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How long do you have? :)


Really, he's in a hurry to get to Mars and getting to Mars will make us an "multiplanetary" which is bunk. RHH had it right and for the right reason; Once you're in orbit you're half way to anywhere. So in essence you need to get the cost TO ORBIT down and then work on the rest. Starship, (the actual one) and BFR are aimed and designed for getting lots of people and equipment to Mars but that doesn't directly translate into lower cost to orbit. Especially if it, (and it would) saturates the market too early. It is essentially the same problem(s) I had with Mars Direct because it IS Mars Direct only with a private spacecraft.


People on Mars, (or for that matter on the Moon) don't actually matter in the short term. People in LEO doing things IN LEO and making a reason to lower the cost to get to LEO are what matter. IMO, (so take it for what it's worth :) ) you really don't even need it to be initally 'economical' to have people in orbit 24/7/365 because the question of "what do they do to make money" isn't correct. The question is more "I have 20 people in orbit all the time, what do YOU need and what are you going to pay me to do it?" is more accurate.


I fully understand Elon's desire to go to Mars before his time, but I don't want to go to Mars or the Moon... I want to go to Mars AND the Moon, have a 'summer' home in the clouds of Venus, see Jupiter rise on Ganymede, etc, etc. That's not going to happen unless we build up a robust and sustainable interplanetary transportation system and 'direct' flights isn't going to do that.


Beyond that I could complain about tossing the Falcon series once Starship come "on-line" (mostly because I'm not convinced it WILL come on-line in the way he's proposing ATM) and some design and operational kibitzing but in general I'm eager to see what he and the others actually have planned and more importantly what they actually accomplish. Like many people whom actually are DOING something I'll toss in my 0.2 cents when I can but I'm not going to try and joggle anyones elbow because I've got enough issues making my house payment let alone trying to privately finance a space program. That will NOT prevent me from having my opinions though :)


Randy

(Edit: And thanks for asking because I've been 'daydreaming' what I'd say if asked on this for the better part of the day so now I've got THAT off my chest I'm better :D )


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