Cont: Musk, SpaceX and future of Tesla II

[jeremyp]

Do you know how expensive the satellites are to maintain? I would think 95% of their expense is launching the satellites.

I said the cost of maintaining the satellite constellation may be too high. The satellites are designed to last for about five years which means that you have to launch a couple of thousand of them every year - to replace the ones that have failed.

I'd like to buy their Starlink mobile priority service because I often sail off shore. But $250 or a $1,000 a month is insane.

Aren't there other satellite Internet based services you could use? Unless you want to play online games on your boat, these things have existed for far longer than Starlink.

 

[acbytesla]

I said the cost of maintaining the satellite constellation may be too high. The satellites are designed to last for about five years which means that you have to launch a couple of thousand of them every year - to replace the ones that have failed.

5 years? Are you sure that's correct?

Aren't there other satellite Internet based services you could use? Unless you want to play online games on your boat, these things have existed for far longer than Starlink.

There are.

 

[The Don]

5 years? Are you sure that's correct?

There are.

A Starlink satellite has a lifespan of approximately five years and SpaceX eventually hopes to have as many as 42,000 satellites in this so-called megaconstellation.

Starlink satellites: Facts, tracking and impact on astronomy

Are Starlink satellites a grand innovation or an astronomical menace?

www.space.com

 

[Andy_Ross]

42000?

Does anyone actually think that's a good idea?

 

[The Great Zaganza]

42 000?

Does anyone actually think that's a good idea?

Only the people who hate astronomy.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Elon says

The Martians will decide how they are ruled. I recommend direct, rather than representative, democracy.

Uncrewed Starships landing on Mars in ~2 years, perhaps with crewed versions passing near Mars, and crewed Starships heading there in ~4 years are all possible.

 

[The Don]

42000?

Does anyone actually think that's a good idea?

The people making money out of building, launching and operating them probably do.8-10,000 satellites a year sounds like good, steady work with planned obsolescence.

 

[The Don]

Elon says

He really is a complete fantasist isn't he.

I certainly wouldn't be happy trusting him to supply my air, water and food.

 

[GlennB]

Elon says

He was spouting similar guff in 2016.

 

[Darat]

Elon says

Which ship manufacturer will be providing those ships?

 

[plague311]

"Promises."

As far as I know, neither SpaceX's investors nor its customers have alleged broken promises. NASA seems to be quite satisfied with SpaceX's efforts to meet its contractual obligations. Nor, as far as I know, has the government alleged any misrepresentations in tax filings, SEC filings, etc., above Musk's signature as chief executive officer of the corporation.

Musk's aspirational brochure-speak is not binding on SpaceX. It creates no obligation or commitment on the part of the company, to deliver anything Musk described, to anyone at all.

To you, I award the "wull ackshually" post of the last...week or so. I don't remember the last day I was here. This is top notch.

I'd take the time to explain the difference between "promises to public" and "contractual agreements" but what's the ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ point? I don't really care what your next contrarian blather would be anyway.

 

[a_unique_person]

Which ship manufacturer will be providing those ships?

He's going to be making 1,000 a year.

 

[welshdean]

It'd be cheaper and infinitely more achievable to throw that money at solving our climate crisis here.

 

[Andy_Ross]

He can't be king of the world here.

 

[arthwollipot]

He can't be king of the world here.

Who says?

 

[GraculusTheGreenBird]

It'd be cheaper and infinitely more achievable to throw that money at solving our climate crisis here.

This, to the Nth degree.

No matter what appalling climate change things happen here, rising sea levels or temperatures, acid rain, volcanic eruptions, mass die out of the ecosystem.. at its very very worst, Earth is STILL orders of magnitude safer and easier for life than Mars EVER WILL BE.

 

[Bogative]

My guess is that Starship is a boondoggle.

You guess it is? Starship's other HLS competitor, the SLS, definitely is.

$30,000,000,000 in taxpayer money for one rocket launch that was 6 years late. Over 6 times what it is estimated that SpaceX has spent on the entire Starship program. I'm guessing they have an interior mockup somewhere, though.

NASA has spent $26.4 billion on SLS development since 2011, through 2023, in nominal dollars. This is equivalent to $32 billion in 2024 dollars using the NASA New Start Inflation Indices.

Space Launch System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One of the SLS mobile launch platforms was originally contracted to cost $343,000,000 and be completed in 2023. It is now estimated to cost $2.7 billion and not be ready until 2027. But do go on about Musk and the Starship program.

The report added that the overall cost of the ML-2 project could reach $2.7 billion

NASA’s inspector general predicts continued cost growth for SLS mobile launch platform

A contract to build a second mobile launch platform for the Space Launch System could end up costing NASA more than six times its original value.

spacenews.com

 

[jeremyp]

You guess it is? Starship's other HLS competitor, the SLS, definitely is.

$30,000,000,000 in taxpayer money for one rocket launch that was 6 years late. Over 6 times what it is estimated that SpaceX has spent on the entire Starship program. I'm guessing they have an interior mockup somewhere, though.

Space Launch System - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

One of the SLS mobile launch platforms was originally contracted to cost $343,000,000 and be completed in 2023. It is now estimated to cost $2.7 billion and not be ready until 2027. But do go on about Musk and the Starship program.

NASA’s inspector general predicts continued cost growth for SLS mobile launch platform

A contract to build a second mobile launch platform for the Space Launch System could end up costing NASA more than six times its original value.

spacenews.com

SLS has taken a capsule around the Moon and brought it back safely.

Starship has not yet achieved orbit. By Musk's own estimates it costs $2 billion a year at the moment and by his own predictions, it is significantly later than six years. In the four years since 2020, it has slipped at least three years.

Anyway, this thread is about Musk ands SpaceX. Bringing other very expensive programmes into the conversation is whataboutery.

 

[novaphile]

Hmm...

Just watched a youtube video where a guy rescued a AWD (but not off-road capable) Tesla from the snow.

It was a pretty frustrating experience for the guy with the tow truck, because the Tesla has no hitching points anywhere on the vehicle.
(He ended up having to dig a bit of a tunnel underneath the vehicle so that he could attach to something between the front wheels).

I can see the driver's mistake, expensive AWD vehicle, why not take it to the snow fields?

Unfortunately the battery protection under the car, makes it easy for the car to 'ski' up onto a mound of snow, leaving it (effectively) with four wheels in the air.

I cannot understand Tesla not providing any hitching/tie down points on the car though, that just seems weird.

(The tow-truck driver did pop off some plastic panels in a couple of places, hoping to find sockets/etc, but there was nothing behind those panels.)

I had thought that threaded holes that accept a ring bolt, for tow points, was a standard in the USA, I guess not.

 

[Andy_Ross]

They are standard on just about everything. My 1980s Escort XR3i had them.