Very excited for what is becoming an IAC level event for BFR. 1) Get my schedule clear for this evening.2) Catch up with the excellent L2 threads on this (more info heavy, render heavy, industry input and better than the fast moving threads in the open forum).3) Webcast on.4) Let BFR updates wash over me.
Guess I am going to miss this live as it starts at 2am UK time.
Quote from: speedevil on 09/17/2018 08:18 pmIt would tell you about the landing hardware being good, and your crane/... working properly.At the right time of day, the thermal environments are broadly comparable, and the atmosphere being 0% instead of 1% does not really matter for much stuff, as martian wind is usually close to negligible.It is also essentially free to do, if you are doing tests of multiple tanker loads into one BFS.Other than the risk of landing/taking off, there is if not zero cost, very close to zero cost.And - well - obviously possibly negative cost if you sell first tourist on the moon.Once that first BFR tourist sets foot on the Moon and the precedent is set, then it'll set off a huge stampede - a gold rush - and Musk will have to beat off those billionaires with a stick.Even if Musk himself isn't among the initial passengers, he'd probably get there soon enough.Will the Moon - a very fascinating destination in its own right - take SpaceX on a detour?
It would tell you about the landing hardware being good, and your crane/... working properly.At the right time of day, the thermal environments are broadly comparable, and the atmosphere being 0% instead of 1% does not really matter for much stuff, as martian wind is usually close to negligible.It is also essentially free to do, if you are doing tests of multiple tanker loads into one BFS.Other than the risk of landing/taking off, there is if not zero cost, very close to zero cost.And - well - obviously possibly negative cost if you sell first tourist on the moon.
Quote from: Star One on 09/17/2018 07:45 pmGuess I am going to miss this live as it starts at 2am UK time.As I type this I'm asleep with an alarm set to wake me up at 1:30. Well I would be if I wasn't too excited to sleep.
Quote from: sanman on 09/17/2018 08:33 pmQuote from: speedevil on 09/17/2018 08:18 pmIt would tell you about the landing hardware being good, and your crane/... working properly.At the right time of day, the thermal environments are broadly comparable, and the atmosphere being 0% instead of 1% does not really matter for much stuff, as martian wind is usually close to negligible.It is also essentially free to do, if you are doing tests of multiple tanker loads into one BFS.Other than the risk of landing/taking off, there is if not zero cost, very close to zero cost.And - well - obviously possibly negative cost if you sell first tourist on the moon.Once that first BFR tourist sets foot on the Moon and the precedent is set, then it'll set off a huge stampede - a gold rush - and Musk will have to beat off those billionaires with a stick.Even if Musk himself isn't among the initial passengers, he'd probably get there soon enough.Will the Moon - a very fascinating destination in its own right - take SpaceX on a detour?If Shotwell and others insist he's too important to SpaceX to be allowed to go we'll know he's reached peak Delos. D. Harriman.
It's all well and good that tourists are paying their way for flights to the Moon - but at what point will NASA seek to get in on the act? At what point will NASA seek to contract with SpaceX to facilitate NASA's own missions to the Moon, and what form are such missions likely to take? Or could this run afoul of the SLS lobby?
Okay - low value post here. But hope it lives!To show how much I’m looking forward to SpaceX’s, er, update tonight, this is my night...Due to predicted weather, Amy (my wife) and I have found ourselves in Cuttyhunk Island on our boat Sequel (aka, middle of nowhere). There is basically zero cell service here. Zero. So I am dinghy-ing to shore to hike up the to the top hill at of the center of the island at 9:00 PM in the pitch black to hunker down in the howling wind and cold to pick up (I hope) enough radio waves to watch. Amy thinks I’m nuts - but I think folks here get it...
Quote from: Ludus on 09/17/2018 08:00 pmElon’s casually tweeting that yes, what the heck, let’s land BFS on the Moon before landing on Mars, would probably have gotten more attention if so much else wasn’t going on.So, a moon-landing it is then, eh? Sounds like a plan. Better to test your off-world landing capability on the nearby Moon, before journeying all the way to Mars.If BFS is going to be landed on the Moon, what would it likely take with it besides passengers?
Elon’s casually tweeting that yes, what the heck, let’s land BFS on the Moon before landing on Mars, would probably have gotten more attention if so much else wasn’t going on.
*IF* BFR+BFS is ready before SLS+Orion, NASA will work with SpaceX. It won't be without internal and external drama, but the alternative is a NASA that loses a lot of its relevance and importance. Is there as possible future where SpaceX and Blue Origin have regular supply flights to a commercial lunar base, and NASA just putters along with the lunar gateway station supplied and visited by SLS+Orion? Sure, but I don't see it as plausible.
Quote from: Lars-J on 09/17/2018 10:06 pm*IF* BFR+BFS is ready before SLS+Orion, NASA will work with SpaceX. It won't be without internal and external drama, but the alternative is a NASA that loses a lot of its relevance and importance. Is there as possible future where SpaceX and Blue Origin have regular supply flights to a commercial lunar base, and NASA just putters along with the lunar gateway station supplied and visited by SLS+Orion? Sure, but I don't see it as plausible.So should this BFR lunar flyby announcement be seen as Musk's opening shot to ensure that SpaceX gets a piece of the lunar pie being held out by the US govt? With the US National Space Council declaring a return to the Moon being its near term goal, then surely SpaceX doesn't want to be left out of the running for that, since NASA contracts have been a center-pole for SpaceX's business model.Should we see this newest design update as "Lunar BFR"?
