mmbop

That’s a great question. I would guess that part of the answer is that the cost is a massive differentiator for them.

If costs were higher, competitors would probably not launch on SpaceX rockets. They were also not a “safe” choice until recently. They’ve also been able to capture the market and put enormous pressure on their competitors. I’m certain there are other reasons.

I’d love to hear an actual business person weigh in on this.

Ok - this makes sense to me. Also taken into account the context that anything going to space needs to be light at this point in time. Hopefully we don’t have that restriction forever :)

Oh interesting! I can see how that would be a harder problem (although not insurmountable since some planes on earth have supersonic propellers).

Just a quick edit - wow, u didn’t realize the span was already 4ft! Anything much larger could definitely be hard to pack inside a fairing!

I know these are much larger - I’m just really curious about the dynamics of scaling up rotorcraft & why it is problematic. ie - do rotor physics become impracticality large or fast at some point for materials science, or is it purely a space problem for rocket launches.

Is there a problem of scaling this up to say a 20kg payload?

I’m not an aeronautical engineer, so I guess what I’m asking is if there is some problem scaling up flying machines in an extremely thin atmosphere?

I was politely trying to point this out. I think this is a classic Occam’s Razor scenario.

One likely cause is that “boring” style can appeal to a wider audience and sell more units.

This would require a huge amount of collaboration amongst the elite and managers. Where can I find out more?

I haven’t been to China, but have traveled quite a bit in Asia. In my experience, you can do most anything for money anywhere. It just takes less money in places with a lower GDP per capita (not accounting for cultural or religious practices).

They should have a debug mode that is user-activated for stuff like this.

I also have burned too many hours trying to get various OAuth flows working.

Responses to this talk about how the ecosystem and hardware is great. I wonder if it would be so good if they were more squeezed to chase profits?

I’m usually skeptical of companies with this many users because of the potential to mine and sell data. I’m glad Apple hasn’t had to focus on that to stay profitable to the extent others have.

Oh yeah - my comment was more about magma spewing out if the chamber grew. I’m really curious about the mechanics of that process.

To me, it seems like the magma would could enough/create enough friction in a small borehole to prevent catastrophic failure. However, that’s just a feeling & I’d love to read more about this.