?
(Members of this sub are torn and conflicted: some suggest it's possible - some think it's physically impossible to have any such thrust increase effect with an exhaust that has hipersonic velocities.)
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[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94vnwz/?context=3&st=iun9ij2m&sh=0acbf6e4[/url]

Fifteenth answered question:[QUOTE]ITS Spaceship capabilities question II.:
According to your IAC presentation the ITS Spaceship has a Δv budget of 7.5 km/s when returning from Mars to Earth, with 150 tons of payload. With a much smaller payload it has a Δv budget in excess of 9.0 km/s - which is amazing!
Could this unprecedented amount of Δv be used to fly between Mars and Earth even outside the launch windows enforced by the synodic period, when payload mass is not a primary factor? It could be used for emergency purposes such as medical supplies/instruments and experts, or for other high priority but low mass cargo like critical replacements.
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[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94voyh/?context=3&st=iun9kxqs&sh=1b5fe29c[/url]

[Kimr]

Morgen, are you secretly elon musk?

[Morgen]

[QUOTE=Sam Za Nemesis;51249110]Hopefully the Q&A it isn't a disaster like in the mars mission event[/QUOTE]

The SpaceX mods are pretty good at bringing down the hammer on low quality stuff.

[Bradyns]

It has begun:
[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/[/url]

[Ltp0wer]

I'm really curious what Elon thinks about governance on a future mars colony.

Has he talked about this at all? Like how big a colony would have to be before it needs some sort of government, what to do in the event of a serious crime on mars early on in a colony, etc.

How do you handle law? Would there need to be a jail on the colony to hold people until transport back to earth?

It's probably way too premature a topic.

[gman003-main]

[QUOTE=Ltp0wer;51250090]I'm really curious what Elon thinks about governance on a future mars colony.

Has he talked about this at all? Like how big a colony would have to be before it needs some sort of government, what to do in the event of a serious crime on mars early on in a colony, etc.

How do you handle law? Would there need to be a jail on the colony to hold people until transport back to earth?

It's probably way too premature a topic.[/QUOTE]

I think he tweeted once about preferring direct democracy (ie. all laws are voted on directly by citizens) but it's definitely too early to really be concerned with it.

[Bradyns]

[QUOTE=Ltp0wer;51250090]I'm really curious what Elon thinks about governance on a future mars colony.

Has he talked about this at all? Like how big a colony would have to be before it needs some sort of government, what to do in the event of a serious crime on mars early on in a colony, etc.

How do you handle law? Would there need to be a jail on the colony to hold people until transport back to earth?

It's probably way too premature a topic.[/QUOTE]

There's a talk he did at Code conference I think, I'll have a squiz - but he explained at length what kind of majorities were required to enact a law and said that a smaller majority is required to overturn or modify a law.

Yeah, it was Code:
[video=youtube;lBfi2AcGrTY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBfi2AcGrTY[/video]

[Morgen]

Over 1700 comments and he hasn't even started yet. Poor Elon.

[editline]23rd October 2016[/editline]

2000+...

[Bradyns]

Always love the [URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ri32/"]Decronym bot[/URL].

[Morgen]

First answer is to "What equipment and procedures will be required for refueling operations on Mars? Will they be designed to function autonomously for the initial unmanned test flight?"

[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ss5a/?context=3&st=iun723sl&sh=83bed104[/url]

[Bradyns]

[QUOTE=Morgen;51250233]First answer is to "What equipment and procedures will be required for refueling operations on Mars? Will they be designed to function autonomously for the initial unmanned test flight?"

[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94ss5a/?context=3&st=iun723sl&sh=83bed104[/url][/QUOTE]

Throw these in the OP - just keep editing it.
Otherwise this thread will be all over the place.

[editline]24th October 2016[/editline]

"Mars Base Alpha"
Oh, lord.. now I am having flashbacks to Moonbase Alpha.

[Arnold]

New Falcon 9 naming scheme, Falcon 9 Block 5 enters production in 3 months.

[url]https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/590wi9/i_am_elon_musk_ask_me_anything_about_becoming_a/d94v8p8/[/url]

[Morgen]

I have to go to sleep now, work in the morning. I don't know if a mod wants to keep updating the OP as he answers or not but if not i'll update it when I get home from work tomorrow.
If you want to see when he posts new stuff then just mash F5 on [url]https://www.reddit.com/user/ElonMuskOfficial[/url]

[FlandersNed]

He finished answering a bit ago.

[Archangel125]

Wait, I had no idea... They've developed a spaceship that can return to Earth from the surface of mars?

[OvB]

[QUOTE=archangel125;51250842]Wait, I had no idea... They've developed a spaceship that can return to Earth from the surface of mars?[/QUOTE]

Carry 100 humans to Mars, then return.

[ben1066]

[QUOTE=archangel125;51250842]Wait, I had no idea... They've developed a spaceship that can return to Earth from the surface of mars?[/QUOTE]

A modified Dragon can do that (Red Dragon), but yes, the ITS is meant to return from Mars to Earth.

[Archangel125]

[QUOTE=OvB;51250875]Carry 100 humans to Mars, then return.[/QUOTE]

The question is whether this ship lands, then takes off again and returns, or just detaches a landing module that is then grounded.

Because what I'm thinking of is the possibility of a person sent to Mars being able to return to Earth in the future, even if that isn't the plan.

[OvB]

[QUOTE=archangel125;51250886]The question is whether this ship lands, then takes off again and returns, or just detaches a landing module that is then grounded.

Because what I'm thinking of is the possibility of a person sent to Mars being able to return to Earth in the future, even if that isn't the plan.[/QUOTE]

The ship departs from earth, refuels in earth orbit, Flys to Mars, lands on Mars, unloads, refuels, then Flys back to Earth and lands.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qo78R_yYFA[/media]

[GordonZombie]

It'd be neat to see a proper discussion on Martian law and governance, nice to see Elon's given it some consideration. Wish I'd had a chance to ask a question myself.

[QUOTE=Bradyns;51250248]Throw these in the OP - just keep editing it.
Otherwise this thread will be all over the place.

[editline]24th October 2016[/editline]

"Mars Base Alpha"
Oh, lord.. now I am having flashbacks to Moonbase Alpha.[/QUOTE]

Obligatory old gold:
[video=youtube;Hv6RbEOlqRo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6RbEOlqRo[/video]

[MrWasabi]

[QUOTE][B]We are still far from figuring this out in detail, but the current plan is:[/B]

1. Send Dragon scouting missions, initially just to make sure we know how to land without adding a crater and then to figure out the best way to get water for the CH4/O2 Sabatier Reaction.

2. Heart of Gold spaceship flies to Mars loaded only with equipment to build the propellant plant.

3. First crewed mission with equipment to build rudimentary base and complete the propellant plant.

4. Try to double the number of flights with each Earth-Mars orbital rendezvous, which is every 26 months, until the city can grow by itself.

[/QUOTE]

It still blows my mind that this is actually going to happen.

When my Father was a kid, he watched as we people people on the moon. When my Son is around the same age, he will watch as we put people on fucking [B][I][U]MARS[/U][/I][/B].