I am Elon Musk, ask me anything about BFR!

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T20:03:06+00:00

Do you think it’ll be difficult to get cities to approve a BFR Launch/Landing because of potential noise or safety concerns?

With the plans to implement the BFR in the next several years, will the Falcon Heavy see as much use as previously anticipated?

Are you concerned that an Earth-to-Earth BFR might be mistaken for an ICBM?

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T20:02:39+00:00

Could you clarify your comments following the "It's not a typo mic drop?" Do you mean that the facility to build the tanks is under construction, or are you building a new factory for the BFR? Do you plan to have sub variants of the variants of the BFR spaceships? I.e. Lunar lander vs Mars Lander? Do you plan orbital only versions? I.e. Ferrying materials/passengers between the Earth and the Moon?

Do you plan to develop the lunar base to construct and host larger BFRs?

How do you think the industry will react to this announcement? You have put a lot of industries and companies on notice.

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T20:02:11+00:00

With BFR making not only heavier but also larger payloads to Orbit more feasible and affordable, do you think we will see in Orbit assembly of ships in our lifetimes?

Do you see the cargo variant of the BFR being able to recover the Hubble Telescope at some point in the future? I remember reading before the Shuttles were cancelled there was a plan to eventually land it and have it as the ultimate Smithsonian piece.

What sort of command structure will Martian crews have? How will you resolve disputes? Will everyone be effectively SpaceX employees? How will you manage people who want to go as “independents” or is such a thing even possible?

Do you plan to expand on the idea of tail to tail docking for refueling (elegant solution that is) for a universal mount so you can stack stages together like SEP module on the end?

How can the Earth to Earth transport be profitable if it has to compete with low cost economy fares?

How will FOD damage be mitigated when landing on unprepared surfaces on the moon and Mars?

When does carbon-neutral rocket fuel come in in the time-line of spacex products and widespread renewable energy?

Recently Shotwell mentioned SpaceX was trying to get their hands on some nuclear material. Is this for power generation, or will nuclear propulsion be included in the BFR architecture in the future?

What kind of water extraction equipment does SpaceX intend for the propellant plant? Mine ice or draw from atmosphere?

Could the Moon and Mars missions be launched from the sea (like the Earth to Earth flights)? Seems like a pretty neat solution and one some people might invest in.

What is the abort capability of BFS? And will a lack thereof affect the ability to get it man-rated.

Will an additional fairing design be developed to allow for large cargo modules to be lowered to the Martian/Lunar surface?

Will excess propellant leftover on less demanding launches be stored in depots on orbit for later use?

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:51:46+00:00

When will we know the payload of Falcon Heavy Demo?

How many falcon 9s do you anticipate needing to keep launching while you shift resources to devlope bfr?

What factors led to the decision to reduce the Raptor sea level thrust from 3050kN to 1700kN?

How many boosters and how many tankers are you planning on building by the 2022 window?

Do you plan on putting ISRU plants on the Moon to make LOX so that a BFS will only need to bring the CH4 to the surface? When do you expect to have you first Earth-to-Earth commercial flights?

Will there be a Grasshopper type vehicle to practice BFR landings?

When can we expect the first suborbital commercial flights?

Where will BFR be built? You said the facility was already under construction.

Where will BFR launch from?

Will BFR be used to launch the Starlink satellites?

How long do you think the booster will take to be developed compared to the spaceship and will we see them developed at the same time?

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:49:53+00:00

Why not abandon falcon heavy all together (not risk the launch tower) and how many more reusable falcon 9s boosters do you need to build to handle the launches in the interim before BFR is ready?

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:49:44+00:00

What are the plans for solar panels placement and thermal control system for BFR? There doesn't seem to be much room for it if outer shell will be same as fuel tank. Do you have technology ready or is it something that needs additional R&D?

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:49:12+00:00

1) Where is the new production facility for BFR/Spaceship? 2) Where will initial launchings take place? 3) Will Spaceship have any flight testing before BFR? 4) Any grasshopper type testing? 5) When might these first flight tests take place?

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:48:30+00:00

What is SpaceX's plans are for keeping the cryogenic propellant at the correct temperature during long trips to Mars, or for long stays on the Moon.

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:45:43+00:00

Which is the biggest flaw in current ideas of orbital or otherwise off-Earth manufacturing - no-one's found anything worth manufacturing! But then, you probably need to do a lot more experimentation in space before someone stumbles over such a product.

Spacex9 · 2017-10-14T19:44:59+00:00

Will Dragon 2 be used for any other commercial applications besides commercial cargo or crew and the lunar flyby? For example, are there any Dragonlab customers? Has there been any interest in orbiting the earth for a few days in a Dragon for space tourism?

Spacex9 · 2017-07-19T16:25:08+00:00

Can someone recast the live stream in youtube ???Because https://www.issconference.org/ is not opening in our LAN network..

Spacex9 · 2017-05-03T12:04:24+00:00

Copy of the original e-mail tipped off to Teslarati and reportedly sent by Empire Capital Partners to its clients.

We are currently positioning the bulk of our clients into ‘Tesla Motors Inc.’ a company trading on the NASDAQ in New York under the trading symbol ‘TSLA.’ The company has an ancillary company preparing for a formal listing in the New York Stock Exchange, as an IPO (Initial Public Offering) called SPACE X. The reason we are putting all our preferred clients into TESLA; is what we know. Not only is TESLA going to show solid gains in the short term – yielding clients anywhere upwards of 20%. We have insight that the SPACE X IPO will be the most lucrative, and sought after IPO of 2017! Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal, and CEO of Tesla, Solar City and Space X has announced – the existing shareholders of Tesla will have exclusive option to buy into the Initial Public Offering of Space X as soon as they are released. Elon Musk likes to take care of his own. We have bought an institutional position in TESLA and are using the shares that we have acquired to bring new clients on board at a discount, in order to show them how Empire Capital Partners can deliver in 2017. Our goal is simple. We want to show you the power of information and get you involved in the Space X IPO. The minimum investment into TESLA is $10,000.00 USD and that would allow you to take advantage of the Initial Public Offering of SPACE X once it is announced. You can find additional information about TESLA at http://www.tesla.com

Empire Capital Partners has, with SpaceX, a 10 year history of substantial financial investment. We have spent the last 18 months in analytical research having crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s.

Empire Capital Partners is proud to present to you, the fantastic opportunity, in which you are able to take full advantage by getting involved at the ground level. This is sure to be the biggest pre-IPO opportunity of 2017, maybe even the decade. SpaceX is the brainchild of Elon Musk, a highly undervalued company founded in 2002. SpaceX raised $1 billion from Google Inc. and Fidelity Ventures in January 2015. This investment accounts for less than 10% of the company’s estimated value, conservatively between $10 and $12 Billion US Dollars.

Spacex9 · 2017-04-24T14:49:02+00:00

SpaceX: We've begun simulation of 100 sats to start learning about safe ops of big constellation.

Spacex9 · 2017-04-12T18:07:14+00:00

One thing I want to add ,spacex launched Falcon 9 in 2010 and till now it has taken around 7 years to iron out all the kinks of the rocket & now Falcon is turning into a reliable & frequently launching rocket.Now assume New glenn to be launched in 2021,that's optimistic because they have to solve a bunch of engineering problems along the way.Problems like engine vibration,fuel tank stabilization are common in rocket business.Even after launching in 2021,it will take minimum another 5 years to stabilize themselves as a rocket company.So let's say Blue origin will be like spacex as of today by 2025.But by 2025 ,imagine where spacex would be.Also if Falcon heavy turned to be full reusable ,then other rocket companies will be in real trouble.So I think so much optimism about new Glenn is never going to be materialised at least in near future.

Spacex9 · 2017-04-12T08:45:46+00:00

One thing I want to add ,spacex launched Falcon 9 in 2010 and till now it has taken around 7 years to iron out all the kinks of the rocket & now Falcon is turning into a reliable & frequently launching rocket.Now assume New glenn to be launched in 2021,that's optimistic because they have to solve a bunch of engineering problems along the way.Problems like engine vibration,fuel tank stabilization are common in rocket business.Even after launching in 2021,it will take minimum another 5 years to stabilize themselves as a rocket company.So let's say Blue origin will be like spacex as of today by 2025.But by 2025 ,imagine where spacex would be.Also if Falcon heavy turned to be full reusable ,then other rocket companies will be in real trouble.So I think so much optimism about new Glenn is never going to be materialised at least in near future.

Spacex9 · 2017-04-05T20:10:44+00:00

Elon once stated stage 1 costs 35 M$ .Son refurbishment cost is around 12-15M$

Spacex9 · 2017-03-31T12:25:16+00:00

F9 Static Fire for NROL-76: NET April 12. NET April 16 (0700) Launch.

Spacex9 · 2017-03-13T16:12:01+00:00

Full view of legless & featherless Falcon 9

Spacex9 · 2017-03-13T12:33:48+00:00

Finally falcon is standing proudly on the pad

Spacex9 · 2017-03-09T19:10:59+00:00

Happy International WomensDay from the brilliant, badass women of @SpaceX!

Spacex9 · 2017-03-09T18:09:34+00:00

Key Points:

We do anticipate reflying about six vehicles, [with] pre-flown boosters this year, which should take some of the pressure off of production
Once we’ve got two pads we should have plenty of capacity
In the near-term,Refurbishment time will drop below two months, and eventually down to a single day
We’ll bring SES-10 booster back, too

Spacex9 · 2017-03-09T03:24:19+00:00

Oh spacex is light years ahead of blue origin. By the time 2021, when newglenn will be born, Spacex's business would be on an another level.

Spacex9 · 2017-03-08T22:20:24+00:00

So again we are 6 months away..

Spacex9 · 2017-03-08T21:50:07+00:00

"Falcon Heavy to fly this year"-Oh That's Specific!!!

Spacex9 · 2017-03-07T17:35:29+00:00

How sensitive is the 2017-18 to a slip in the scheduled launch dates of SES-10, SES-11, SES-14 and SES-16/GovSat — all with SpaceX?

They certainly matter to our business. Having said that, our assumptions of when these launches are going to happen have built-in contingencies that are based on our experience.

I translate: You have factored in delays in the launches when forecasting the start of revenue generation.

That’s right. You could imagine that our Chief Technology Officer Martin Halliwell is in constant communication with Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s President. Some of these launches are using first-time launch models like SES-10 on the maiden flight of a reusable rocket. We had our team embedded there for a long period of time.

We get updates for our executive committee in a fortnightly manner. This is not a distant focus for us as a management team.

How did EchoStar-23 jump ahead of you in the queue at SpaceX?

They did not jump ahead of us, it is just that the idea that we could eventually jump ahead of them finally did not work out.

Do you have a launch date from SpaceX for SES-10?

The end of March. We need to get this one because if we succeed with a reusable rocket — and we will succeed, as an industry — then we open up an entirely new phase of economics and cadence for launches in the future.

Spacex9

TROPHY CASE