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posted by martyb on Wednesday November 21 2018, @12:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the up-in-the-air dept.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's use of cannabis during an interview with Joe Rogan has led to safety reviews at both SpaceX and Boeing:

In addition to spurring problems for the car company Tesla, Elon Musk's puff of marijuana in September will also have consequences for SpaceX. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that NASA will conduct a "safety review" of both of its commercial crew companies, SpaceX and Boeing. The review was prompted, sources told the paper, because of recent behavior by Musk, including smoking marijuana on a podcast.

According to William Gerstenmaier, NASA's chief human spaceflight official, the review will be "pretty invasive" and involve interviews with hundreds of employees at various levels of the companies, across multiple worksites. The review will begin next year, and interviews will examine "everything and anything that could impact safety," Gerstenmaier told the Post.

[...] One source familiar with NASA's motivations said the agency has grown weary of addressing questions about SpaceX's workplace culture, from the long hours its employees work to Musk's behaviors on social media. "SpaceX is the frat house," this source said. "And NASA is the old white guy across the street yelling at them to 'Get off my lawn.'"

The "Big Falcon/Fucking Rocket" (BFR) has been renamed. The upper stage will be called Starship, while the booster will be called Super Heavy:

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted late Monday night that he has renamed the company's largest (and yet to be built) BFR rocket to Starship. Or more precisely, the spaceship portion will be called Starship. The rocket booster used to propel Starship from Earth's gravitational grasp will be called Super Heavy.

Plans to add a "mini-BFS" second stage to the Falcon 9 were scrapped less than 2 weeks after they were announced. Yet another design change for the BFR/Starship was also hinted at:

In a series of tweets Nov. 17, Musk said that SpaceX was no longer pursuing an upgrade to its existing Falcon 9 vehicle that would make the vehicle's second stage reusable. The company's focus, he said, would instead be on speeding up work on SpaceX's heavy-lift reusable launch vehicle formally known as Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR. "Accelerating BFR instead," Musk said. "New design is very exciting! Delightfully counter-intuitive." [...] Musk, in his latest tweets, said no major changes to the Falcon 9 were now on the table. "Yes, no upgrades planned for F9," he wrote. "Minor tweaks to improve reliability only, provided NASA & USAF are supportive."

Incidentally, SpaceX raised $250 million with its first loan instead of the $500-750 million the company previously sought.

Finally, NASA's associate administrator Stephen Jurczyk told Business Insider that the Space Launch System (SLS) would eventually be retired in favor of SpaceX's upcoming rocket (formerly known as BFR) and Blue Origin's New Glenn (Blue Origin is also planning an successor called New Armstrong, but no further details have been announced about the rocket). However, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine denied that SLS would be cancelled in 2022 "or any foreseeable date":

NASA 'will eventually retire' its new mega-rocket if SpaceX, Blue Origin can safely launch their own powerful rockets

NASA is building a giant rocket ship to return astronauts to the moon and, later on, ferry the first crews to and from Mars. But agency leaders are already contemplating the retirement of the Space Launch System (SLS), as the towering and yet-to-fly government rocket is called, and the Orion space capsule that'll ride on top. NASA is anticipating the emergence of two reusable and presumably more affordable mega-rockets that private aerospace companies are creating. Those systems are the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which is being built by Elon Musk's SpaceX; and the New Glenn, a launcher being built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

"I think our view is that if those commercial capabilities come online, we will eventually retire the government system, and just move to a buying launch capacity on those [rockets]," Stephen Jurczyk, NASA's associate administrator, told Business Insider at The Economist Space Summit on November 1.

However, Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of NASA, appears to have publicly denied his colleague's statement. "In case there is any confusion, @NASA will NOT be retiring @NASA_SLS in 2022 or any foreseeable date. It is the backbone of America's return to the Moon with international and commercial partners," Bridenstine tweeted on Monday, following the initial publication of this story on Saturday.

Musk cannabis story also at Engadget, TechCrunch, and The Verge. BFR name change story also at BBC. Falcon 9 reusability story also at Ars Technica, Bloomberg, and Engadget.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @04:13PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @04:13PM (#764784)

    Musk does things. Real man-childs bitches about it.

    Honestly, most people are too stuffy. They use their stuffiness to bully others. They then accuse those who do things of doing the very things they advocate against. It is a form of control and ego protection.

    I hope he does even more amazing things. That hyperloop thing is theoretical garbage (he has to know it at this point). But he is instead pivoting it to fix our infrastructure in interesting ways.

    The real issue is jealousy. They are green with envy that their life is not turning out the same way. This dude is a billionaire who does fun things. He has about 0 effect in my life other than I sometimes see a tesla.

    Boeing, NG, RocketDyne and NASA need a shakeup. They went from putting people on the moon. To companies that are rent seeking and keepers of the regulations. Competition in this area is going to fix a lot of issues with it.

    My guess this set of articles is a hit piece and run through what we call 'news' these days (look at the sources). Which is little more than children copying off of each others homework. Giving it some flowery language and a slick presentation. I have grown weary of dogging them down. But my guess if you dig into the sources you will find a root source that basically all of the others copied from.

    If people still think Musk is not a 'maker of things'. Would *any* of what he made exist today if he had just sat on his money and played VC guy? Probably not. He is causing great things to happen. Is he a 'nice person' who knows, not sure I care. I do not know the guy. He may be a total shitlord or help little old ladies across the street. But he is doing great things. I am not even a 'fan'. I can at least acknowledge him.

    But this quote always sticks with me from a movie "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @04:20PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @04:20PM (#764790)

    "Carla was the prom queen."

    The last film produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Because Simpson died of drug overdose shortly thereafter. Maybe the winners also don't do stupid shit, too.

    But since we have the pussy grabber as President we are indeed in an era where the rich do get to do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 21 2018, @06:19PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 21 2018, @06:19PM (#764860) Journal

      the rich do get to do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it.

      Imagine that. I do believe, though, that the era began around the time that the first monkey-man staked a claim to the best banana tree. That accomplished, he started fucking every monkey-woman in sight, in exchange for bananas. "Just let me bang you, Baby, and you can have whatever you like!"

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 21 2018, @05:04PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday November 21 2018, @05:04PM (#764812) Journal

    I hope he does even more amazing things. That hyperloop thing is theoretical garbage (he has to know it at this point). But he is instead pivoting it to fix our infrastructure in interesting ways.

    It might still be applicable to Mars, which has lower gravity and dramatically lower atmospheric pressure. Which should mean less power required to create a partial vacuum, etc.

    Meanwhile, Hyperloop on Titan would suck. But people could get around Titan with little helicopters.

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