I've been following Space X and, boy, are they plunging ahead into the future. If you have not seen those rockets land themselves vertically yet, check it out. If they can do that, it makes you wonder what the future of airliners will be. Now that their vehicle is certified by NASA, their first operational flight with a crew of four looks like it's going to be tomorrow night. The problem isn't weather at the launch site, but getting the boat where the rocket lands itself out of rough seas.

I've been looking forward to their Starship's 15 km test flight. Talk about something right off of a 1950s science fiction novel. Best case scenario, it cuts engines 15 km up, does a belly flop and plummets to the earth to ignite its engines again at the last second, overcorrect, then touch down on the pad. I don't think that's what we'll see whenever it goes up (maybe next month), but I hope they avoid a RUD and get some data to work with. It had a problem with one of the Raptor engines on the last static test, but disaster was averted by a safety feature--when pressure get to high the pipe just blows. They're changing out the engine. So what do you think? Is Elon Musk a visionary or recklessly moving too fast? Should we stick with the old school non-reusable 18.6 billion dollar SLS rockets and Lockheed Martin's (familiar looking) Orion Space Capsule? Will we make it back to the Moon by 2024? Mars in our lifetime? (Well, some of us are older than others, but here's hoping.)

Elon's a visionary. Space X has already achieved the major milestone of Crew Dragon; human payload to and from the ISS..

I am a big fan of SpaceX. They are pushing forward confidently, and making great progress. I would love to see humans walking on Mars in my lifetime.

That's an easy fix: All they have to do is reroute the nanoflow through Jeffries Tube Number Four, then reconfigure the Dilithium Crystals for endothermic propulsion. Scotty would have that done in ten minutes.

Ah.. but are you aware of the latest Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain interface recently fitted? May need to factor in another 2 hours to the repair and and maybe a cup of really strong, hot tea for good measure... 

Musk reminds me of Mr. Draxx in Moonraker

44 minutes ago, Chock said:

That's an easy fix: All they have to do is reroute the nanoflow through Jeffries Tube Number Four, then reconfigure the Dilithium Crystals for endothermic propulsion. Scotty would have that done in ten minutes.

B'Elanna Torres could probably have done it in nine

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

B'Elanna Torres could probably have done it in nine

I thought that was just a rumour or a fantasy...

Oh... You meant nine minutes and not Seven of Nine...  OOPS..

20 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

Will we make it back to the Moon by 2024? Mars in our lifetime?

I am 71 yo. Moon, I may see it. Mars, more dubious, we'll see. But Europa never. Remember

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS—EXCEPT EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.

The new appropriations bill cut NASA funding some and Jim Bridenstine has already signaled he's not staying. Maybe the Moon in 2028. If Elon Musk had the billions and time NASA has has wasted just on the Artemis project, we'd already have Pizza Huts on Mars.

4 hours ago, Chock said:

Scotty would have that done in ten minutes.

But he would have said it would take ten hours.

4 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

B'Elanna Torres could probably have done it in nine

And Chief O'brien would have rebuilt DS9's upper pylon 3 in 8.

1 hour ago, Tim_Capps said:

The new appropriations bill cut NASA funding some and Jim Bridenstine has already signaled he's not staying. Maybe the Moon in 2028. If Elon Musk had the billions and time NASA has has wasted just on the Artemis project, we'd already have Pizza Huts on Mars.

 

Elon's Martian ambitions are funded by Skylink. And Starship is intended for Mars, the Moon and beyond.

Regardless as to what NASA are funded to do, the future of space exploration is with the private sector. And Elon may be a bit ambitious with time frames, but he usually makes it happen.