While we were watching, B13 declared that he wants to work at NASA when he grows up. Or the Jet Propulsion Lab. Hopefully, this inspires a whole generation of kids who have never seen American spaceflight.
Aerospace has been dying for 30 years, and many senior aerospace engineers I know (including my wife) stuck around because they love it in spite of the dwindling opportunities. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president, was leaving aerospace for real estate when Musk asked her to join SpaceX early on. If nothing else, I hope SpaceX's (and Blue Origin's among many other's) engineering breakthroughs really translate to better economics to get to space, which sets the table for new kinds of businesses and scientific breakthroughs.
will be interested in studying science, biology in particular, with hope of a future in medical research.
It's the Wild West right now in the space industry. There are so many companies now working on NewSpace initiatives, it's hard to keep them all straight. Smallsats have revolutionized the industry, and proliferated low Earth orbit constellations are all the rage. There are companies now 3D printing launch vehicles.
It's a gold rush. There is a ton of VC and Government funding available (mostly foreign, but also a lot domestic).
I work in the industry. I've submitted more proposals for putting our technology in space in the last two years than in the previous 20. It's mayhem.
The problem is gross tonnage. All the cube sats weight 1/100 of an old school satellite, and there aren’t enough of them to replace the lost revenue. I recall an analysis of this from Tren Griffin, a senior employee at Teledesic back in the day, showing it not trending well. Vector Launch just went into Chapter 11 after struggling with this differentiation despite huge VC money. There will be many more.
The Perseverance rover is scheduled to launch July 17.
Of Course I Still Love You.....
I think it's a lot of people that didn't grow up with the space race or space program and now feel like everything hasn't been done before when it totally has. Maybe I'm bitter the shuttle program basically faded as I grew up.
I've seen some companies - led by big names like SpaceX and Blue Origin - that have spearheaded a lot of new tech development. Things like reusable rockets, very large satellite constellations, and small satellite tech. Great stuff.
But for every one of those, I've seen about five companies that never should have gotten off the drawing board. It seems like Newspace culture brings out the worst elements of Silicon Valley startups. From how they treat their personnel to the obfuscation about their business plan, even as far as never intending to accomplish what they set out to do.
So yeah, it's hard for me to get excited about Newspace, either, but I have a healthy amount of respect for what SpaceX has accomplished here.
There's a huge amount of activity there, but they all seem to be focused on the same customers with novelty technology that isn't clear if it will really give some substantial benefit.
To your point, fundamentally rewriting the economics of getting to space, both LEO and beyond, is worthy of both celebration and optimism for what could be next.
But it goes beyond that. Some of these companies are simply a cash grab. They have no intention of completing the task they state to the VCs when fundraising.
In two companies that I'm familiar with, the products would fundamentally violate the laws of physics. For one in particular, it's likely a front to produce a similar tech that could be used for more...nefarious purposes.
Get something out there, and figure out how to make money on it later. Access to LEO is so cheap now, high schools are launching microsatts.
...there were 165 “satellite” companies out there. Maybe one or two would make it. Reference OneWeb going tits up, and they were well capitalized!
Talk about a financially well-run company. They kept their head down, paid off debt, and are now planning to pay out a dividend. I found it impressive as you hear so little about them as compared to the big Telco plays.
Or the computer. It fills an entire floor after all.
Although at this point, that is pretty old hat.
The next big thing for space will be Starship and Super Heavy. If SpaceX can get that working, that will not only be the world's tallest and heaviest rocket, but also a huge step forward in reusability as the entire rocket will be reusable.
If nothing else, the development makes for some entertaining TV.
I read it was the third major failure of a Starship engine test. Optimist in me says SpaceX is good at analyzing and adapting to these failure scenarios.
The previous three were tank failures. This one appears to be a failure with the Ground Support Equipment. Speculation is that the hoses that feed liquid methane to the rocket separated after the engine fire. All that free propellant caught fire and destroyed the vehicle.
The important part of the failures is that they've had three failures in four months. The rate of improvement is impressive. They just destroyed SN4 and SN5 is already ready to put on the test stand (thought the test stand will need to be rebuilt). The failures are setting them back weeks rather than years.
It was pretty badass watching the first launch. It was awesome going to the cape and watching Sally Ride on her first mission.
I think SpaceX is more important and will result in a deeper, more meaningful impact on humankind. Cheap affordable access to Space is what was supposed to be the promise of the shuttle. It was never realized.
It will be a huge event. Not 1969 level, but a big deal. The video alone will be amazing.
If we said we wanted to go the moon ASAP, how long would it take to get there?
I kid.
I suppose the computer revolution was a natural off shoot of the space race, but the Shuttle was an expensive diversion that was value engineered to be jack of all trades, master of none.
Fight the power!
‘Of course I Still Love You’ is the name of the drone ship the first stage lands on.
It has come a long way since Mercury, but it has taken way too long. Compliments and thanks to Elon Mosk and Spacex.
Sounds like I should be glad I wasn’t watching CNN
Most (possibly all?) are named after "Minds" from the series, which are essentially hyper-intelligent AIs. Many Minds are individual ships. I'd recommend the series to anyone who is a fan of science fiction. Start with "Player of Games".
That is so cool.
It was awesome and terrifying at the same time.
Felt like I held my breath until the 1st stage separated, and then really was overcome with a "hell yeah" once they hit SECO. And seeing that first stage upright on the deck of that barge was pretty cool...some incredible technology at work there.
I'm an avowed space junkie. Probably caught 7-8 shuttle launches while I lived in North Central Florida during the late 90s/early 2000s.
In a traditional stacked configuration since Skylab 4 in 1973.
1st launch of a new American human rated traditional stack rocket since since Apollo 7 on 10/11/1968.
At 25 seconds left in countdown they flash a picture of the rocket already in the air.
Coverage was flawless.
I was openly crying throughout the launch. Columbia’s first launch was on my birthday back in 1981 and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
aspect that the early Shuttle coverage had - seems like there was a lot more "up close" and "personal" filler today.
ANd yeah, tears in my eyes.
I started to tear uo with memories of the Apollo launches while saying Hail Marys for a safe takeoff. Loved seeing it!
school late for Columbia’s first launch, as I recall they had a brief delay. I was in Kindergarten.
I always like the higher res view that shows the whole landing sequence. Guess it can't happen instantaneously, as the bandwidth is limited on the ocean. Maybe StarLink will fix that?
Usually SpaceX releases the on-board recording, but given the focus being on the capsule for this mission, it is possible they won't.
Should have guessed it was directional transmission instead of omni.
I recall seeing Elon post it first on Twitter.
Go Hot Dog, GO!!!!
Congrats to everyone involved!