So who would fly on one of these... (Elon Musk and the BFR)

[turnburglar]

Last Friday at the IAC space conference in Australia Elon Musk announced his future plans for the SpaceX product line. First there was the Falcon 1. Then came the Falcon 9. Soon we may see the Falcon Heavy set off for the stars. In the next 5 years, Elon hopes to fly the BFR. Im pretty sure that means Big Falcon(?) Rocket? Not only will the BFR out lift the legendary moon mover the Saturn V, but it is supposed to be a first in propulsive landing, crew capacity, and 100% reusability. Basically Elon is the first to build humanities first reusable space craft. Capabilities of the BFR include: 150 tons to low earth orbit, lunar missions, 50 tons to mars(?), and 30 minutes to anywhere on planet earth. Thats right, he is planning on using these things like a boeing 747 and doing trips from hong kong to LA in half an hour. In the presentation he doesn't mention pricing, but on his personal instagram account he said seats would cost a smudge more than economy currently costs.


What do you guys think? Personally I am a HUGE space fan and anything to promote human space flight the better. Sending robots all over the solar system is cool, but without Boots on the Ground I just don't see anyone getting inspired like we where during the Apollo era.

SpaceX official(45 minutes of Mr. Musk talking):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdUX3ypDVwI

Answer's With Joe (9 minute break down):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRpcjRd3tQo&t=511s

[Firefly]

I will let someone else pay to get Challenger'd or Columbia'd.

I haven't lost anything in space and if the six foot 4 inch tall, green haired amazons in bikini armor want me bad enough, they will come to me.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Elon has to tickle the fancy and the light fantastic somehow, but frankly, with lay flat seats, I don’t mind long flights. 17hr EWR-BOM is like sleeping for 17 hours. And for how much? Might be cheaper to move Hong Kong closer.

[turnburglar]

Elon has to tickle the fancy and the light fantastic somehow, but frankly, with lay flat seats, I don’t mind long flights. 17hr EWR-BOM is like sleeping for 17 hours. And for how much? Might be cheaper to move Hong Kong closer.

Just the cost of a tank of Methane and a tank of Oxygen. The ENTIRE rocket is COMPLETELY reusable. No 2nd stages with expensive motors falling in the ocean or million dollar fairings that get discarded. In fact methane and Oxygen are some of THE cheapest fuels around. **** you OPEC.

[JoshNC]

I would fly in one. After a few years of proven safety.

[elephant]

There is a big push for Mars right not, coming from NASA, Elon, EAS etc. I don't get it. I can see congress funding a mars expedition once for the journey there, 3-4 days exploring-collecting samples and then returning to earth but once they discover that the Mars project cost $3 trillion for some rocks and dirt, it will never happen again. Same reason we don't go to the moon anymore, it cost a fortune and there is absolutely no benefit to humanity.

[NYH1]

I don't know about that elephant. There's a lot of people that should be sent to both Mars and the Moon for the benefit of humanity!

NYH1.

[turnburglar]

I don't think Mars is the ideal first staging ground for humanity. Personally I think our efforts need to be focused on the Moon and then Mercury for the most efficient manifestation of our solar system.

Elephant- The way the Mars-Earth transfer periods line up: you can't do a "3-4 day mission" to mars. Iirc its either a month or 2 year stay until you can come back to earth. Also I hate to bear false witness, but I think Elon is being overly optimistic when he says a trip to mars will only take 3 months. I don't know what Delta V he is using in that figure, but from other reputable sources (the cosmic train schedule) Mars trips take anywhere from 6 to 9 full months. Personally I don't think mars is doable until we can bring our power with us. We don't even need full blown fusion technology, just a good portable thermal nuclear generator would be nice. Unfortunately we kinda have a ban on flying gear like that.

[SteyrAUG]

I don't think Mars is the ideal first staging ground for humanity. Personally I think our efforts need to be focused on the Moon and then Mercury for the most efficient manifestation of our solar system.

I don't think humans are ever going to do anything on Mercury.

[turnburglar]

I don't think humans are ever going to do anything on Mercury.

Why not? It makes the perfect staging ground for an inter solar hub with a year lasting only 88 days, where Mars has a 640(?) day year?The way that the Hohmann transfer method works: the planet moving fastest around its sun has more 'windows' to fly out of to the other planets relative to a year. I could fly from Earth to mercury, then to mars faster than just earth to mars. I know the surface temperature seems steep, but when you get to Mercury's North pole you have an abundant supply of water ice and a much more friendly -90C to -170C. Mercury is also probably one of the richest planets in the system. It's small size produces a ton of gravity meaning it is very dense in metals.

Im in the process of writing a paper actually on how we would 'do' Mercury, and the technological requirements aren't that far off from what it would take to do the moon. Think of Mercury as the most strategic position in the solar system if your whole goal is to fit trillions of humans around our star.