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EdwardHeisler

Member

Registered: 2017-09-20

Posts: 357

In Defense of Elon Musk

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/ … c_WHmFFTKQ

louis

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2008-03-24

Posts: 7,208

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

I don't think there's anyone here who's attacking Elon Musk.  Yes, we want risk-takers to get to Mars.  But people always have to take responsibility for their behaviour. Some of Musk's behaviour hasn't been defensible sadly.  Sometimes people press the self-destruction button.  I doubt Musk's day to day involvement in rocket design is as big as it was at the outset - 10-15 years ago. So I hope Space X can survive his personal demons. I don't know who it was who went from ITS to BFR but it was a brilliant move. I think it really is one of the greatest business/design decisions of all time. If it was really Musk's decision, well all credit to him.  But the decision having been made, I am not sure the project is really Musk-dependent now.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/ … c_WHmFFTKQ

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Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,408

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

For SpaceNut ... there are many topics that contain the words Elon and Musk ... this one seemed lonely with only one reply...

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty … 00762.html

Elon Musk Says the Sun Can Power All of Civilization. Of Course He's Right.
Caroline Delbert
Sat, August 7, 2021, 8:45 AM

This is a nice puff piece.

It contains a wildly incorrect figure that a few NewMars members will spot immediately.

Ms. Delbert seems to have caught the flavor of Musk's enthusiasm, although she is clearly adrift in the facts and figures.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

I guess we can ignore all of the suns energy that are used directly without conversion or storage as electrical.

We know that energy from the sun is not all absorbed and that it gets reflected away as well.

Calliban

Member

From: Northern England, UK

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3,793

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

This is a nice puff piece.

It contains a wildly incorrect figure that a few NewMars members will spot immediately.

Ms. Delbert seems to have caught the flavor of Musk's enthusiasm, although she is clearly adrift in the facts and figures.

(th)

Is that the piece where it says the Earth absorbs 2/3rd of the sun's energy output?  It is actually less than two billionth of the sun's energy output.  It is a sobering thought.  As humanity spreads out into space, we could use 1 million times as much energy as the Earth receives from the sun and we would still only be using <0.2% of the sun's energy output.

Last edited by Calliban (2021-08-07 15:53:48)

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"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

louis

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2008-03-24

Posts: 7,208

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

Geniuses often have pebbles thrown at them by pedants. They bounce off. I'm sure we all know what he meant.

For SpaceNut ... there are many topics that contain the words Elon and Musk ... this one seemed lonely with only one reply...

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty … 00762.html

Elon Musk Says the Sun Can Power All of Civilization. Of Course He's Right.
Caroline Delbert
Sat, August 7, 2021, 8:45 AM

This is a nice puff piece.

It contains a wildly incorrect figure that a few NewMars members will spot immediately.

Ms. Delbert seems to have caught the flavor of Musk's enthusiasm, although she is clearly adrift in the facts and figures.

(th)

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Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

So a bigger project than a ringed world would be a ring around the sun so as to collect more energy....

Calliban

Member

From: Northern England, UK

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3,793

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

Gérard O'Neil believed that humanity's future lay in space, far away from any planet.  At Earth distance from the sun, sunlight would be available 24/7 at an intensity of 1360W/m2.  It could be concentrated further by aiming a foil-thin concave mirror at the sun.  Using a mirror weighing a few tens of tonnes, one could focus as much heat as would be generated by a large nuclear power reactor.  I think ultimately, humanity will follow the energy.  At least I hope that we will.  I don't like the alternative very much.

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"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

Elon Musk's SpaceX calls out Amazon in latest spat over Starlink: 'Despite its theatrics, Amazon does not identify a single fact, figure, or scintilla of data that SpaceX omitted from its application'
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-mu … ink-2021-9

kbd512

Administrator

Registered: 2015-01-02

Posts: 7,856

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

tahanson43206,

I'm only reading this today, and my math could be a little off, but if 257 YottaWatts were striking the surface of the Earth, then I'm not sure that we would have an Earth's surface to build anything on, because that would be nearly 504 GigaWatts per square meter.  We wouldn't need much in the way of solar panel area to power humanity, assuming we could make solar panels out of plasma.  Regarding the subject of this thread, is Ms Delbert actually attacking Elon Musk or simply displaying her stunning ignorance?  I never heard of her.  Why do you guys waste time reading this sort of idiocy anyway?  I'm only now discovering the existence of this thread and haven't read any comments, so apologies if the problem, real or imagined, has already worked itself out.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,408

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

For kbd512 re #10

Thanks for an entertaining post!  It was recorded in the archive in late 2021, and it definitely makes for a chuckle in 2023.  At this point, I don't recall what you were responding to.

Today, I'm stirring up this topic with an issue that seems to be important to Elon's father.

Does it matter one way or the other, if Elon's family earned income from an emerald mine?

(th)

Terraformer

Member

From: The Fortunate Isles

Registered: 2007-08-27

Posts: 3,906

Website

Re: In Defense of Elon Musk

Well, right now he's busy running Twitter into the ground. Don't know how good he is at multithreading.

Personally, I think he's the bagholder for Twitter shareholders to get their money back before everyone jumps ship to Bluesky...

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Use what is abundant and build to last