It is but that does not mean it can't be used commercially. They have been working on production methods for 2 years now so I suspect they are getting "produced effociently" down.

Many? There are three Starships ready to launch as soon as they are tested (though they pribably won't be) and one tested and ready for launch next month. SpaceX can build one in about two months now. Starship will be on the moon in two or (more likely) three years. It will probably be launching starlink satellites by year end. Of all the new generation, it is the closest to operation.

They are targeting their next generation rocket at SpaceXs last generation rocket. That will be a tough place to be but there is probably a market there.

Wow. I am stunned. Who saw this coming? I mean it was going so well. There goes Boeing's 100% on-time delivery record. I guess nobody's perfect. (and yes /s)

Starship changes the game entirely. With relatively low cost per kg to orbit and huge capacity, the focus will go away from spending tons of money optimizing the satellite. This is like the RAM revolution on computers. As we moved from expensive limited RAM to cheap, plentiful RAM, faster and simpler programming using higher level languages/compilers took over from slower low level programming.

No it is way sillier. It sounds like the space version of the National Guard. Also the Coast Guard is more of a law enforcement agency.

You obviously have never been outside an urban area. Nobody will be running fiberoptic cable into the Canadian hinterland. Or back country Africa. That is pure nonsense. It costs thousands for farmers to hook up the last mile. How much to hook up the last 500 miles? All of Canada outside the cities is extremely remote. I have driven much of it.

You have absolutely no idea who I am. Starlink is saving lives in Ukraine, providing high speed internet to native reservations in Canada, hooking up schools in Africa to the internet and provides a viable method for my local sugar shack to get faster than dialup speeds. So yeah, I am a fan. Constellations are going to happen so get over it. Your dislike of SpaceX seems to be motivated by Reddit Cool. SpaceX is taking humans to the moon for half the bid of their nearest competitor and are pushing spaceflight faster than any time since 1970. Starship has a 9 m diameter and can carry a 7 m mirror without the origami required for JW. The astronomy world is already looking at it. Lower cost to orbit and beyond will drop the price of space based instruments by an order of magnitude as mass stops being the constraining factor. There is zero chance it will take centuries to do anything short of FTL flight (which is probably impossible). In the last 120 years we moved from gliders to Artemis. It will not take centuries to take the next steps.

People like you...huh. That is a very loaded phrase. What kind of people are "like" me.

Space telescopes are currently orders of magnitude more expensive. Where will they be in 30 years?

Nobody suggested to move all of astronomy to space (strawman alert). But if the article is right maybe a huge chunk has to.

We are centuries away from any given technology? And you get these dates how?

First, strawman. Next, James Webb - they didn't build it to see how much money they could burn. Finally, Starship changes a lot of costs. 100 tons to the moon for maybe $2b or maybe a lot less is a big change in the cost calculation.

Interesting article but it predates Starship anf Starlink. The data transfer issues can be overcome with a Starlink-like constellation. The costs of lunar landings will be mitigated by the relative low cost of Starship. Not sure about moonquakes. The big advantage I see on the moon is the cost of construction. Maybe it would be better to move to a Lagrange point but all that spacewalking would be an issue. Basically you need to build a space station to support the construction and maintenance. As for location, I imagine the poles would be best. Possibly in the shadow of a crater rim so the tempature is always very cold.

Time to move more Astronomy off-world. It is moving that way anyways. The moon would be a good place to set up an observatory. How many 7 m mirrors can you fit in a Starship?

In Space no one can hear you stream.

It does not have the radiation shielding for radiation found outside near-earth orbit.

Engines burn fuel to propel the spacecraft. They could be chemicals, nuclear reactions or unobtainium. When the spacecraft suffers an unscheduled rapid disassembly, the burning just accelerates to the point of maximum exothermal energy.

This is 3x as loud as me after I eat a banana. Banana's don't agree with me at all.

The title of the article has nothing to do with the article itself. The article is interesting. The title is unhinged.

Bravo. Right on the money. Also what they are suggesting breaks US arms export laws because SpaceX is not licensed to export weapon systems.

They did that for SLS but the first flight of SLS was a mock production flight. The first flight of SS will be a test flight. There is no chance the infrastructure at Boca Chica would survive that.

That is what a full duration static test is. An aborted static test is not full duration.

We saw the booster fire up 31 engines yesterday. We have been looking at the landing stage for three+ years. They are bending metal at Boca Chica. Sure there is work to be done but nobody is sitting on their hands. Not sure what people expect. Insta-rocket?

Wizard of Oz.

Been there, done that twice. He is doing what he want now. And what he wants is more Avatar.

Yup. You found it.

I think he was surprised by the choices made after he handed in the story based on an interview I saw. He did not think having Arnold's terminator and Sarah Conner both in the movie would work.