Post by Rickster on Nov 24, 2015 12:25:17 GMT -6
SOURCE:
A couple of questions here and a comment. Who do we think is going to be the first in space to mine an asteroid? Will it be Jeff Bezos of Amazon or will it be Elon Musk of Tesla Motors? I am going with Bezos the financial powerhouse. I really didn't even know he had a company called Blue Origin created just for this.
A hundred times cheaper, faster, cheaper, more efficient, the American way. Production line space shots, makes you wonder if in the future will it be the Ford versus Chevrolet argument.
Interesting stuff for my lifetime, I remember the landing on the moon, the total Apollo Program. The Shuttle Program, and now the first successful test shot to take off and land from the same pad.
One thing I wanted to point out here for the moon landing controversy that pretty much everyone will have forgotten is what happens on the return of Blue Origins Rocket. Did everyone notice the blast and the dust cloud created just before it landed? Rocketdyne was the company that manufactured the moon lander rocket engine said it produced 15,000 lbs. of thrust. Check the video of the moon landing and you decide if the moon soil looks disturbed to you. The silty dust showed easily the boot prints of the astronauts as they walked across the moon. They made sure we saw that in the video. But when the launch happens and the lander leaves the moons surface there isn't even a scar left behind. Just wondering if anyone noticed these things.
"Jeff Bezos just announced a historical feat: Blue Origin, his space company, successfully launched its New Shepard rocket to 329,839 feet — or sub-orbital space — then safely landed the used rocket just a feet away from the launch pad. This is the first time a controlled landing was demonstrated for a rocket, beating Elon Musk’s similar efforts to safely land his Falcon 9 rocket. This monumental milestone suggests reusable rockets will shortly become a reality, revolutionizing space flight in the process."
A couple of questions here and a comment. Who do we think is going to be the first in space to mine an asteroid? Will it be Jeff Bezos of Amazon or will it be Elon Musk of Tesla Motors? I am going with Bezos the financial powerhouse. I really didn't even know he had a company called Blue Origin created just for this.
"When the space shuttle was first designed, its makers intended on building the very first partially reusable craft capable of sending cargo or people into space and then return. The vision was extremely seducing: you launch the craft and then within a few days it would be ready to fly again, greatly reducing cost and thus help spearhead humanity into a truly golden space age. Reality: the shuttle’s turnaround time ended up lasting months instead of days, and the average cost per flight amounted to about US$1.5 billion until 2008 when the program was canceled.
The space shuttle wasn’t a bad idea. The problem with it was that it lacked its own launch system. The shuttle was still dependent on rockets to propel it to dazzling height and velocity to reach orbital space, and like all rockets once these launched they were forever lost, crashing into the desert or ocean. What a waste. You can see now how reusable rockets fit into the picture. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, says that reusable rockets could potentially slice payload costs by 100 fold. Imagine what could happen to the space industry if launches are 100 times cheaper? More sophisticated satellites can be launched more often, as well as cargo and fresh crew to the Internationals Space Station. Space tourism might even turn into a thing, and not just for the rich and powerful – maybe for the middle class, too."
The space shuttle wasn’t a bad idea. The problem with it was that it lacked its own launch system. The shuttle was still dependent on rockets to propel it to dazzling height and velocity to reach orbital space, and like all rockets once these launched they were forever lost, crashing into the desert or ocean. What a waste. You can see now how reusable rockets fit into the picture. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, says that reusable rockets could potentially slice payload costs by 100 fold. Imagine what could happen to the space industry if launches are 100 times cheaper? More sophisticated satellites can be launched more often, as well as cargo and fresh crew to the Internationals Space Station. Space tourism might even turn into a thing, and not just for the rich and powerful – maybe for the middle class, too."
"That’s exactly what Blue Origin is after – space tourism. The company’s mission right now is to offer normal people (ok, the rich for now) the “astronaut experience.” It’s recent successful run of New Shepard is a sample taste for what’s to come."
Interesting stuff for my lifetime, I remember the landing on the moon, the total Apollo Program. The Shuttle Program, and now the first successful test shot to take off and land from the same pad.
One thing I wanted to point out here for the moon landing controversy that pretty much everyone will have forgotten is what happens on the return of Blue Origins Rocket. Did everyone notice the blast and the dust cloud created just before it landed? Rocketdyne was the company that manufactured the moon lander rocket engine said it produced 15,000 lbs. of thrust. Check the video of the moon landing and you decide if the moon soil looks disturbed to you. The silty dust showed easily the boot prints of the astronauts as they walked across the moon. They made sure we saw that in the video. But when the launch happens and the lander leaves the moons surface there isn't even a scar left behind. Just wondering if anyone noticed these things.