SPACEX STILL ON COURSE FOR A MANNED MISSION TO MARS ‘IN 10 YEARS, MAYBE SOONER’

Digital Trends ^ | 9/19/16 | Trevor Mogg

[brucedickinson]

Microsoft is going to cure cancer in 10 years too. It’s always 10 years. We will have AI by then and giant chickens that are mostly breast meat. Oh and space cars

[ctdonath2]

Sarcasm aside, you must admit Musk had done staggeringly well in a short time.

[cp124]

Flim flam artist spending others money like any good lefty.

[ctdonath2]

Flim flam artists don’t get completely new rocket designs built at 1/10th typical cost, recover first stages for re-use, while creating high-quality electric cars at rapidly lowering costs, while expanding solar energy services, while getting a by-far largest rechargeable battery factory built, all after creating PayPal and selling it for $billions.

And the only “others’ money” comes from customers handing him piles of cash and making intended & productive use of tax breaks (and yes I’m all for lowering taxes - if we can’t get it across the board, then wherever we can).

Elon has re-invented several industries from the ground up.
What have _you_ done?

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Cool! A mosque for Musk and a minaret to boot!

[Rembrandt]

Please offer first choice to Democrat politicians, esp. OButthole, Klintoon(s), Soros, Reid, etc.

[Fungi]

Bingo!!! This is an incredible endeavor. All things considered, why? It’s a year to get there, and once they arrive, then what? Leave them stranded or bring them back? And for what purpose? Just to say we did it? Silly crap at other people’s expense.

[GraceG]

Too bad the fusion drive needed to get us to mars is only 20 years away....

[BwanaNdege]

Sarcasm aside, you must admit Musk had done staggeringly well in a short time.

That he has!

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment are made of the same stuff that Burt Rutan and Pete Diamandis gave us with the original X-Prize (which also provided the impetus for Space X).

Dream BIG!

Make, raise or leverage enough money to hire good people with dreams, good ideas & technical skills to make those dreams happen.

"Behind every advance of the human race is a germ of creation growing in the mind of some lone individual. An individual whose dreams waken him in the night while others lie contentedly asleep." (Crawford H. Greenewalt)

[deadrock]

$5 billion of taxpayers money have been funneled into his rackets. Until he completes a venture without aid, he is just another green con man.

[ctdonath2]

You like your home mortgage interest deduction?

[deadrock]

My ownership of my home would carry on without MID, grants, tax breaks, construction subsidies, discounted loans and environmental credits on any products I sell.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Despite the tough challenges currently facing his SpaceX company, Elon Musk has made clear that he’s as determined as ever to get humans on Mars in the next 10 years.

I applaud Musk's ambition and vision, I really do. But hype works best on a foundation of substantive accomplishment.

[CJ Wolf]

he had done some stuff. Let’s get it done. Go Elon.

[HonkyTonkMan]

Well renaming the program from MCT to ITC is a great start. That was an essential step. Did he publish an updated org chart as well?

8 years for Apollo program to land on moon ('61 JFK speech to '69 Neil & Buzz on moon). The moon landing built on research from Mercury and Gemini programs. I don't see the same level of support or commitment for Elon.

Plus is there a national competition for Mars? What country can afford such a mission right now....

not seeing a Mars launch in 2025 happen

[Falconspeed]

Visionaries in Los Angeles built the Navajo rockets, Gemini rockets, Mercury rockets, Apollo orbiters and the best of the best: Shuttle missions. “[T]he possible outcomes for establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony” is maybe 5%. Today’s visionaries are wannabe kids compared to the engineers in the 1950’s. Why not restart the Shuttle missions and focus on increasing human lifespans around the world? Oh, I know, does not sound very glamorous.

[plain talk]

I think this guy should slow down and work on fundamentals a bit more before he gets a bunch of people killed. He is way ahead of his headlights.

[chaosagent]

I think this guy should slow down and work on fundamentals a bit more before he gets a bunch of people killed. He is way ahead of his headlights.

---

Said the guy on the dock watching the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria sail off over the horizon.

“They’re all going to die when they fall off the edge.”

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

Hey, Musk is at least designing, building and launching spacecraft.

Unlike NASA and its pork larded contractors who think it's great progress if they launch three manned missions in the next fifteen years. And they are getting billions of our money too, but aren't flying jack s__t.