Sorry, I'm a complete know-nothing when it comes to investing. So I'm just asking. Thank you for any input.
dig it... my annual Thai trip in 60 minutes! I’m down...
Just a quick suborbital hop. The limiting factor in this is safe, reliable engines, whether jet, rocket, or a hybrid of the 2. It seems, however that commercial aerospace seems to be doing a superior job to goobermint operations.
CC
I have no specific advice, other than to note that betting on the Wright Brothers or the creators of the Internet or the first Web browsers, et al would have been a rather poor investment strategy. Right about the technology, but wrong about the business. I think the best way to pick winners is to wait and see who starts winning.
When Musk announced the BFR a couple of years ago as a way to get to Mars, I shrugged. Space is too rough for humans, we have not even populated the extreme environments on earth.
However, when Musk as an aside mentioned earth to earth using the BFR, I perked up. Now there’s a game changer.
Big hurdle is re-entry. Can he do it with a non ablative shield? Then the next hurdle is noise. The BFR will be deafening, even from 20 miles away.
We recently got a Sony Bravia 65inch 4K Ultra HDTV and the first thing we started watching is the new Lost In Space show on Netflix.
I laughed at some parts, my wife cried at some parts and our 9yo daughter looked away at some parts but it is great!
The robot is really cool.
I’m sure that someday travel this way will be common. I’m too old to experience it probably, but it’s fun to watch it getting closer to reality.
The second SpaceX opportunity is for early flights of Starship to send tourists on missions beyond the Earth’s immediate orbit. In September, Musk announced Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa signed with SpaceX to fly around the moon on Starship. Maezawa expects to fly in 2023, with six to eight guests joining him for the flight.
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The first static fire of the “hopper” test vehicle is scheduled for today.
There's only one company there doing anything of note, and they're not doing super high flights using oxygen-breathing engines.
Once super fast for flights over five hours becomes cost feasible then hell yeah
I flew the concord several times.....crammed in but fast no question
But it was like Mercedes sponsoring F1
No money in it
Prestige
Oh, come on! Where's the [/just kidding] tag?
Doesn't it take some time to get to 'outer space' in the first place? I mean, it's not like you get picked-up at the curb and hop on a bus to get there to connect with your rocket...
I admit to not reading very far into the article, but this seems so ridiculous that I just couldn't get interested...
I agree, there’s definitely a market there for top-end travelers. While a Business Class or First Class seat might be nice relative to coach, you’re still losing pretty much a whole day in each direction of travel...and you’re still cooped up in an airplane.
The size of the market will, of course, be determined by the cost. The fuel cost alone for this type of travel is probably 10 times that of air travel, and almost totally depends on weight, so there will be some interesting ramifications. For starters, I’d expect a flat fee, say $5000 for the first 110 lbs. (50 kilograms), and then maybe $100 per kg after that.
So given that type of pricing, what people ultimately pay will be determined by their overall weight impact to the rocket, meaning their body weight and the weight of their clothes and personal effects. It also means that people may opt to send their luggage on regular air freight service, and may even try Keto before flying to save a few thousand.
But things will sure be interesting if they do attempt a pricing structure as above...
Fifty years? Maybe.Ten years? No way!
What about radiation exposure? You get mild exposure when you fly at typical aircraft heights but obviously this will much higher. Any thoughts about this?
Aerospace engineer here and there are some real problems which this article doesn’t address.
Unless a new propulsion system is found that makes use of combined cycles (A subsonic air breather, supersonic air breather, hypersonic air breather and a hypersonic closed cycle.) that is cost effective, the British may have one with the SABER, there is no way this will be economical nor meet the noise requirements at your local airport.
And I don’t see anyone poring money into a vertical launch service at your local airport either. Are you really going to pay $200,000 for a one way ticket between New York and Tokyo?
And what would Star Trek transporters do?
We vacation in the Philippines about once every 3 - 5 years.
I thought about that as a regular travel rt.
We leave someplace in Florida at a rocket angle of some computered degree and just glide back down into Manila.
It would sure beat the three planes we presently take from Pittsburgh and the 23 hr flight time !
BUT .... OUR money is only good for two every 3 -5 years ..... THAT'S no way to plan an expensive business venture.
So WHO would benefit and USE that style of travel ?
Are there REALLY that many global travelers all year long to justify this venture.
I personally don't think so.
No. This is a con. Not enough average folks are going to subject themselves to the G-forces of rocket travel just to satisfy another arrogant greedy technological industry that thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread and everyone NEEDs it.
Just because something can be done, does not mean either that it will be done, or that it ought to be done. History is filled with technological achievements that never got an audience large enough to survive. “Rockets To Tokyo” won’t survive either.
Other than a convenience item, why would anyone spend over $2500 (I think this is way low a figure) to save a few hours flying to Australia. With technology today the need to be somewhere immediately is reduced.
Recommend you sell any SpaceX stock before the launch of that one.
Seriously, the justification of an industry around the whims of a few billionaire playboys for customers is just ridiculous. The cost, and risks, of space flight really need better reason. I am all for manned space exploration with some larger common goal in mind that will ultimately benefit mankind, but most of this current activity like launching Tesla's into space, is just vanity.