Interplanetary Transportation

[Space Racer]

Let's start with a couple of tweets from Elon Musk's presentation at the 2016 IAC (International Astronautical Congress) in Guadalajara, Mexico:

"In 2002, #SpaceX consisted of carpet and a mariachi band."
https://twitter.com/tanyaofmars/stat...562880/photo/1

First test of the Raptor Interplanetary Transport Engine
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/780862107478654976

Here are some tweets in sequence from a few reporters. After you read the tweet, click the left arrow. Or, scroll down to September 26 (the day before the event), and work your way up from there.

Fewer than three hours until #ElonMusk reveals his strategy
https://twitter.com/nadiamdrake/stat...94316792795136

"That's what we want."
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/780844981036605444

The logistics for this Musk talk at #IAC2016 has the potential to be fubar. You may be better off at home watching the webcast.
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/statu...33075697709057

"That's what we want" - Elon.
https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/...44937541812225

Oh my word. The future has just arrived.
https://twitter.com/SpaceY_UK/status/780825369381339136

Here's a tweet from Chris B (of NASA Spaceflightdotcom), with several replies:
https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/...745985/photo/1

This is some material from the presentation:

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qo78R_yYFA

Compilation of all technical slides from Elon's IAC presentation
https://imgur.com/a/20nku

This is Elon's presentation:
Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1YxNYiyALg
It's pretty boring, for the most part.

Here's the same presentation at Spacexdotcom.
http://www.spacex.com/mars

These are some reports from forums:

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (Updates)
https://thespaceport.us/forum/topic/...ystem-updates/

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (updates)
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1...pdates/?page=1

r/SpaceX ITS Lander Hardware Discussion Thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ussion_thread/

r/SpaceX Post-presentation Media Press Conference Thread - Updates and Discussion
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ss_conference/

r/SpaceX ITS Ground Operations Discussion Thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ussion_thread/

r/SpaceX ITS Booster Hardware Discussion Thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ussion_thread/

And last but not least, here are a few articles about the information presented:

Elon Musk wants to build a transit system that lets humans tour the entire Solar System
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/27/13...aper-elon-musk

Elon Musk: A Million Humans Could Live on Mars By the 2060s
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...space-science/

How Elon Musk Plans to Go to Mars
http://gizmodo.com/this-is-how-elon-...547#pt0-433220

SpaceX reveals ITS Mars game changer via colonization plan
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016...nization-plan/

SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System for Mars Colonization in Images
http://www.space.com/34213-spacex-in...6twitterdlvrit

Interplanetary Transport System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interp...ansport_System

[Space Racer]

Some history:

SpaceX Raptor methane engine (updates)
https://thespaceport.us/forum/topic/...ngine-updates/

SpaceX’s propulsion chief elevates crowd in Santa Barbara
https://www.pacbiztimes.com/2014/02/...santa-barbara/

SpaceX Raptor: engines for super-rockets (thread 2)
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1...kets-thread-2/

Within 80 days Elon Musk should reveal a detailed design for the Mars Colonial Transport Rocket
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2015/10...ld-reveal.html

Speculation mounts over Elon Musk’s plan for SpaceX’s Mars Colonial Transporter
http://www.geekwire.com/2015/specula...l-transporter/

Speculation on Spacex Mars Colonization Transport
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2015/12...onization.html

Here's what we know about the biggest space rocket ever conceived
http://www.businessinsider.com/space...er-mars-2016-1

Another MCT Design.... Cargo MCT Payload/Propellant Arrangements
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...oadpropellant/

Interview with Tom, author of The Physics of SpaceX Blog. On MCT(ITS) & BFR Logistics, Second Stage Reusability, Red Dragon + More (self.spacex
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...he_physics_of/

The Physics of Spacex
https://thephysicsofspacex.wordpress.com/

[aquadave]

I worked on a few ships back in the 90s. 5 different aliens from different plants. Fun to hang out with. Citrus is like alcohol to 1 group of them. They'd get all tore up on lemonade and go out anal probing. Fun times

[Space Racer]

SpaceX has shipped its Mars engine to Texas for tests
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/...rs-engine-to-t

SpaceX sends Raptor to Texas for testing
http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/or...texas-testing/

SpaceX to start testing the engine that will take it to Mars
https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/12/...rocket-engine/

Spacex Raptor engine is test firing and it will enable a big rocket to deliver 100+ tons to the surface of Mars
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/09...iring-and.html

SpaceX Raptor Engine Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7kqFt3nID4

SpaceX test-fires the engines that could take humans to Mars
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/26/13...es-raptor-mars

[Space Racer]

Interplanetary Transport System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interp...ansport_System

Musk’s Mars plan
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the...sks-mars-plan/

r/SpaceX Mars Architecture Announcement/IAC 2016 Media Thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...ementiac_2016/

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PAHPKucF3c

SpaceX’s Big F------ Rocket – The Full Story
http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/09/spacex...paign=sm_share

SpaceX Mars Plans: Jon’s First Take
http://selenianboondocks.com/2016/09...ns-first-take/

SpaceX spaceship at Mars base by Bryan Versteeg
http://www.humanmars.net/2016/09/spa...-by-bryan.html

Interplanetary Transport System
http://spaceflight101.com/spx/

Four Big Rockets
http://i.imgur.com/yujY5ax.jpg

[Space Racer]

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System – Part two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHjrZ7SNT2I

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (Updates)
https://thespaceport.us/forum/topic/...updates/page-8

KSP Doesn't Teach: Rocket Engine Plumbing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXZ2RzN_Oo

NASA Space Launch System Fuel Tank compared to Spacex Interplanetary Transport System Tank
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10...fuel-tank.html

Raptor Engine
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images...e9213e2b8b.png

3D model of the Raptor engine
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm...raptor_engine/

A detailed look at SpaceX’s Raptor engine
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the...raptor-engine/

ITS Propulsion – The evolution of the SpaceX Raptor engine
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016...raptor-engine/

[exreo]

Give up the fantasy Space Racer. We don't have the technology for that, and we may never have it.

[Space Racer]

Give up the fantasy Space Racer. We don't have the technology for that, and we may never have it.

Au contraire mon frère; we have all the technology we need. All we lack are the design and the assembly.

We could have gone to Mars over 20 years ago, if we had been so inclined. But in those days we depended on NASA and Congress to make things happen. Now we have other options. For more on this, see http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread....-We-Go-to-Mars

Elon Musk’s road to Mars
http://thespacereview.com/article/3075/1

Interplanetary Spaceship Layout
http://i.imgur.com/gtjUdBV.png

Let's talk about Raptor.
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comm..._about_raptor/

RPR 6 Elon Musk’s SpaceX Mars Colonization Plan Reviewed By Dr. Zubrin
http://radio2.marssociety.org/2016/1...-by-dr-zubrin/

SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System (updates)
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1...pdates/?page=7

Oxygen Tank
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLJlTTeDpOr/

[Space Racer]

Spacex will invest $1 billion towards advanced engine systems and then before 2020 claim over $3 billion per year in SLS and NASA deep space funding
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10...n-towards.html

Boeing challenges Elon Musk's SpaceX to a space race to Mars
http://us.blastingnews.com/news/2016...001165381.html

NASA Offers Prize Money for Winning 3D-Printed Habitat Ideas
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NA...Ideas_999.html

Illustrations and Designs by Lazarus Luan
https://www.flickr.com/photos/11710322@N02/
https://kerbal.curseforge.com/member...sLuan/projects

Dot Space: New Internet Domain
http://launch.space/
http://domains.launch.space/domain-r...tion/index.php

Can Elon Musk get to Mars?
http://www.spacenewsmag.com/feature/...k-get-to-mars/

[ga-hvac-tech]

IMO...
Whether we 'can' get to Mars... is overshadowed by whether there is any reason to spend the $billions necessary to go there.

IMO a larger and more commercially functional ISS, with a permanent residence on the moon... makes more sense.

However...
IMO this is wasted $$$... unless there is commercial value in the endeavor...

[exreo]

IMO...
Whether we 'can' get to Mars... is overshadowed by whether there is any reason to spend the $billions necessary to go there.

IMO a larger and more commercially functional ISS, with a permanent residence on the moon... makes more sense.

However...
IMO this is wasted $$$... unless there is commercial value in the endeavor...

The crazy thing is we can go to Mars, but we can never leave because the gravity of Mars is a lot stronger than the gravity of the moon. Mars is a suicide mission.

[ga-hvac-tech]

The crazy thing is we can go to Mars, but we can never leave because the gravity of Mars is a lot stronger than the gravity of the moon. Mars is a suicide mission.

Local talk radio guy asked that question... something like:

"If you could go to Mars on a one way trip, knowing you would last for about 6-8 months and die... would you do it?"

Surprising the number of callers who said yes...

GA says no... too many fun things to do here... no need to go there.

The one caller that got the prize for best call... said something like:
Can I take the star from 'Passengers' with me...

[exreo]

Local talk radio guy asked that question... something like:

"If you could go to Mars on a one way trip, knowing you would last for about 6-8 months and die... would you do it?"

Surprising the number of callers who said yes...

GA says no... too many fun things to do here... no need to go there.

The one caller that got the prize for best call... said something like:
Can I take the star from 'Passengers' with me...

I wonder how many of those Mars travelers would change their mind after a few weeks and wonder what the heck they were thinking. I guess if all the patients were terminally ill cancer patients it would make more sense--especially if there was a lot of morphine, Dalidud, Oxycoton, etc. onboard.

[ga-hvac-tech]

I think there are some folks... whose sense of adventure (whether immature or not)... is larger than their sense of self preservation.

Folks like Columbus who discovered America... Special ops folks... Some business folks who take BIG risks...
Etc, etc, etc...

Share this sense of adventure and accomplishment.

I remember having some of that attitude when I was young... it seems to have been tempered with age... grin!

[Aerovox]

I think there are some folks... whose sense of adventure (whether immature or not)... is larger than their sense of self preservation.

Folks like Columbus who discovered America... Special ops folks... Some business folks who take BIG risks...
Etc, etc, etc...

Share this sense of adventure and accomplishment.

I remember having some of that attitude when I was young... it seems to have been tempered with age... grin!

This is what I was thinking too. If they built the ship someone would go just to be in the history books as the first person. They need to get busy on a Tardis too

[Nuieve]

I'd go. The Earth is boring. Nothing left to explore. I'd go. Anywhere in space.

[exreo]

I think there are some folks... whose sense of adventure (whether immature or not)... is larger than their sense of self preservation.

Folks like Columbus who discovered America... Special ops folks... Some business folks who take BIG risks...
Etc, etc, etc...

Share this sense of adventure and accomplishment.

I remember having some of that attitude when I was young... it seems to have been tempered with age... grin!

People that go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel have a much better chance of survival than those on a mission to Mars. Mars is a suicide mission. That is not adventure to me but rather stupidity.

No one has even been back to the moon since like 1971?

[ga-hvac-tech]

People that go over the Niagara Falls in a barrel have a much better chance of survival than those on a mission to Mars. Mars is a suicide mission. That is not adventure to me but rather stupidity.

No one has even been back to the moon since like 1971?

Yes, I agree... many adventures are relatively safe... maybe not for the average person... yet not like a one way trip to Mars.
Reminds me of a former lady-friend: She was literally terrified of heights... could not even walk across a bridge on a trail if it was more than 10 ft high. Her life was seriously limited... and she knew it... BUT... she was NOT gonna get help and overcome the fear... she just was not motivated enough to... which cost her having a great guy like me in her life...
Another example is a guy who used to work at one of the supply houses... he is over 300#, I am in touch with his brother. He does not understand why he cannot get a job... everyone else knows why... yet he is not gonna listen.
My point is: just because I think something... does not mean it is true for everyone... it only means I have embraced the idea at the current time.
IMO folks need to think outside their own little boxes.

Now back on subject:
OTOH... If one's heart is totally INTO adventure... and death is not that big an issue (not a death wish, however not overly sensitive either)... then the sense of adventure may out-weigh the sense of a risk free life... mellinials anyone...

All one has to do to understand this... is to talk with someone like an astronaut or a Navy Seal... (or many others)... One understands the drive to do things, outweighs the possibility of failure.
Kinda like:
*One person will never take a chance, because of what might happen...
*The other just could not live with that level of boring life... they are driven to conquer things (experience life to its fullest).
*And if the latter person fails.. they just pick themselves up and get back to it.

Examples:
*Would the USA exist if Columbus had not defied common logic at the time and sailed west??? There was absolutely NO GUARANTEE he would ever get home.
*Folks that join the military... many of them come home with broken bodies... yet they are still positive about doing their duty to preserve freedom! And they get on with life the best they can!
*Business types risk bankruptcy (and some go there and come back)... to reap a HUGE reward... GA has gone broke before... survived... and is better off today than any time in his life. So if a nobody like me can pull his bootstraps back up...

So IMO, the idea of self preservation at all costs... while it may be an attitude shared by some... does not appear to be an attitude shared by everyone.
So here we are... back at the idea that one's opinion is not the final truth for everyone... and ones opinion may change. Seems better to not dig ones heels too hard into 'todays opinion'...

[Space Racer]

Jeff Bezos Has Ambitious Plan For Colonizing Our Solar System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NPdHTGzVdw

Model of the SpaceX Interplanetary Transportation System Vehicle.
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...1-197f711f8770

The Booster, Part of the SpaceX ITS system
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...9-9863a803a065

The Spaceship, part of the SpaceX ITS system.
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...c-00cd79f28390

SpaceX Mars Vehicle in comparison with International Space Station
http://www.humanmars.net/2016/10/spa...ison-with.html

3 simple ways to talk to your kids about living on Mars
http://mashable.com/2016/10/18/talk-.../#io_KSYhEjiq3

[Space Racer]

Spacex ITS rocket could get to Saturn’s moon Titan in 400 days and could refuel at Titan
http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/10...o-saturns.html

SpaceX ITS spaceship docking with International Space Station [picture]
http://www.humanmars.net/2016/10/spa...king-with.html

SpaceX’s Elon Musk geeks out over Mars interplanetary transport plan on Reddit
https://www.geekwire.com/2016/spacex...t-mars-reddit/

Musk offers more details about Mars mission architecture
http://spacenews.com/musk-offers-mor...-architecture/

Martian "Rust Valley" by Pat Fix [picture]
http://www.humanmars.net/2016/10/mar...y-pat-fix.html