Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14007554)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Starship test vehicle under assembly will look similar to this illustration when finished. Operational Starships would obv have windows, etc. <a href="https://t.co/D8AJ01mjyR">pic.twitter.com/D8AJ01mjyR</a></p>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1081576707365064704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Originally Posted by keg in kc (Post 14007761)

Honestly, I haven't kept much interest in any of the companies after it turned out everybody was going to continue using old school rocket designs rather than developing newer concepts like aerospikes. I get why (profit, faster time table) but it doesn't really...inspire me, I guess, to pay real close attention. It sort of feels like watching the 60s all over again, which is cool but...it doesn't really feel like we're going anywhere new. Not that I was alive then, of course, but being a child of the 70s, space was always kind of a big deal. Point being that I'm watching launches now (and I do watch sometimes, it's still neat...) that look pretty much like launches I watched forty years ago. Yeah the computer tech is incredibly advanced now and we can land them on ships in the middle of the ocean, but it just feels...old, at a fundamental level to see us still using basically the same kind of engines we had fifty years ago. Or eighty...

Maybe the kid inside 45-year old me just expected us to have a much cooler, much more space-explore-y world than we do at this point in time.

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 14007816)

You care more about engine nozzle design more than reusability?

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14007831)

I get where he's coming from. Things were pretty stagnant for a long time. But what it comes down to is that cost is the barrier to doing crazier stuff, so reusability is as important as the general design.

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14007831)

I get where he's coming from. Things were pretty stagnant for a long time. But what it comes down to is that cost is the barrier to doing crazier stuff, so reusability is as important as the general design.

Originally Posted by keg in kc (Post 14007855)

Exactly. It's commercial, so everything comes down to the financial. There's not really anything inspiring there, to me. Which is what I think's been missing since the mid-70's and the end of the Apollo program. Because while I enjoyed the spectacle of the launches and the missions, I didn't like that we wasted an entire generation on the space shuttle, and I'm not sure we're doing much new now. And I don't know what this business version of the space race is going to do for us in terms of space exploration moving forward. Although I think the advances of the Chinese and Indian space programs could spur the US as a nation to do more. Although maybe not with fiscal conservatives in change of the purse strings.



I realize I'm saying this the same week we see the first pictures of Ultima Thule.

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14011208)

I thought this was fun to give a sense of scale to Starship compared to Dragon.

https://i.redd.it/7hmvdc55ms821.jpg

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14007875)

I think people will start to get more excited if we can get a base going on the moon (and, eventually, boots on Mars). Until then, I totally get why you'd be underwhelmed (though I personally think this is the most exciting time we've had since Apollo).

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 14011231)

Hadn't seen this before today:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uSfo2RBxFEs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Originally Posted by RINGLEADER (Post 14011218)

That's impressive.

Thanks again to you for keeping this thread going -- it is always interesting and informative.

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14011242)

They're rapidly iterating on the design, so that's even a little out of date, but the basic gist is still the same. Most notably, they're planning for Starship to be made of stainless steel at this point, so it'll be very shiny (and look like something from science fiction for sure).

Elon has alluded to giving a full update in a few months.

Originally Posted by Donger (Post 14011250)

Yeah, it started off with one "fin" IIRC... Ummm, Elon?

And I hope they don't paint it.

Originally Posted by DaFace (Post 14011278)

I think he said they can't paint it even if they wanted to. I certainly don't understand the physics behind it well, but as I understand it, stainless steel is a good conductor of heat. So the gist is that the entire thing will be one giant heat shield, and they'll have liquid cooling under the surface to move heat around even more.

Or something like that.