Anyone following the billionaire space pissing contest?

Kilgore

Cirrus said:

You've missed my broader point, I think. It's not going to space. It's not a stepping stone on the way to space. It's a fairground ride that amounts to a plane with a rocket attached to it, allowing it to do a ballistic arc for a few minutes. Nobody is getting into space of Virgin Galactic. They're just brushing it with their fingertips before falling back to earth.

And my broader point was that it's deemed safe to do so, whether or not it reaches the 100 kilometre FAI criteria, 50 miles straight up is still a long way. 

Cirrus

My broader point is so broad I had to take it to space to find room for it.

It's not about how high it is. If it was half as high but 50% of the way to achieving orbital velocity, that would be *revolutionary*. It's not. It's basically getting to space, but like 2% of the way to achieving orbit because it'd need 50 times as much thrust to get there. As much as I think Musk is a dick based on what I've read of him, he's the one doing the actual cutting edge of commercial space endeavours. If Musk is Netflix, Branson's sitting on the street corner with some Betamax players he's glued tinsel to. The technology and engineering solution he's used doesn't go beyond fairground stuff.

Kilgore

Cirrus said:

My broader point is so broad I had to take it to space to find room for it.

It's not about how high it is. If it was half as high but 50% of the way to achieving orbital velocity, that would be *revolutionary*. It's not. It's basically getting to space, but like 2% of the way to achieving orbit because it'd need 50 times as much thrust to get there. As much as I think Musk is a dick based on what I've read of him, he's the one doing the actual cutting edge of commercial space endeavours. If Musk is Netflix, Branson's sitting on the street corner with some Betamax players he's glued tinsel to. The technology and engineering solution he's used doesn't go beyond fairground stuff.

I haven't said Branson is doing anything revolutionary with the technology, in fact it's probably the fact that the technology is "off the shelf" and deemed reliable that he's been given the go ahead for the project.

I also haven't made any comparisons to Musk. Actually lots of his technology is pretty much off the shelf as well, all this Goddard rocket stuff is a bit old hat.

Now if one of these billionaires wants to spend some of their cash on an anti-gravity drive, I'll really be impressed. 

Cirrus

Kilgore said:

Now if one of these billionaires wants to spend some of their cash on an anti-gravity drive, I'll really be impressed. 

Yeah, that'd be something. Couldn't they just make a warp engine, too?

Snap

jeztone2 said:

Snap said:

@jeztone2 ;;;

So you don't think any of Branson's companies have contributed anything to employment, industries, taxation, anywhere over the years? It's not just about his personal taxation (about which just what do we know anyway?). 

I would say the same about anyone who runs a business (self included), but the scale of what Branson has achieved outstrips most people, by a long long shot.

I think Virgin Galactic is about just a little bit more than Branson filling in his tax return.

I don’t think you understand capitalism.

Generating employment and taxation isn’t a form of altruism. It’s just a by product of making himself money. Does Henry Ford get a free pass? Howard Hughes? The CEO of Toyota? Where does it end? 

Branson makes more money off people than most. Also some of his business rely on masses of taxpayer subsidy. Virgin Trains for example. Also a lot of his businesses are just branding fronts for other companies. Virgin credit cards were run by MBNA last time I looked. 

Given the state of the planet, I don’t think space is a priority. Most of my friends children have either allergies and or respiratory issues. Those are on the increase because to put it bluntly. We are fucking the planet. 

Serious deep space exploration by humans won’t occur until we have cleaner and more efficient propulsion systems. Which could be hundreds of years away if ever?

I don’t get this subservience to Billionares. I pay tax, my employer pays tax. I expect everyone too. Not run off on some little adventure that benefits virtually no one. Oh & I think the US government subsidised his spaceport to $200 million. So again taxpayer subsidy. 

Thanks for the lesson. Jesus, all these years alive and I hadn't got that. Wow. What can I say?

I always thought capitalism was being interested in the main cities of countries around the world. You know, like a capitalist was someone who lived in a big place like London or maybe Paris?

Cirrus

You're both wrong.

It's about Caps.

Caps that go on your head. Caps lock. Cops but pronounced with a joke NY accent.

CAPS

ICBM

Cirrus said:

My broader point is so broad I had to take it to space to find room for it.

It's not about how high it is. If it was half as high but 50% of the way to achieving orbital velocity, that would be *revolutionary*. It's not. It's basically getting to space, but like 2% of the way to achieving orbit because it'd need 50 times as much thrust to get there. As much as I think Musk is a dick based on what I've read of him, he's the one doing the actual cutting edge of commercial space endeavours. If Musk is Netflix, Branson's sitting on the street corner with some Betamax players he's glued tinsel to. The technology and engineering solution he's used doesn't go beyond fairground stuff.

This. Branson isn't going into space. Bezos isn't really going into space - and in fact, it's a perhaps unintended irony that he's chosen to call his project 'New Shepard', since Alan Shepard didn't *really* get properly into space either - he made a sub-orbital ballistic test flight.

Yuri Gagarin went into space.

SpaceX has gone into space.

It's the staying up there that should count. Jumping really high is not the same as flying.

not_the_dj

ICBM said:

Jumping really high is not the same as flying.

Yes Woody. 

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM said:

Cirrus said:

My broader point is so broad I had to take it to space to find room for it.

It's not about how high it is. If it was half as high but 50% of the way to achieving orbital velocity, that would be *revolutionary*. It's not. It's basically getting to space, but like 2% of the way to achieving orbit because it'd need 50 times as much thrust to get there. As much as I think Musk is a dick based on what I've read of him, he's the one doing the actual cutting edge of commercial space endeavours. If Musk is Netflix, Branson's sitting on the street corner with some Betamax players he's glued tinsel to. The technology and engineering solution he's used doesn't go beyond fairground stuff.

This. Branson isn't going into space. Bezos isn't really going into space - and in fact, it's a perhaps unintended irony that he's chosen to call his project 'New Shepard', since Alan Shepard didn't *really* get properly into space either - he made a sub-orbital ballistic test flight.

Yuri Gagarin went into space.

SpaceX has gone into space.

It's the staying up there that should count. Jumping really high is not the same as flying.

It's falling, with style.



This does seem distasteful when the planet is actually experiencing a climate crisis (that has been long predicted). Yes, the ultra-rich can expend a lot of money and resources to have a ride to space. Meanwhile, the crisis deepens for the poorest... I don't know, 75 percent of the population?

I don't know what this really *does* for humanity. It doesn't feel like one giant leap for mankind. 

VimFuego

ICBM said:

Cirrus said:

My broader point is so broad I had to take it to space to find room for it.

It's not about how high it is. If it was half as high but 50% of the way to achieving orbital velocity, that would be *revolutionary*. It's not. It's basically getting to space, but like 2% of the way to achieving orbit because it'd need 50 times as much thrust to get there. As much as I think Musk is a dick based on what I've read of him, he's the one doing the actual cutting edge of commercial space endeavours. If Musk is Netflix, Branson's sitting on the street corner with some Betamax players he's glued tinsel to. The technology and engineering solution he's used doesn't go beyond fairground stuff.

This. Branson isn't going into space. Bezos isn't really going into space - and in fact, it's a perhaps unintended irony that he's chosen to call his project 'New Shepard', since Alan Shepard didn't *really* get properly into space either - he made a sub-orbital ballistic test flight.

Yuri Gagarin went into space.

SpaceX has gone into space.

It's the staying up there that should count. Jumping really high is not the same as flying.

well, we had loads of petitions asking them to stay up there, but I guess gravity had different ideas. Fucking Isaac Newton. 

TeleMaster

not_the_dj

Round 2 today at 14:00 as Bezos blasts off to go that little bit higher than Branson.

Kilgore

Innovative technology.

The capsule falls back to Earth in a giant cardboard box filled with bubble wrap. 

dhaywood67

Sat watching this live on the web at work. i think it's safe to say they've spared no expense on facilities. It looks like a scaffold in some farmer's field with a giant dildo strapped to it.

I just hope it's actually safer than it looks!!

Jetsam1

dhaywood67 said:

It looks like a scaffold in some farmer's field with a giant dildo strapped to it.

I think we have it. Just a giant phallus impregnating space or something............... I see all this as merely egotisitical phallic manipulations really.

Chuffola

I really did laugh out loud at the phallic shape - it even had a bell-end. Appropriate given the cargo. 

Kittyfrisk

Probably saw 'Flesh Gordon' as a boy...

stickyfiddle

Johnson! What's that on radar?

Not sure sir, but it looks like a massive...

Stratavarious

Kid’s fairground ride...  not space travel.

fob

Fair play to him - he was in it. Most definitely not a kid's ride (would you have wanted your kids in there?) and Musk hasn't dared be a passenger. If it is a pissing contest between the men themselves then I think Bezos will have the smuggest look in that billionaire bathroom.