I remember back in the day watching videos of the Grasshopper going up and down and thinking impressive, but they're just going to disappear like 99% of other tech companies that do impressive demos.
I'm glad to be eating my hat, and to reminded that perennially '10 years away' tech does occasionally make it to market.
Yes, they got here incrementally, but then any journey is done one step at a time.
At the time of Grasshopper the whole idea of a reusable private rocket was 10 year away tech.
I just went to check the Grasshopper dates, thinking it would be about 10 years to first successful landing. Grasshopper started testing in 2012, so my mentions of '10 years away' are definitely metaphorical.
What I'm probably most excited about is Gwynne Shotwell's (President and COO of SpaceX, very level-headed, DEFINITELY not someone who indulges in 'Elon time') prediction and confidence that Starship will start transporting passengers point to point within 10 years: https://www.inverse.com/article/44830-spacex-s-shotwell-on-b...
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I remember back in the day watching videos of the Grasshopper going up and down and thinking impressive, but they're just going to disappear like 99% of other tech companies that do impressive demos.
I'm glad to be eating my hat, and to reminded that perennially '10 years away' tech does occasionally make it to market.
They did the work of getting there incrementally. Small, then big. Expendable, then landable. Cargo, then crew.
Yes, they got here incrementally, but then any journey is done one step at a time.
At the time of Grasshopper the whole idea of a reusable private rocket was 10 year away tech.
I just went to check the Grasshopper dates, thinking it would be about 10 years to first successful landing. Grasshopper started testing in 2012, so my mentions of '10 years away' are definitely metaphorical.
Indeed.
What I'm probably most excited about is Gwynne Shotwell's (President and COO of SpaceX, very level-headed, DEFINITELY not someone who indulges in 'Elon time') prediction and confidence that Starship will start transporting passengers point to point within 10 years: https://www.inverse.com/article/44830-spacex-s-shotwell-on-b...
That's...nuts. And amazing.