http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11990722

clevedon:

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11990722

 

Or Elon is simply a fan of Star Trek Voyager and likes the though of Tom Paris trying to get the Roadster started in the cargo bay.

Geektastic:

 

Can I ask a dumb question: why not attach a parachute to the bit that keeps crashing in the ocean instead of having to lift and and then use fuel to bring it back? You could take up less fuel, then use the fuel left to get it close enough to be recovered and use a parachute for a soft, non-explosive landing.

 

1) Parachutes do not work in space. Consequently either way a fuel is still needed for deceleration to de-orbit the rocket.

2) Additional fuel needed is not great because the rocket is so much lighter, having separated from the payload and burnt most of its fuel, and it is going with gravity, not against it. Comparatively landing uses a fraction of the fuel needed to launch.

3) Parachute landings are not that gentle on land - landing impact is roughly equivalent to jumping off a 6 foot wall which would dent up a rocket.

4) Landing in the sea would require everything to be IP64 rated and made of corrosion resistant materials, altering design, materials, weights etc.

Check out the youtube videos - there is great on board video from launch all the way to landing and you'll see only one of the main engines is used in decent, and only for a very short time compared to launch.

Batman: Let me get this straight. Save on a few co2 here and there, and use the money to burn a continent's worth of fuel for fun?

Wow. IF I buy a V8, barbeque lots and use petrol house tools from now and never stop burning firewood, Elon Musk ain't got nothing on me.

If we are to go to space at all, we have to use rockets. 

Linuxluver:

 

Batman: Let me get this straight. Save on a few co2 here and there, and use the money to burn a continent's worth of fuel for fun?

Wow. IF I buy a V8, barbeque lots and use petrol house tools from now and never stop burning firewood, Elon Musk ain't got nothing on me.

No one is saying zero carbon emissions.

They are saying reduce to a level that won't see our civilisation destabilised or wrecked by famine, drought, inundation and displacement......and acidified oceans.....assuming we don't trigger a hygrogen sulfide feedback loop and make the atmosphere toxic. 

There is room to maneuver.   

 

If we are to go to space at all, we have to use rockets. 

 

Why do we NEED to go to space?

Geektastic:

 

May as well buy an empty island somewhere and use that to land on. Probably easier than a floating barge in the ocean!

 

Cheaper still, lease one.

 

3) Parachute landings are not that gentle on land - landing impact is roughly equivalent to jumping off a 6 foot wall which would dent up a rocket.

 

Presumably much less damage than it being submerged in seawater for the time it takes to find and recover it, which I assume is days, if not weeks, assuming we can at all. 

Now i believe that the earth is Round.

networkn:

 

Why do we NEED to go to space?

 

 

 

Seriously? From you?

Rikkitic:

 

networkn:

 

Why do we NEED to go to space?

 

 

 

 

Seriously? From you?

 

 

 

err What?

KillerHulk:

 

Now i believe that the earth is Round.

 

Well that seemed a worth while spend of 100 billion dollars to convince you. What a relief :)

networkn:

 

err What?

 

As someone who clearly appreciates the value of once-in-a-lifetime experiences, I can't understand how you could not see the importance of going into space. It is the horizon, the new frontier, the future. It will make or break us as a species. It is what drew the first voyagers to places they did not know existed, like North America and Australia and New Zealand. If you want to go back further, it is what brought us out of Africa. Space is not an option for us. It is a necessity for our ultimate survival. I am very surprised if you don't see that.

networkn:

 

Why do we NEED to go to space?

To figure out how to get off this planet now that we've wrecked it!

networkn:

Why do we NEED to go to space?