Another Private Space Startup 147
An anonymous reader writes "Wired has a story about former PayPal owner Elon Musk who has his own rocket company, SpaceX, trying to lower the cost of getting into space. They just tested the rocket engine, and hope to fly a test by the end of the year. Not bad for less than a year's worth of work so far." We mentioned this guy last year.
Re:Well, it come with two pair of pants. (Score:3, Informative)
Space Entrepreneurship Network (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe I should too...
Either way, I'll better off than that stupid NSync guy who thought Pepsi was going to sponsor his $20 million ride on a Soyuz. If he's really a space fanatic, as he claims, he should have put the money up himself. (I'm sure he's got enough, with all the teenage girls who listen to that crap.)
Re:Very dangerous (Score:2, Informative)
Thank the X prize (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I've Got a Rocket Company Too (Score:2, Informative)
Very easy to get 80 ft or more.
[google.com]
A google search
Re:Obligitory PayPal Reference: (Score:3, Informative)
"Hey, this guy who stole all our money is spending it on something cool for himself, so now he's a hero."
The wierd ironies of Slashdot postings. And to think tabloid newspapers get criticised for being fickle - they ain't got nothing on geek news...
Grab.
Re:Fitting for former PayPal founder (Score:2, Informative)
Testimonials to Paypals fair buisness practices.
Re:Very dangerous? (Score:3, Informative)
IIRC, none of these private ventures that are trying to go into space are also trying to go into orbit. They are trying to do "sub-orbital" flights like the first couple of Mercury flights.
So, none of the "waste" that they may leave behind is going to remain up there: It will all come falling back down into the atmosphere where it will not pose any danger to any other spacecraft.
Re:X Prize (Score:3, Informative)
You might also check out the ERPS proposal for a series of similar federal prizes...
http://www.erps.org/papers/isdc2003.html
neat stuff, with escelation of prize monies the closer to orbit they git. keep in mind the Xprize is not a orbital infrastructure, but a ballistic shit... There are hurdles to get to orbital velocity.
Re:John Carmack (Score:2, Informative)
"COKE ADDS LIFE!" (Score:3, Informative)
A spacecraft, called the Nova 5, was sent up into space to trigger certain stars to go supernova at precisely the right times so that when the light from each of them reached the earth, it would spell out "COKE ADDS LIFE!" across the night sky - an ad campaign that would supposedly "buy pepsi for good".
The crew were in stasis on their way to add the final dot on the excalmation mark when the ship's android decided to clean the computer - with hot soapy water. The ship, with no computer (the android, Kryten, cleaned the backup computer as well), crashed into a moon, to be found three million years later by Red Dwarf and its crew - with Kryten still tending to the needs of the three female crash survivors, feeding them, bathing them etc, although they've been skelotons for a fairly large proportion of those three million years.