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SpaceX's Starship launching to orbit for first time ever today

304 points · 367 comments · geox

  1. fakwandi_priv · · focus · HN ↗
    I’m a bit saddened this thread has so little activity, 55 comments as of posting, here even though there are half a million people watching the spacex stream. Just watching the launch, the amount of technology and people involved is incredible.

    Prompting claude 5.5 has more appeal it seems.

    1. varjag · · focus · HN ↗
      For all very real SpaceX achievements there's certain Musk fatigue if you haven't noticed. He's done enormous job to sour people on the idea of becoming multiplanetary species.
      1. qzw · · focus · HN ↗
        I was all for going multi-planet until I realized the second part of the plan was “and fuck the planet we’re on now.” I’m afraid the second part is coming along much faster than the first.
        1. indoordin0saur · · focus · HN ↗
          How is that the second part of the plan?
          1. imtringued · · focus · HN ↗
            Elon Musk's idea to colonize Mars isn't to build the most efficient in-space architecture. It's to brute force his way with one way trips to Mars using a massive amount of reusable Starships to repeatedly refuel another Starship that is poorly adapted for inter-planetary travel.

            The "rocket CO2 doesn't matter" argument is based on the fact that nobody has reusable rockets right now, so the fuel expenditure is bounded by the cost of the rocket. Elon Musk wants to switch that equation on its head. Meaning e.g. $100 million launch costs no longer means $10 million fuel costs and $90 million rocket costs, it now means 5x $10 million rocket costs and 5x $10 million fuel costs, i.e. 5x more fuel used with the same budget and that fuel is going to emit CO2.

            One Starship launch produces 3500 tons. Now repeat this to 1000 Earth to Mars launches. That includes at least 10 tanker launches per ship. Meaning at least 10000 launches per year. That equates to 35 million tons of CO2 for something that has no direct benefit to earth.

            If he scaled down his Mars colony ambitions to 10 Earth to Mars launches per year people might turn a blind eye to it.

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