Elon Musk's company tested a tank explosion on SN 7.1 during tests in Texas

Elon Musk's company continues to test Starship. This time, the Starship SN7.1 prototype was deliberately destroyed at the company's proving ground in South Texas.

The company's specialists investigated the possibility of bringing the stainless steel fuel tank to the point of rupture.

Before that, the prototype had already been tested several times in the summer of 2020. Elon Musk's company claims that a spacecraft for 100 passengers will be able to deliver people to the Moon, Mars and other space bodies, but for this its design must withstand a variety of tests.

The destruction of SN7.1 during the latest tests paved the way for testing a new prototype SN8, which could begin as early as late September 2020, that is, in a few days. According to Elon Musk, if the SN8 passes a series of engine checks and tests, then a test flight will follow at an altitude of 20 kilometers in the sky over South Texas.

By the way, two full-size prototypes Starship SN5 and SN6 have already taken to the skies. Each of them has reached a certain height during recent test flights. Interestingly, the SN5 and SN6 were powered by a single Raptor engine, while the SN8 prototype will have three Raptor engines and a nose cone and flaps for improved handling. It was this equipment that his predecessors lacked so much.

But Elon Musk makes even more ambitious claims. Thus, the entrepreneur claims that the latest Starship will have six Raptor engines, which will allow this "vehicle" to take off from the surface of the Moon and Mars. But in order to get off the surface of the Earth, the spacecraft will need the help of a huge Super Heavy rocket, equipped with about 30 of its own Raptor engines.

The spaceship and rocket are meant to be used together. According to Musk, the work of such a "space duo" will significantly reduce the cost of space flights. Even the colonization of Mars in this case will become affordable and economically feasible. Of course, so far these are only ambitious statements, but who knows what level space technologies will reach in the coming years, not to mention decades.

Comments

[Pessimist22]

I think the Chinese will be the first.

[military_cat]

On the first prototypes, the tanks collapsed at the welds. Now the detailed pictures show that the sheets themselves are torn. Welding technology has been radically improved, my compliments.

[g1washntwn]

Quote: military_cat

Welding technology has been radically improved

Precisely improved and not delivered already finished? The first ones burst as if plumbers were laying the seams there, starting to celebrate the weekends, and they heard about the resistance material for the first time. Can you convincingly dissuade?

[military_cat]

There is no contradiction, technology is "a set of methods and tools to achieve the desired result." Some tools must have been brought up.

[umah]

Was it really impossible to test the tanks separately, without destroying the model (or prototype) of the ship?

[military_cat]

The tanks are highly integrated into the design. This prototype (SN7.1) was specially made for strength tests and for testing a new steel grade. The next flight prototype SN8 is being built separately and in parallel (and not even one, in case the jump of 20 km fails on the first try. SN9 and SN10 are also being built in parallel).

[umah]

This prototype (SN7.1) was specially made for strength tests and for testing a new steel grade.

I understood you correctly that the prototype was built so how will the new steel tanks explode in it? If the tanks were checked, it was possible to separately measure the critical pressure. If the cladding was checked, then the steel sheet could be tested separately. And so - somehow it's wasteful ...

[Antidote]

The car is also first "broken" on a 3D model, but this does not cancel the concrete cube.

[Shurik70]

We tested the tank for an explosion ...
I remembered an old anecdote.

The builders of the house are awaiting the arrival of the selection committee. The foreman pumps them up: "Whatever happens, pretend that it should be so."
Well, the commission has arrived. He walks around the construction site, looks around. Suddenly one wall of the house collapsed. The nearest worker looked at his watch:
- Ten to fifteen, right on schedule ...

Maybe this tank just exploded, and the voice acting about the tests was then imposed?

[Blackmokona]

The explosion test was known more than a month before the tests

[SovAr238A]

Quote: umah

And so - somehow it's wasteful ...

with a high degree of product integration - "kroilovo leads to a hitalov ..."

[g1washntwn]

Scientific poke method, but you mean strength calculations. Oh no no no

[pereselenec]

Quote: g1washntwn

Precisely improved and not delivered already finished?

Rather, the old kyuchnitsa returned from the weekend and opened the lock in the warehouse with the necessary solder.

[Observer2014]

Quote: military_cat

On the first prototypes, the tanks collapsed at the welds. Now the detailed pictures show that the sheets themselves are torn. Welding technology has been radically improved, my compliments.

Well! For welders.
I hate boobies.

[Dimka75]

.....

SN5 and SN6 flights were powered by a single Raptor engine, while the SN8 prototype will have three Raptor engines as well as a nose cone and flaps

.....

It will require the help of a huge Super Heavy rocket powered by about 30 of its own Raptor engines.

......
Then we'll talk :-)

[bar]

30 motors is powerful

[KVU-NSVD]

Quote: bar

30 motors is powerful

And the system for ensuring their coordinated work and ensuring the accuracy of installation is even cooler ..

[bar]

And what if, since the days of von Braun and his F1 for Saturn-5, technologies have been greatly lost.
By the way, the multiplexing technologies are typical for Musk. Why develop something new big, if you can take a bunch of ready-made small ones. He and Tesla run on batteries 1865 from screwdrivers

[KVU-NSVD]

I was not interested in what the Maskovsky electric cars were driving. But in a modern professional cordless power tool from leading manufacturers, batteries are very good in terms of the ratio of weight, dimensions and capacity. Even in comparison with the instrument of the same manufacturers ten years ago - in this area, now probably all the best available on the civilian market.

[bar]

Here above we have already noticed that with all the tempting of such a construct, there are problems with coordination and switching. When the battery consists of units of cells, this is not too much of a problem. But when there are many hundreds of them, as in "Tesla", the problem arises in full growth. There, the BMS system (control, charging and "leveling" of the elements scattering during operation) is already comparable in price and size to the battery itself.

[g1washntwn]

Quote: bar

technologies are greatly lost

Fool with this lunar conspiracy and space. On the B-52, the J57 engines of the 1950s still cannot find a replacement. But then - an iPhone!

[Rzzz]

Quote: bar

what to do if since the days of von Braun and his F1 for Saturn 5 technologies have been greatly lost.

Actually, the Raptor's thrust is almost 3 times that of the F-1. Plus it is methane - a little more profitable in weight.
And multiplexing is no problem at all.

[bar]

Actually, the Raptor's thrust is almost 3 times that of the F-1.

Either you are wrong, or one of two things.
Even Wikipedia knows that the F-1 thrust at sea level is 650 tf, and the raptor is only 200 tf.

[Rzzz]

Yes, I was wrong, I admit. There dofiga zeroes, I counted incorrectly.
However, I read that when we tried to simulate the operation of the F-1 virtually, it turned out a little more than half of what was stated. True / no - I do not know, but one more reason for discussing the "lunar conspiracy".

[bar]

With the "lunar conspiracy" everything is much simpler. Take even such an elementary thing as, sorry, toilets. The Americans have not learned how to make them until now. Even in the American segment of the ISS there is a Russian-made toilet. How astronauts flew to the moon for two weeks in diapers is beyond my head. Their suits had to fill up with shit to the eye.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: KVU-NSVD

Quote: bar

30 motors is powerful

And the system for ensuring their coordinated work and ensuring the accuracy of installation is even cooler ..

Why did it happen?

It would have been cool 70-50 years ago.

Modern systems are the coordination of joint work - this is the level of coursework of 3rd year students-programmers ...

[orionvitt]

Quote: bar

30 motors is powerful

There was already such a project, N-1. We know they passed. As practice has shown, an unrestrained increase in engines, especially on a space rocket, is not an option. On the contrary, it is a dead end. So let Musk push while we watch.

[Antidote]

The only thing that remains to be observed is that the journalist will not jump on the trampoline beyond the projections.

[Rzzz]

Quote: orionvitt

There was already such a project, N-1. We know they passed.

Look at the calendar. And on the datasheets of modern processors.
More than half a century has passed since the time of the H-1. You now have a more powerful processor in your microwave than the one that drove thirty H-1 motors.

[orionvitt]

Quote: rzzz

Now you have a more powerful processor in your microwave than the one that controlled thirty H-1 motors

I dare say that it is not the processors that fly, but the engines. No matter how you manage them, the complication of the system and the unrestrained increase in the number of very complex devices (motors) on one carrier does not contribute to its reliability in any way. This is not an airplane, where, if one engine fails, there is a reserve of power to reach the airfield on the other. In space rockets, everything is at the limit, and planning will not work.

[Rzzz]

Quote: orionvitt

increasing the number of very complex devices (engines), on one carrier, does not contribute to its reliability in any way.

The theory of reliability disagrees with you.
Well, if one of 30 fails, then with some power reserve there is a chance to reach the destination.
If, with the same probability, one of ... one fails, then we will definitely not fly anywhere.

[orionvitt]

Quote: rzzz

if one of 30 fails, then with some power reserve there is a chance to hold out

It's good if he just refuses. But this missile engines that do not have a good tendency to explode if they fail. They are arranged like this. Huge pressures and temperatures. I do not remember a case that during the takeoff of the space carrier, in case of a catastrophe, the rocket would simply fall with the engine (s) muffled. In all cases, the case ended in an explosion in the air.

[Sergey39]

Quote: orionvitt

There was already such a project, N-1.

The mask, apparently, is greatly disturbed by S.P. Korolev's laurels. No electronics will allow one hundred percent to coordinate the operation of such a number of engines for a long period. For launching into orbit, perhaps. Chemical rocket technology is only good for this.

[Blackmokona]

Yes, he already has Falcon-Heavy, whose 27 engines are cut together at the start.

[Sergey39]

It flies, but not far (into orbit) and not for long (3 launches). Of course, now it is easier to agree on such a number of engines than in the 70s of the last century, but the risk is still great. And they will not fly through the solar system (to Mars) on rocket engines. This is already deprecated.

[Blackmokona]

Well, at the moment there are 3 flights, all three flights are successful. So there is no problem with modern electronics.

[Clear]

The space industry of any country has its strengths and weaknesses - someone has achieved a lot in one, someone has advantages in another, and everyone has their own problems.

[g1washntwn]

The main question is - How many more "blown up" tanks are needed?

[Aaron Zawi]

Ambitious and interesting. I am sure that Musk will still have a lot of failures and failures ahead, but without them there will be no success.

[g1washntwn]

Quote: Aaron Zawi

Ambitious and interesting. I am sure that Musk will still have a lot of failures and failures ahead, but without them there will be no success.

And now we change the surname to "Rogozin" and begin to violently minus

[Greenwood]

Let's start with the fact that Rogozin has nothing to do with the space industry. Just another official assigned to steer a state corporation. With the same success, Sechin, Serdyukov, Chemezov and anyone else could have been in his place, there is no difference. This is the difference from the Mask.

[g1washntwn]

Quote: Greenwood

This is the difference from the Mask.

Are you proposing to transfer Roscosmos into private hands and start planting apple trees on Mars tomorrow?

[Greenwood]

I suggest, at least for a start, to put an engineer who has worked in the industry from scratch at the head of the rocket and space corporation. And not a balabol-journalist who knows only how to use his tongue and slander the United States.

[g1washntwn]

Quote: Greenwood

put an engineer at the head of the rocket and space corporation

Do you think you can see the entire battlefield from the trench? Maybe a chimney sweep after all, he sits high at least.

[Greenwood]

Quote: g1washntwn

Do you think you can see the entire battlefield from the trench?

This was generally the case in Soviet times. And I don't see anything funny here. Or do you seriously consider the existing system of personnel appointments of officials to posts in state corporations justified?

[g1washntwn]

Henry Ford and the same Musk - a completely different story of managers. The approach to the appointees is to blow the trumpet, but not touch the steering wheel. So as long as they do not begin to "lead" there is no harm from them. Do you, like the Americans, seriously believe that Russia is governed by one super-manager of the GDP? Okay, modern top management (with very rare exceptions) is just an intermediary between production and shareholders who set goals and make key decisions. It's just that Musk's ambitions and interests have successfully coincided with the political and economic tasks of those who spin the fashion for private astronautics.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: g1washntwn

Do you, like the Americans, seriously believe that Russia is governed by one super-manager of the GDP? Okay, modern top management (with very few exceptions) is just an intermediary between production and shareholders who set goals and make key decisions.

Excuse me, but who in the case of GDP are the "shareholders"?

[g1washntwn]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Excuse me, but who in the case of GDP are the "shareholders"?

Here I don't know, I didn't talk with them. But if the whole economy was supported by only one nail, "well-wishers" would have shaken it long ago.

[The eye of the crying]

So how do you know that there are shareholders at all? Maybe he's the owner. Like Musk and SpaceX

[Rzzz]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

and who, in the case of GDP, are the "shareholders"?

So open the "Russian Forbes", most of them are there. But not all, of course, there are foreigners, there are those who prefer to be encrypted.

[The eye of the crying]

Previously, Khodorkovsky was also in Russian Forbes. But somehow he stopped ...

[Aaron Zawi]

Quote: Greenwood

I suggest, at least for a start, to put an engineer who has worked in the industry from scratch at the head of the rocket and space corporation. And not a balabol-journalist who knows only how to use his tongue and slander the United States.

Well, the Ministry of Defense does not have to be a general at all, but it must understand the situation in the army and promote gifted military personnel.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Greenwood

I suggest, at least for a start, to put an engineer who has worked in the industry from scratch at the head of the rocket and space corporation. And not a balabol-journalist who knows only how to use his tongue and slander the United States.

STUPID proposal.

In our space field, it is the rockets who are in charge, who have only "build" rockets ...
But they no longer know how:
- to design,
-manage labor productivity,
- understand what enterprise management is,

and many other factors that are called a successful manager. Not in quotes, but in reality ...

I, as a person indirectly associated with our space industry since the age of 17, that is, already 33 years old, I say directly - there are no such people there now.
Rather, smart guys who come from institutions - there are a lot of high-potential managers in them - but they have zero chances in the industry. There is a swamp. Rotten system. Nepotism, tea drinking, absence and rottenness of any innovation ...

It is in our space that the most-most cut ...

[Rzzz]

Quote: SovAr238A

who are called a successful manager

The two keywords are "successful" and "manager". Especially the second word from English to manage - "to organize".
Unfortunately for us, the character leading our industry is neither one nor the other. Not successful. And never a manager. He does not even have a specialized education, neither technical nor managerial.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: rzzz

Quote: SovAr238A

who are called a successful manager

The two keywords are "successful" and "manager". Especially the second word from English to manage - "to organize".
Unfortunately for us, the character leading our industry is neither one nor the other. Not successful. And never a manager. He does not even have a specialized education, neither technical nor managerial.

Trust the person who received an MBA at the age of 45 .... And before that, he worked as was customary in the Soviet system.

No high-class designer or developer can ever become a high-class manager ...

The manager will be able to assemble the entire menagerie of designers, developers, production workers, economists, financiers, business executives into a single team.

The designer will never be able to do this - the course of thought formation is too multidirectional.

Therefore, you should never put those in the management of the enterprise. who came from vocational school and grew up ...

There were a couple of dozen of them in the entire Soviet Union. For several million enterprises.
Those. 0.0001%

[Polymer]

Quote: SovAr238A

The manager will be able to assemble the entire menagerie of designers, developers, production workers, economists, financiers, business executives into a single team.

Zoo administrator?
Such a "person who received an MBA at 45" definitely cannot be trusted with the management - not just the industry, but even the most insignificant section of the shop. Better Rogozin, in fact. At least he does not stoop to insults and does not call the team of specialists a "menagerie".

[Rzzz]

So, on the whole, I agree, with one amendment. In such a specific industry, it is impossible to "learn" a manager according to some standard proven methodology. There is a lot of specificity that is not found anywhere else, too much science, a lot of new and revolutionary. Therefore, the manager, in addition to the actual management, must have his own scientific potential. Not just "understand the topic", but more. Have your own ideas and implement them.
There are very few such people, and only geniuses like Korolev can take such positions.

[Polymer]

Quote: Greenwood

Let's start with the fact that Rogozin has nothing to do with the space industry ... This is the difference from Musk.

Does Musk have anything to do with the space industry? The same manager as Rogozin, only the amount of funding is different. This is the difference - Rogozin cannot afford to blow up spacecraft "for the sake of experiment" and other expensive toys, but Musk can.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Polymer

Quote: Greenwood

Let's start with the fact that Rogozin has nothing to do with the space industry ... This is the difference from Musk.

Does Musk have anything to do with the space industry? The same manager as Rogozin, only the amount of funding is different. This is the difference - Rogozin cannot afford to blow up spacecraft "for the sake of experiment" and other expensive toys, but Musk can.

You say that because you don't understand the meaning of the word manager ...
That's all.

[Polymer]

Quote: SovAr238A

And all

Well that's it - that's it.

[aleks26]

Elon Musk's company claims that a 100-passenger spacecraft will be able to deliver people to the Moon, Mars and other space bodies

Even the colonization of Mars in this case will become affordable and economically feasible.

I immediately recall the speech of the unforgettable Ostap Bender at the chess tournament in Vasyuki. Especially touched by the passage about the "economic feasibility of the development of Mars." Probably something will come of it, but not during our lifetime, and not even during the lifetime of our grandchildren. Unless, of course, our planet burns in a nuclear fire. And everything goes to this. Well, the Anglo-Saxons are very successfully fighting the overpopulation of the planet. Preventing other countries from developing, destroying their economies, provoking armed conflicts around the world, while they themselves "rot". So you can not dream of New Vasyuki on Mars, and dreamers can read Dunno on the Moon, there will be more benefits, a very instructive book :)

[Victorio]

Quote: aleks26

Well, the Anglo-Saxons are very successfully fighting the overpopulation of the planet.

===
it is yes. however, we all together destroy our planet, so someone once intends to get out of it in order to start / continue in a new place

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: aleks26

Unless, of course, our planet burns in a nuclear fire. And everything goes to this

Dreamers can read Leibowts Passion. There will be more benefits than Dunno on the Moon.

[grandfather_Kostya]

Elon Musk's company claims that a 100-passenger spacecraft will be able to deliver people to the Moon, Mars and other space bodies

Recreational amenities, a conductor delivers tea for 15 kopecks, the upper side "by the toilet", everything should be as it should be! I'll see to it!

[Whirlwind]

Shaw, again NASA has a powerful, ambitious broads Musk ..?

[zlinn]

and nasa is what side?

[Whirlwind]

This visionary ... has two side supports - NASA and the Pentagon, but otherwise he is a genius "private trader".

[voyaka uh]

Rather, on the contrary. He begins to pull on himself both NASA and the Pentagon.
They lean on it. Man launching two rockets with 60 satellites
per month, does not need props. His plant produces 120 communication satellites
a month, 4 a day. When Starlink is fully operational, the generals
will sit in line in Musk's reception, begging to install on his satellites
any of your own chip, sensor or software.

[Whirlwind]

120 satellites or mini satellites?
Are you serious that the American military space was given to a private owner and the generals will be in his line?

[Ronald Reagan]

The entire military-industrial complex is private.

[voyaka uh]

These satellites are not that mini. Each weighs approximately 250 kg. And the size of a kitchen table is 2.5 by 1.5 m. And solar panels are more than 10 m long.
They, as has now been verified, provide telephone communication comparable in power to optical cable. When such a network of first 12,000, then 30,000 satellites appears over the entire planet, the Internet will become different. And Musk is building his own private cosmodrome in Texas so that he does not depend on NASA and the Pentagon's military bases for launches.
It will have its own whole cycle: cosmodromes, rockets, satellites and communication receivers.

[Whirlwind]

And we think that PMCs only operate on Earth, but that's it. PMC Mask appeared in space.
"Our shot has ripened everywhere ..." and nothing to do with the Pentagon and NASA ...
Now the turn for Russia is one hundred buckets with bolts i.e. with microsatellites at the right time and hello to the military Internet Mask ... Astronomers will only say thank you.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Whirlwind

Now the turn for Russia is one hundred buckets with bolts i.e. with microsatellites at the right time and hello to the military Internet Mask ... Astronomers will only say thank you.

Have you ever piled a bunch of a neighbor under the door yourself? Doorknobs smeared with shit to a neighbor then?
Wheels punched neighbors then?

I think. what not.
Well, at least you won't confess ...

So why do you think that it is Russia that should do this?

[Whirlwind]

Potomusta Vine.

[Rzzz]

They have just announced that Starlink will be banned in Russia, the equipment is equated to spyware, and import will be punished up to criminal liability.

[voyaka uh]

So in the USSR they desperately jammed and forbade listening to any "Voices".
It didn't help much ...

[Sanichsan]

Quote: rzzz

They have just announced that Starlink will be banned in Russia, the equipment is equated to spyware, and import will be punished up to criminal liability.

do you mean that the satellites will shoot down? Well, in general, it is fair considering that the Pentagon project.

[Rzzz]

Quote: SanichSan

do you mean that the satellites will shoot down?

So what's the use of satellites, if no one will have client equipment on the ground here.

[Sanichsan]

Quote: rzzz

So what's the use of satellites, if no one will have client equipment on the ground here.

once again, this is a pentagon project. communication is a bonus to the global surveillance system. Americans went to Moscow to powder their brains, but did not work. these satellites will not be over the Russian Federation, and over China, too, the campaign. no satellites and no receiving equipment needed. life hack!

[Rzzz]

Quote: SanichSan

these satellites will not be over the Russian Federation

How do you imagine it? Will a satellite in a circular orbit in front of the border of the Russian Federation turn around or teleport to the other side of the country?
This is how the launched satellites are already flying over the country. For example, Starlink-1029 is passing over Moscow at this very minute (sunrise 9:59, sunset 10:07).

[Polymer]

Quote: zlinn

and nasa is what side?

And where does he take money for his projects, does he print it himself?

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Polymer

Quote: zlinn

and nasa is what side?

And where does he take money for his projects, does he print it himself?

And read about investments ...
What it is...
About the sale of launches ..
about the cost of production.

[Polymer]

Read about NASA funding.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Polymer

Read about NASA funding.

NASA funding goes to whoever brings a fully working business plan and investment plan ...

BUSINESS PLAN and investment plan !!!

Do you understand what a business plan is?

Your ideas, even the most fantastic ones, are worth nothing if you do not have a schedule of how you will achieve the results of your ideas.
With what people and on what equipment, for what time and most importantly - where and at what stage and you will have expenses in what quantity and where and at what stage you will have results ...

This is the essence of a successful business ...

And our herd of diodes from Roscosmos simply does not understand any of this. From the word at all.

[Polymer]

I am far from defending Roscosmos. But the difference in the size of "investment" must also be taken into account. And all these business plans ... the cut is there and there. Due to the difference in the amount of finance - in one case, you can get at least something useful, albeit very expensive, in another, the results will be almost zero. And "genius" Mask has nothing to do with it.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Polymer

I am far from defending Roscosmos. But the difference in the size of "investment" must also be taken into account. And all these business plans ... the cut is there and there. Due to the difference in the amount of finance - in one case, you can get at least something useful, albeit very expensive, in another, the results will be almost zero. And "genius" Mask has nothing to do with it.

Musk is a genius as an organizer ..
As a manager with a great team of analysts and engineers whose average age is ridiculous ...
Kindergarten.
Compared to our ...

And yes, Falcon 1 - everyone laughed at him ...
Rockets "from God".
Well, only God was from Roscosmos.

And the falcon flew ...
And others flew.

NASA is just a controller.

[Sanichsan]

Quote: SovAr238A

Musk is a genius as an organizer ..

gee gee probably for this he was thrown out of the post of director Pai Pal just a month later

[Polymer]

Quote: SovAr238A

Musk is a genius as an organizer ..

It is easy to be a "brilliant organizer" when you can assign a salary to a young engineer not 25 tyrs, but 100 thousand dollars.
Again, the difference is in the amount of funding.

[K-36]

Uv. SovAr238A. Your extreme phrase is shocking just ( And our herd of diodes from Roscosmos simply does not understand any of this. From the word completely.)
Then I'm really interested in what you say about the doctor of those / sciences Vitaly Aleksandrovich Lopot? (https://www.energia.ru/ru/corporation/bio/lopota.html).

[eklmn]

“Where does he take money for his projects, does he print it himself?”
Myself, dear and beloved, I quote (I love to do this, because there are a lot of lazy people on the forum!)
“Serious businesses are investing $$$ in SpaceX - dozens of different funds have already invested in his company Space Exploration Technologies.
Data for today (Aug 2020):
“SpaceX raised a total of $ 1,33 billion in three rounds of funding in 2019. In April The 2019 Wall Street Journal reported that the company is raising $ 500 million in funding. In May 2019, Space News reported that SpaceX "raised $ 1,022 billion" the day after SpaceX launched 60 satellites as part of its 12000-satellite plan, dubbed the Starlink broadband constellation. By May 31, 2019, SpaceX's value rose to $ 33,3 billion. In June 2019, SpaceX began raising $ 300 million, most of which came from the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which then managed approximately $ 191 billion in assets.
As of February 2020, SpaceX has raised an additional $ 250 million in share placement. In May 2020, the company's valuation reached $ 36 billion. ”
And by the way - where did he get the money from the very beginning on SpaceX?
From here:
“SpaceX's original funding came from Musk, who used most of the money from the PayPal sale as capital for the project. He also received funding from Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Valor Equity Partners. In January 2015, Google and Fidelity invested $ 1 billion in a purchase of just under 10%. "

[Polymer]

In December 2008, NASA signed a $ 1,6 billion contract with the company for 12 launches of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and the Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, as replacements for the Space Shuttle following the termination of their launch program in 2011.

Musk originally invested $ 100 million in SpaceX.
There can be no talk of economic efficiency yet. The campaign attracts other people's money, but does not work it off, moreover, does not bring profit to investors.
Actually, the entire US economy is the same "effective bubble". At the moment, the national debt is $ 26,775 trillion. While I am writing this comment, it will grow by 10 million more. There are great doubts that they will ever repay this debt. And so - yes, the richest country. Only at someone else's expense.
It is sad that young people now do not understand this and quite sincerely believe that it should be so.

[eklmn]

“There can be no talk of economic efficiency yet. "
If you are talking about Roscosmos, then I agree with you. Regarding Musk's company, let me remind you that there is no free breakfast in the USA. If your business is thriving (SpaceX), then there is profit. The state, represented by NASA, will not distribute money just like that, the experience of Russia does not pass here ....!
By the way, today NASA published an interesting article - its contribution to the US economy.
“NASA assesses its contribution to the US economy” (Russian)
https://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/nasa-impact/5598194.html
“For 2019 - $ 64bn in profit. According to a study in 2019, thanks to the activities of NASA in the United States, 312 thousand jobs were functioning. NASA has also paid over $ 7 billion in taxes to federal, state and local budgets.
.... According to research, since 1976 NASA has created more than 2 thousand new technologies. ”
Sergey S, you write
"At the moment, the national debt is ...". If you are an Amer, then I understand your concern. As an Amer, I am also worried about him, and I support Trump in his attempt to put a limit on debt in the constitution %%. But if you are not an Amer, then what difference does it make to you how much money the United States owes to its future generation. After all, the state borrows from its own people, and not from the peoples of the world! What a sadness to you from this!
Well, the next enemy of Russia will go bankrupt, but all 148 million of its inhabitants will breathe freely and live a happy life!

[Cowbra]

Not a tank, but bikes

[orionvitt]

but who knows what level space technologies will reach in the coming years, not to mention decades.

Something over the past fifty years, space technologies (as well as aviation, automobile, and so on), as it is not very advanced. (And some even managed to "lose" all technological documentation for the "lunar project" ). They come up with new materials, improve them little by little, here and there, but in general, what was left. The main breakthrough is exclusively in the field of information technology, and the "hardware" has practically not changed. Chemical fueled space rockets are a dead end. There is still enough to maintain a satellite constellation, but for colonization, even near space, it is already a big problem.

[SovAr238A]

Quote: orionvitt

but who knows what level space technologies will reach in the coming years, not to mention decades.

Something over the past fifty years, space technologies (as well as aviation, automobile, and so on), as it is not very advanced. (And some even managed to "lose" all technological documentation for the "lunar project" ). They come up with new materials, improve them little by little, here and there, but in general, what was left. The main breakthrough is exclusively in the field of information technology, and the "hardware" has practically not changed. Chemical fueled space rockets are a dead end. There is still enough to maintain a satellite constellation, but for colonization, even near space, it is already a big problem.

One question.
Have you ever studied production technology?

[orionvitt]

Quote: SovAr238A

Have you ever studied production technology?

Listen literally, close already. Got to be clever on another branch. I have worked for XNUMX years in the production and testing of aircraft engines. I know more about this than you will know in twenty of your worthless lives. How it works and how it is produced.

[Kushka]

Quote: grandfather_Kostya

Elon Musk's company claims that a 100-passenger spacecraft will be able to deliver people to the Moon, Mars and other space bodies

Recreational amenities, a conductor delivers tea for 15 kopecks, the upper side "by the toilet", everything should be as it should be! I'll see to it!

They are already not badly delayed on Earth.
A couple out of bed (in pajamas?) Goes to Tesla
and continue to sleep on the way to work. Tesla
spar 140 with allowed 110. Police in pursuit,
the autopilot adds up to 150! Stopped then-both-
the driver and passenger slept in the back seat. What is it like?
Where is the place to sleep, and where is the car? What about the drive
from driving a super car? Aliens?

[Disorder]

Quote: Greenwood

Let's start with the fact that Rogozin has nothing to do with the space industry. Just another official assigned to steer a state corporation. With the same success, Sechin, Serdyukov, Chemezov and anyone else could have been in his place, there is no difference. This is the difference from the Mask.

Well, Musk was put in charge of a private corporation, that's the whole difference.

Quote: Greenwood

I suggest, at least for a start, to put an engineer who has worked in the industry from scratch at the head of the rocket and space corporation. And not a balabol-journalist who knows only how to use his tongue and slander the United States.

Before the formation of SpaceX, Musk had nothing to do with rocketry at all. However, the list of the richest people in the world has already climbed.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

Before the formation of SpaceX, Musk had nothing to do with rocketry at all. laughing

He is a physicist by training. Not a journalist.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

He is a physicist by training. Not a journalist.

Musk did not work for a day in an area somehow related to physics. Before completing his studies, he went to work in the field of information technology and financial services.
At least Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg could be put in charge of SpaceX.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

Musk did not work for a day in an area somehow related to physics.

Does this somehow refute the fact that he is a physicist by education, and not a journalist?

Quote: Trouble

At least Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg could be put in charge of SpaceX.

Mother Teresa could have been. All the same, no one will refute this statement.

[Disorder]

Samuel Morse was an artist by training, but he invented the electromagnetic telegraph. What did Musk invent?
And what does it mean - physicist? Physics contains many sections: mechanics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, nuclear physics, etc. A meteorologist is also a physicist, a geophysicist.
So which physicist Elon Musk? Moving funds? Here he is a physicist, so a physicist, soon he will catch up with Zuckerberg due to his personal condition, and there he will get to Bill Gates.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

Samuel Morse was an artist by training, but he invented the electromagnetic telegraph. What did Musk invent?

Do you have to invent something?

Quote: Trouble

And what does it mean - physicist? Physics contains many sections: mechanics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, nuclear physics, etc.

I'm too lazy to look for his exact specialty. Soviet universities gave the specialty "engineer-physicist". Without specifying whether it is electrodynamics or physics of an elastic body. Perhaps Musk is like that.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Do you have to invent something?

Don't like the word "invent", replace it with "design" or "design".

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

Don't like the word "invent", replace it with "design" or "design".

Let us change your own words. But "design" and "construction" are very apt terms. Musk designed and built SpaceX.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Let us change your own words. But "design" and "construction" are very apt terms. Musk designed and built SpaceX.

A team of designers was assembled, a finished project was provided (possibly even from the time of von Braun), logistics from more than three thousand contractors were organized and the launch sites of the Pentagon and NASA were provided. It turns out that SpaceX was created by someone for certain purposes, and Musk was put only by the CEO. Anyone with certain organizational skills could have been in his place.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

A team of designers was assembled, a finished project was provided

Designers of the finished project - that's a good word.

Quote: Trouble

(possibly from the time of von Braun)

Let's go from the time of Zander.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Designers of the finished project - that's a good word.

Do you think that it is possible to create a launch vehicle from scratch in 4 years?
They took a project from the archives, which did not receive further development, and remade it for modern materials and equipment.

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Let's go from the time of Zander.

You are probably not aware that the Juno launch vehicle, which launched the first American satellite into orbit, and the Saturn launch vehicle, which launched Apollo and Skylab, were created under the leadership of Werner von Braun.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

Do you think that it is possible to create a launch vehicle from scratch in 4 years?

... who can't fly yet. But yes, you can create a rocket in 4 years. Do you forget that now is the 80st century, rockets have been flying for almost XNUMX years, cosmos is an industry with dozens of companies, they teach how to make rockets at institutes, dozens of companies and tens (or hundreds?) Of thousands of people have experience working with them. Now the creation of a company for the production of launch vehicles is not some kind of out-of-bounds task. See Rocket lab, Relativity Space, Firefly.

Quote: Trouble

We took a project from the archives that did not receive further development

Whose project? What was it called, by whom and when it was made, why did not it receive development?

Quote: Trouble

You probably don't know

I know.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Now the creation of a company for the production of launch vehicles is not some kind of out-of-bounds task. See Rocket lab, Relativity Space, Firefly.

It is necessary, at least, to enlist the support of NASA - to get into one of its programs.
Whichever company you take - the ears of NASA and the Pentagon are everywhere.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

It is necessary, at least, to enlist the support of NASA - to get into one of its programs.

Anyone who had a working launch vehicle could get into the NASA program. And once again - in order to build a launch vehicle, you don't need to get into any NASA programs. Proven ... see above.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Anyone who had a working launch vehicle could get into the NASA program. And once again - in order to build a launch vehicle, you don't need to get into any NASA programs. Proven ... see above.

Well let's take a look above.

rocket lab
Atea-1 - Meteorological rocket. Lifts 2 kg to a height of 120 km.
Electron - Two-stage launch vehicle. Lifts 150 kg to a height of 500 km.

In December 2010, the company received a contract from the US government as part of the program for the rapid deployment of tactical space systems to develop a vehicle for delivering nanosatellites into orbit.
The first test launch of the RN Electron took place on May 25, 2017.
An interesting point: RN Falcon-1 had similar characteristics to Electron, but SpaceX curtailed work due to low demand for carriers of this class in the market.

Relativity space
PH has not yet. The first tests of the Terran-1 LV are scheduled for this year.
An interesting point: the company plans to print at least 95% of the rocket, including the engines, on a 3D printer. SpaceX has not been seen using a 3D printer.

Firefly Aerospace
PH has not yet.
In November 2018, Firefly Aerospace was included in the list of companies selected by NASA for the lunar exploration program with a total budget of $ 2,6 billion.
In 2019, Firefly Aerospace signed a partnership with Aerojet Rocketdyne, a former Boeing division.
In 2019, the U.S. Air Force selected Firefly to participate in the Orbital Services Program-4 (OSP-4).
An interesting point: the company has already managed to go bankrupt once, in April 2017 it was declared bankrupt.

[The eye of the crying]

I am aware of the above. If you wanted to express some idea by this, I did not understand it.

[Disorder]

I also did not understand what you wanted to express.
You declare

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Anyone who had a working launch vehicle could get into the NASA program. And once again - in order to build a launch vehicle, you don't need to get into any NASA programs. Proven ... see above.

And yet you know that it is not.

[The eye of the crying]

Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab claimed it became the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space after launching its Ātea-1 sounding rocket in November 2009

December 2010Rocket Lab was awarded a US government contract from the Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS)

It's just too lazy to look for Firefly and Relativity.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab claimed it became the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space after launching its Ātea-1 sounding rocket in November 2009

Well, you know that Ātea-1 is not a launch vehicle, but a "sounding rocket", which is not capable of reaching the flight altitudes of the most low-orbit satellites.

[The eye of the crying]

This is RN. And even reaching space.

[Disorder]

The height of 100 km is conventionally considered the lower boundary of space. Although in NASA, this is considered an altitude of 122 km, at which the shuttles are already clinging to the air with their wings and switch to a gliding flight. Just about this height, Ātea-1 dragged a couple of kilograms.

[The eye of the crying]

Yes (she only pulled 25kg, not 2kg). And almost amateurs did it. And with Miller's experience and Musk's money (for simplicity, we assume that the organizational skills of Rocket and Musk are about the same), you can make a completely real RN.

[Disorder]

Quote: Eye of the Crying

And almost amateurs did it

Not amateurs, but advertisers. I'm not at all sure that they designed and manufactured a rocket, and did not take an existing one.
Sounding rockets intended for research in the upper atmosphere began to be launched even before the first satellite entered orbit.
Would repeat the V-2, which in 1944 reached an altitude of 188 km, the result would be more impressive.

[The eye of the crying]

Quote: Trouble

Not amateurs, but advertisers.

You have every right to your opinion. Although we could have seen the history of Rocket Lab.

Quote: Trouble

I'm not at all sure that they designed and manufactured a rocket, and did not take an existing one.

Yes Yes. And Musk was given an existing project too.

Quote: Trouble

Would repeat the V-2, which in 1944 reached an altitude of 188 km,

Everything does not suit you.

[Disorder]

Well, you saw the launch of Ātea-1. And the only one.

[Dizel200]

Something Dmitry Rogozin was hiding. probably he is planning something, then he will give it out ...))

[Vadim237]

Another flight of fantasies to Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and the creation of on-line orbital bases Rogozin and the guys from Roscosmos are not lying - they are doing everything.

[Respect]

I looked at the photo, I thought it was a moonshine still roughly welded from stainless steel ..
But seriously, while Musk has only show-off and PR .. But the Chinese have moved on quietly!
Well, about our space industry for now, I am silent, I hope that a breakthrough is also being prepared and it is better to keep quiet about it ..

[SovAr238A]

Quote: Respekt

I looked at the photo, I thought it was a moonshine still roughly welded from stainless steel ..
But seriously, while Musk has only show-off and PR .. But the Chinese have moved on quietly!
Well, about our space industry for now, I am silent, I hope that a breakthrough is also being prepared and it is better to keep quiet about it ..

You see the table "That's when their Falcon 1 flies, then we'll talk ..."

is it show-off and PR?

Where are you so paid from?
Well, it seems already to everyone. who is really interested in the topic of space children 15 at least out of the corner of his eye - everything is already clear that Elon Musk is a really significant figure ..
Already 15 lines in the table of plans for which all sorts of Rogozins ostracized him - he has already fulfilled ...

[Sanichsan]

Quote: SovAr238A

You see the table "That's when their Falcon 1 flies, then we'll talk ..."

This is the one that the Maskovskie hamsters composed and rush over it themselves? well, yes, the famous shameful circus
do you want to use this crap as an argument?

[Rzzz]

Quote: Respekt

while Musk has only show-off and PR .. But the Chinese have moved on quietly!

The mask has a methane engine. It means a lot.

[Vadim237]

"But seriously, while Musk has only show-off and PR .." He is ahead of the entire planet in the space industry, including the Chinese.

[mark2]

Elon Musk's company tested a tank explosion on SN 7.1 during tests in Texas

The test is more successful. The tank exploded.
This is a good excuse for bad luck.

[Vadim237]

The tank was destroyed as planned - the tests were successful, we are waiting for the SN8 flight for 20 kilometers, the development of the aerodynamic rudders and the landing control system.

[lvov_aleksey]

I don’t understand what Musk makes money except for advertising and insurance ?!

[A.TOR]

With the advent of Starship in a working version, all other launch vehicles will become obsolete immediately and absolutely.
Lifting, not requiring super technology, reusable. The first truly K.K.