Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Tesla Inc., speaks during an event at the SpaceX launch facility in Cameron County, Texas, U.S., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019.
SAN FRANCISCO — In a conversation with the top U.S. Air Force officer on space research and acquisition, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday explained why his company is on an aggressive timeline to develop a massive rocket capable of launching and landing multiple times, like an commercial aircraft.
"With respect to space, I think there's really just one problem, which is a fully and rapidly reusable orbital rocket. This is the holy grail," Musk said, speaking with Lt. Gen. John Thompson at the Air Force's Space Pitch Day event.
"SpaceX has made some progress in reusing the booster," Musk said. But that's still only part of the rocket. As Musk said, "It's absolutely profound to have a reusable rocket."
"A giant reusable craft costs much less than a small expendable craft," Musk said.
Musk described Starship, the next-generation rocket SpaceX is developing, as the key to fully reusing a rocket. He said Starship is a "pretty ambitious" project, as it represents the culmination of Musk's vision for SpaceX: Capable of sending people to-and-from the moon and Mars.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a recent event that SpaceX wants to have Starship in orbit next year. " We want to land it on the moon before 2022 with cargo and with people shortly thereafter," she said.
If SpaceX can repeatedly launch and land its Starship rocket, it could make space travel more akin to air travel, with only minor maintenance needed between flights and fuel as the main cost for an airplane. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket comes with a price tag of $62 million per launch and up. But, if Starship can achieve being a fully reusable rocket, Musk touted the rocket's $900,000 fuel cost as the significant cost for its launch -- a fraction of today's launch costs.
"It's the thing that needs to be made," Musk said.
WhatWouldLoisLaneDo on November 6th, 2019 at 03:53 UTC »
I read something about the space shuttle that says it was pitched as cost-saving but ended up costing way more than originally intended because of processing, repairs, and maintenance costs. That being said, the shuttle is one of the most complex machines ever built so that would be comparing apples to oranges?
B-Knight on November 6th, 2019 at 01:45 UTC »
Well, yeah? Have I gone back in time to 2005? Where has the CNBC been when there's been any mention or talk of the BFR?
Decronym on November 6th, 2019 at 00:42 UTC »
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters BFR Big Falcon Rocket (2018 rebiggened edition) Yes, the F stands for something else; no, you're not the first to notice BO Blue Origin (Bezos Rocketry) DMLS Selective Laser Melting additive manufacture, also Direct Metal Laser Sintering DoD US Department of Defense E2E Earth-to-Earth (suborbital flight) EAR Export Administration Regulations, covering technologies that are not solely military ESA European Space Agency EVA Extra-Vehicular Activity FAA Federal Aviation Administration FCC Federal Communications Commission (Iron/steel) Face-Centered Cubic crystalline structure GEO Geostationary Earth Orbit (35786km) GTO Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit HST Hubble Space Telescope KSP Kerbal Space Program, the rocketry simulator LEO Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km) Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations) LES Launch Escape System LOX Liquid Oxygen NG New Glenn, two/three-stage orbital vehicle by Blue Origin Natural Gas (as opposed to pure methane) Northrop Grumman, aerospace manufacturer NGIS Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, formerly OATK OATK Orbital Sciences / Alliant Techsystems merger, launch provider OMS Orbital Maneuvering System REL Reaction Engines Limited, England RTLS Return to Launch Site SABRE Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, hybrid design by REL SLS Space Launch System heavy-lift Selective Laser Sintering, contrast DMLS SRB Solid Rocket Booster SSME Space Shuttle Main Engine SSTO Single Stage to Orbit Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit STS Space Transportation System (Shuttle) ULA United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture) Jargon Definition Raptor Methane-fueled rocket engine under development by SpaceX Starlink SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation ablative Material which is intentionally destroyed in use (for example, heatshields which burn away to dissipate heat) apogee Highest point in an elliptical orbit around Earth (when the orbiter is slowest) cryogenic Very low temperature fluid; materials that would be gaseous at room temperature/pressure (In re: rocket fuel) Often synonymous with hydrolox hopper Test article for ground and low-altitude work (eg. Grasshopper) hydrolox Portmanteau: liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen mixture lithobraking "Braking" by hitting the ground perigee Lowest point in an elliptical orbit around the Earth (when the orbiter is fastest)[Thread #4308 for this sub, first seen 6th Nov 2019, 00:36] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]