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albertmills
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Joined: March 13th, 2007, 1:09 pm

is elon musk for real?

December 8th, 2010, 5:00 pm

he's one of the co-founders of paypal, and the ceo and founder of of spacex and tesla motors. the fact that he's ceo and founder of these companies is very impressive.he also claims to be the chief rocket deisgner and spacecraft designer for spacex and product architect for the tesla roadster. i have a bit of difficulty believing that one individual, no matter how talented could make significant contributions to the design of succesful rockets and electirc cars, especially when he hasn't received any specialized education in either - he just has an undergrad physics and eocnomics background. what do you think?
 
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rmax
Posts: 374
Joined: December 8th, 2005, 9:31 am

is elon musk for real?

December 8th, 2010, 5:50 pm

There is a great anecdote in "The First Circle" by Solzhenitsyn. A man who has been sent to the GULAG hears about a special GULAG for talented people where the conditions are far better. He knows that if he entreats Stalin to release him from the GULAG he will get nowhere, so instead he writes to Stalin that he has a wonderful idea for a new torpedo. Stalin gets the man removed to the "Scientific" GULAG where conditions are better. The first thing that the man says is that he needs someone who understands underwater propulsion, so they find someone in the GULAGs that understand underwater propulsion. He then says he needs someone that understands guidance systems, so the find someone who understand guidance systems. Finally he asks for someone that understands buoyancy, so they find someone who understands buoyancy. He calls the first meeting and tells them that they understand far more about torpedoes than he does, so they should be able to design something!
 
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daveangel
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Joined: October 20th, 2003, 4:05 pm

is elon musk for real?

November 20th, 2015, 1:41 pm

Elon wants some hardcore engineers
knowledge comes, wisdom lingers
 
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Traden4Alpha
Posts: 3300
Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

is elon musk for real?

November 20th, 2015, 2:39 pm

There's a category of engineer like Elon Musk that knows a lot about a lot and is really good at just getting stuff done. Someone like Musk might not know the intricate details of PhD-level physics, but he knows enough about the fundamentals and the bigger-pricture engineering issues to both guide and push the design process.Although rockets and electric cars seem very different, they really aren't. Both seek the highest-performance subsystems of the lightest possible weight. If anything, the electric car design problem is the harder one because: fewer people care about the cost of rocket, everyone accepts that about 1% of rockets blow up, a rocket only has to perform for a few minutes, and you can have best-of-the-best engineers hand-build & tweak a rocket but a car has to be mass-produced by high-school grads.
 
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ppauper
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Joined: November 15th, 2001, 1:29 pm

is elon musk for real?

November 20th, 2015, 2:48 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4Alpha everyone accepts that about 1% of rockets blow upand everyone accepts that a certain percentage of electric cars catch fire?
 
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Traden4Alpha
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Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

is elon musk for real?

November 20th, 2015, 2:55 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: ppauperQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4Alpha everyone accepts that about 1% of rockets blow upand everyone accepts that a certain percentage of electric cars catch fire?It seems to be a smaller percentage than the percentage of gasoline cars that catch fire.
 
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tags
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Joined: February 21st, 2010, 12:58 pm

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 6th, 2018, 6:47 pm

Falcon Heavy rocket launch. Success/Failure?
 
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ppauper
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Joined: November 15th, 2001, 1:29 pm

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 6th, 2018, 9:35 pm

Falcon Heavy rocket launch. Success/Failure?
seems to be a success
 
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Joined: February 21st, 2010, 12:58 pm

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 6th, 2018, 10:00 pm

Falcon Heavy rocket launch. Success/Failure?
seems to be a success
I guess Russian have helped on this one, too.
 
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outrun
Posts: 4573
Joined: January 1st, 1970, 12:00 am

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 6th, 2018, 10:49 pm

Coolest thing I've seen in a long time.
 
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Joined: February 21st, 2010, 12:58 pm

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 6th, 2018, 11:33 pm

Coolest thing I've seen in a long time.
The tremendous thrust required to landing the two smaller rockets, that with quite limited propellant, quite amazes me, to be honest.
 
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outrun
Posts: 4573
Joined: January 1st, 1970, 12:00 am

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 7th, 2018, 6:29 am

Coolest thing I've seen in a long time.
The tremendous thrust required to landing the two smaller rockets, that with quite limited propellant, quite amazes me, to be honest.
Yes, and how synchronized they landed... And they are not small in absolute terms, look:
Image
Image

A then starman heading for Mars in red Tesla while listening to "Live on Mars" by David Bowie, Don't Panic.
Image
Image
 
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Joined: February 21st, 2010, 12:58 pm

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 7th, 2018, 9:12 am

BTW, where does that smoke/dust come from?
On the video it looks like it is some matter on the landing area which disperses as the rockets get closer.


Image
 
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outrun
Posts: 4573
Joined: January 1st, 1970, 12:00 am

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 7th, 2018, 9:46 am

BTW, where does that smoke/dust come from?
On the video it looks like it is some matter on the landing area which disperses as the rockets get closer.


Image
That's the burning remains from the container that kept the last remaining malaria mosquito in the world.
 
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tags
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Joined: February 21st, 2010, 12:58 pm

Re: is elon musk for real?

February 7th, 2018, 9:58 am

BTW, where does that smoke/dust come from?
On the video it looks like it is some matter on the landing area which disperses as the rockets get closer.


Image
That's the burning remains from the container that kept the last remaining malaria mosquito in the world.
LOL
BTW I thought maybe it is some chemicals intendedly spread over the landing area to cool down the rocket and/or prevent fire.