Closer to Mars

[DrEvil]

:clown

The eagerness of people to suck billionaire cock will never cease to amaze me.

Yes, because thinking that what he achieved is awesome is the same as thinking that the man himself is a great person.

[seemslikeadream]

:clown

The eagerness of people to suck billionaire cock will never cease to amaze me.

Wow even I wouldn't use that language with my favorite billionaire grifter who will remain nameless...but it does fit the bill

[82_28]

I cannot believe the radness that was that launch and landing is seriously being bickered over. Musk and his team have shown that indeed we are one step closer to literally going to Mars and elsewhere. I don't know how anyone cannot not get excited and moved by this. Alas, the comments I've seen some places about this sadly reflect a pitiful grasp of science. And more than that, some with very little fascination. Society hopelessly mired in ignorance and ADD.

[Rory]

Science.

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/why-not-space/

We are stuck on Earth for good. Cry, accept, rage, affect apathy, whatever. It isn't going to happen. God. I'm so happy you all enjoyed the firework show. That's all it was. And all it will ever be.

[seemslikeadream]

I just saw the rockets land ...that was amazing!!

[Burnt Hill]

So is that tesla a satellite now?

[Elvis]

It just occurred to me—it seems there is life on Mars, and if there is, we should probably stay away.

For the forseeable future, anyway, until there can be some assurance we won't ruin, kill, spoil and pollute life on Mars.

[dada]

Science.

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/why-not-space/

We are stuck on Earth for good. Cry, accept, rage, affect apathy, whatever. It isn't going to happen. God. I'm so happy you all enjoyed the firework show. That's all it was. And all it will ever be.

Often, arguments can be avoided by prefacing or ending declarative statements with "in my opinion."

Of course, you may be looking to get a rise out of your fellow posters. You sick bastard. ha

The guy in that article starts off with "We are attracted to the narrative that our primitive progenitors crawled out of the ocean, just as we’ll crawl off our home planet (en masse) some day. I’m not going to claim that this vision is false: how could I know that? But I will point out a few of the unappreciated difficulties with this view."

Then he proceeds to list where, in his opinion, some of the difficulties lie. The logistical problems as he sees them are daunting, certainly. The logistical problems as I see them are daunting, as well. Still, I don't think it will stop us.

At the very least, if we hold off the mass extinction of the species for awhile longer, the first colonizers will travel to other planets at snail speeds, live in very dangerous conditions, struggle to terraform harsh environments, die in all kinds of new and interesting ways.

What's not to like? Given the choice to die pioneering space, or die here, I'd sure sign up.

And conditions can change in ways we can't predict. Seemingly airtight scientific paradigms have broken down before. Usually beginning with one or two scientists 'thinking out of the box,' in the face of expert naysayers.

[Iamwhomiam]

Yes, BH that Tesla is our first and hopefully, last automobile in near-earth orbit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=aBr2kKAHN6M

I watched a slightly different video of the landings linked to at the conclusion of the first before scrolling down to see you had posted both. (it was longer, about 9 minutes)

Thanks for posting it, Blue.

I think it is a great achievement and Musk is rightfully due our praise. To condemn him for his success in advancing our transportation is simply foolish, Rory. Besides, how's a poor man capable of such things. Nearly every pauper who invented some advancement becomes wealthy. Are you arguing we should not put forth the effort to be creative? It sure seems so.

In my book, there's a big difference between billionaire Zuckerberg and billionaire Musk and Musk comes out as far superior in ranking of benefit to humanity. Go after billionaires, but those that only take without offering any public benefit, like so many of today's politicians do, if you feel the need to go after perpetual public teat transgressors.

This is the video I watched after viewing your first:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFfHB-0xH-o

I got a kick out watching the flames of the rockets engines flicker, just like imagined in the old 1950s Buck Rogers serials, and then to watch the side tanks land vertically as Buck's ship sometimes did was really quite amazing, especially being synchronized as they were. Very cool!

[Rory]

Decry the bad badness of climate change

Cheer the vapid nonsense of a marketing ploy that does more harm to the climate than a million cars driving for a year

[Iamwhomiam]

Had you criticized the rocket's negative environmental impact I would have agreed with you, but you didn't. Instead you criticized the billionaire for accumulating wealth from his creations, and there are far better targets to demean if you want to go after billionaires.

Let's not pretend Musk's success with the Tesla hasn't forced the hand of the auto manufacturing industry to begin large-scale production of their own electric models, and that's better for our health and environment and Musk deserves due recognition in steering us away from carbon spewing internal combustion automobiles.

[Rory]

He hasn't made a cent from his creations. That's the point of calling him a subsidy grifter - he's a billionaire off the back of subsidies, not profit, from his distinctly unprofitable enterprises, ones that without massive injections of public monies would never be built. You can argue if that's a good thing or not (it's not, so..).

[Iamwhomiam]

He hasn't made a cent from his creations. That's the point of calling him a subsidy grifter - he's a billionaire off the back of subsidies, not profit, from his distinctly unprofitable enterprises, ones that without massive injections of public monies would never be built. You can argue if that's a good thing or not (it's not, so..).

Wow! So that's how he earned his first billion, from government authorized and approved subsidies? You sure he didn't find the Leprechaun's gold at the end of a rainbow? I was under the impression he earned his millions by selling PayPay to eBay. In 2012 he was worth $2 billion; only 6 months earlier Forbes place his net worth at $650 million. Today he's topped $20 billion.

And you believe the majority of his wealth comes from gleaning governmental subsidies. Read this Forbes article from 2012:

How Elon Musk Became A Billionaire Twice Over
https://www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2012/03/12/how-elon-musk-became-a-billionaire-twice-over/#2886b3351c88

[Elvis]

In most companies, this would be a sin:

In 2014, Musk announced that Tesla would allow its technology patents to be used by anyone in good faith in a bid to entice automobile manufacturers to speed up development of electric cars

If anyone wants to know how Musk made his money, it's not, er, rocket science: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk


P.S. Good article, iam.

[BenDhyan]

It is on the way to the Asteroid Belt apparently....

Musk's Tesla has a new orbit, and its headed for the asteroid belt

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster apparently took a wrong turn in space, apparently overshooting the Mars orbit, and is headed instead for the asteroid belt.

The plan was for the rocket’s second stage ignition to put it on an elliptical orbit around the Sun, that extends out to Mars – however, it looks like SpaceX miscalculated its strength.



The final engine burn that was supposed to put the vehicle on its pre-desired orbit was stronger than expected and propelled the payload on an orbit through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, The Verge reported.

Musk previously told The New York Times there is an “extremely tiny” chance it could crash into the Red Planet, but with the new trajectory, it’s unclear if another obstacle in space will cross the car’s path.

Despite the new orbit, the successful Heavy launched offered a glimpse into the reenergized future of space travel, with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) calling it testament to the hard work of the U.S. commercial launch sector.

"The test launch of the Falcon Heavy is a spectacular demonstration of the comeback of Florida’s Space Coast and of the U.S. commercial launch sector, which is succeeding in a big way.," said Nelson on the Senate floor, discussing the launch.

President Donald Trump also offered his praise on the achievement via Twitter, saying the launch “continues to show American ingenuity at its best.”

Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/02/07/musks-tesla-has-new-orbit-and-its-headed-for-asteroid-belt.html