David Richards

efficient procrastinator

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@interesting_aIl @grok is this true?

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@SciGuySpace huge fan, longtime listener, etc., but ...
any chance you could reclaim these pixels sometime soon? I'd love to see you first thoughts of the day without scrolling twice.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@blueorigin @Amazonleo actual competition. not a spacex-beater but a serious playa in the new-new-space game.
gotta love it

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

I'm almost happy about this. IYKYK the hokey pokey with FAA in first year or two of Starbase. Elon always said "the FAA is not the problem" but it was fun to argue about.

For those that are new to this: "FAA mishaps" seem to be non-issues, as SX goes along and fixes the technical problem for its own reasons.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@dpoddolphinpro @NASA I sort of doubt that it will still be 'the first woman and the first person of color', like the old Artemis III.

One challenge now: how to re-connect with our major partners Canada and the ESA at least, and get their astronauts flying with us again.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@nickikt @Cmdr_Hadfield @SpaceX I'm not suggesting reentry. just return to earth orbit. this would be a copy of the existing HLS.
There are no other ways to get the astronauts back from the moon using only spacex hardware

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@AstroVicGlover @Erdayastronaut never mind I read it wrong. they're looking for company insiders to share scuttlebut.

But then they'll need someone to make a narrative out of it. Tim sets the bar for that, maybe they can crib from his work a little.
Or Eric's.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@AstroVicGlover oh snap! @Erdayastronaut please please please do not take this job! You are needed where you are right now!

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@nickikt @Cmdr_Hadfield @SpaceX I think it’s possible for SpaceX to do the entire mission. Part of that would be using a SpaceX vehicle to bring the astronauts from the moon back home. A fully fueled starship in lunar orbit could dock with HLS and then return to earth orbit.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

After some amount of 10x and 10x etc., space-solar would generate more power than all earth electricity, cheaper.
Historically "solar in space, sent to earth for terrestrial use" did not add up. But, when it's nearly free to generate, the only cost is sending it downhill, ...?

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@SpaceX I wonder if not having a surface just under it, makes it easier? NG and Falcon 9 have solved the ground-effect issue, but maybe in the long run, it's easier to use a cliff and a fixed fork.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@SpaceX When booster was first returned and caught, I thought "red letter day for humanity, we can catch boosters".

But now I feel, nope, the lede is all "Booster". It could land on a cliff with an I-beam fork sticking out 10 out of 10 times. In a storm.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@GoPro @LaunchHeavenX would love to also know, for both 747 and booster-during-RTLS:

lift
drag
mass

Field's law "When lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag, _anything_ can fly"

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@PebMet1 @SpaceX @elonmusk I suspect you have a good point, but I don’t know what it is. is it that total mass to orbit is in fact, another important metric, which is true

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@PebMet1 @SpaceX The requirement specification for SLS was say D minus or perhaps F. The implementation of SLS given those requirements, is terrific.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@elonmusk @SERobinsonJr @bscholl maybe that use case will be propellant. something like 10 flights a year from Leo to someplace that needs a refilled starship (moon flight? mining?) which would require at least 100 launches per year containing a payload that’s as cheap as the launch cost.

[David Richards @dcperaspera]

@elonmusk @SERobinsonJr @bscholl * use case