this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago (4 children)

NASA contracting stuff to space X has probably be the most amazing and sound financial decision they have made.

People on this website are so biased because Elon runs it but he genuinely built one of the most amazing companies in the world. Government including the US are miles behind them and struggling to play catch up and they are only trying because Space X has become so much better than them they have to.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It's arguably not even him that it really running it

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Seems like he's more involved with starship now than falcon or dragon.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Which is why my expectations have lowered. "Hey can we build a rocket out of steel and power it with natural gas?" "We'd have to give engineers a raise or they'll probably quit."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'd hope they're paying them more, since they're working very long hours. But I do think starship is likely to do well, they've crossed some huge barriers to cheap reusability.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

At what point does cheapness outweigh reliability? It was good to keep wasteful and incompetent military contractors on their toes, but that's going to have diminishing returns, eventually.

Elon's vision is spaceflight cheap enough for extremely wealthy consumers to frequent, any further in that direction and SpaceX maybe might no longer benefit the general public.

We'll see.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

You don't think starship will be able to be reliable? I think they'll get falcon 9 like reliability performance at least, and they're aiming for a lot better.

[–] Feathercrown 27 points 4 months ago (2 children)

People on this website are so biased because Elon runs it but he genuinely built one of the most amazing companies in the world

Elon didn't build it. They literally have a manager whose entire job is to make sure Elon doesn't get too close to the technical stuff because he'll break it with some random order to change it for no reason

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

Ah yes, the CCM: "CEO Childcare Manager"

[–] trolololol 8 points 4 months ago

I read quite a bit about how spacex was formed, including the book that obviously will tell the hero tales of Elon. But I've never seen any mention of this and would like to learn more. Would you be able to share a link?

[–] Thunderbird4 11 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It’s not just blind hate for Elon, they’re genuinely terrible stewards of the environment in south Texas. They constantly lie about their intentions and impact to avoid having to take responsibility for anything. Say what you will about how independently they operate from his input, this is definitely a company culture that he cultivates and promotes.

[–] llamacoffee 11 points 4 months ago

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1823378186836889699

CNBC updated its story yesterday with additional factually inaccurate information.

While there may be a typo in one table of the initial TCEQ's public version of the permit application, the rest of the application and the lab reports clearly states that levels of Mercury found in non-stormwater discharge associated with the water deluge system are well below state and federal water quality criteria (of no higher than 2.1 micrograms per liter for acute aquatic toxicity), and are, in most instances, non-detectable.

The initial application was updated within 30 days to correct the typo and TCEQ is updating the application to reflect the correction.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The news story you are linking was incorrect and based on a typo in a report.

[–] Thunderbird4 -1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

So I’ve read.  

They still blew up their launch pad and showered a protected wildlife area with particulate, metal, and concrete debris. 

They then built and operated their water deluge system without obtaining permits.

Typo or no, they’re still taking a fast and loose, “better to ask forgiveness than permission” approach that is a detriment to a protected natural environment. They intend to test the limits of the Texas government’s ability to show disdain for the environment in favor of private enterprise.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I agree, I'm just saying this story in particular is untrue. That, obviously, doesn't excuse all the other things they actually did, like the ones you linked here.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 months ago

Those are valid points. The people that actually know even small amounts about the company do have interesting insights.

But I wasn't talking about those people. I was talking about people that see the name Elon and immediately "know" the company is in a shambles, failing and can't keep up with the competition and all other sorts of nonsense based on no facts.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

No it was the engineers not Elon who built Space X up.