(Part 2) Best products from r/spacex

Cool! Thanks for elaboration (ela-bore-ation?....Nah).

Also, it occurs to me that these credibly postulated (if as-yet unobserved) Big Giant Lava Tubes would both be wonderful places to set up shop, and also very likely places to access much of this dredged-up Useful Stuff, yah?

BTW, if I may be permitted a potentially unseemly bit of self-promotion here, I've a Hard SF novella regarding...curious incidents during Mars colonization, one whose subject matter might be of interest to one who sweats the details on these things as you clearly do. Link follows.

Cheers!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CLYHKC

>One is Rocket Propulsion Elements, which I hear is great if you actually want to build your own engine. The other is Fundamentals of Astrodynamics

Those two books are specifically listed on page 108 (hardcover) of the Ashlee Vance biography on Elon Musk, as books that Elon read to learn about rocket science. The third book listed on that page is
Aerothermodynamics of Gas Turbine and Rocket Propulsion.

A considerable number of books on rockets and space travel were published in the 1950's and 1960's, and can sometimes be found used (if they were published in the U.S., be prepared for traditional (non-Metric) units, but at least the basic principles and the equations are the same).

Elon has an amazingly good memory and an ability to build a coherent whole out of many pieces of information. An employee remarked that Elon talks with everybody working on a project and with theoretical knowledge, asks a lot of questions, and at the end he knows 90 percent of what you do. So by now, it's likely that the majority of what Elon knows about rocket science was by working with the people he brought in to SpaceX and by talking with other experts, and also things that were learned because SpaceX did them (for example "supersonic retropropulsion is possible, and here's how you can use it along with subsonic retropopulsion to land a booster from an orbital launch" - nobody knew precisely how to do that until SpaceX demonstrated that it was possible). Which presumably makes Elon the person with the best overall knowledge of SpaceX technology, since his knowledge includes many specialties, and puts him in a unique role to coordinate the work of the people working in the different specialties.

The list provided by david is good, and I'm just going to point out two that are really good for understanding rockets and spaceflight:

One is Rocket Propulsion Elements, which I hear is great if you actually want to build your own engine. The other is Fundamentals of Astrodynamics, which helps to explain orbital mechanics, controls, and some other important facets of spaceflight like how we track a satellite from the ground.

Related topic - this is a fascinating thread:

Thought some of you might find this interesting: Elon Musk on ASATs and active defense possibilities. ... the video is of a discussion Musk was a part of in 2011, and it appears to be gone ... anybody know where to find it? /u/toomanynamesaretook ? /u/FoxhoundBat ?

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These were my initial take-aways to the video, then:

> So (in 2011) Elon has two ideas for threats to satellites, and two ideas for defending against these threats.
>
> he mentions missiles / interceptors as the more likely threat, and for defense he talks of "dodging" / evasive action ... well, I say it's a good first step, but if a weapon uses a "net" at such speeds (read chapter 8 of Victor Sheymov's Tower of Secrets ), even this might not always work ... but again, it's better than nothing
> he mentions lasers / directed-energy weapons as more of a future threat, and for defense he talks about having a good heat shield, such as the one used on his Dragon capsules ... wow, I never considered that possibility
>
> I like how he said "It's a lot easier and faster to shoot down a satellite than to send a new one back up." Kinda obvious, but well stated all the same.
>
> It's a little sad (or, predictable) to hear him say in 2011 that SpaceX might be ferrying astronauts in probably 3 years.

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Some wise replies came to me stating an energy weapon need not destroy the bird; pushing it off course or into a spin, or sabotaging its sensitive optics / antennae would be enough to accomplish the task ... and then there's jamming.

> I'm really not sure how early I should queue to ensure I get front row seats. It's either going to be early morning on the 27th or at night on the 26th.

I think, just in case, you should consider bringing (or purchasing in Mexico) a light but tall tripod, just in case you are not allowed into the front seats because of all the conference VIPs that want to see Elon from the front rows.

Just to avoid having a perfectly stable landscape video with Elon obstructed by a VIP head every now and then.

(Also perhaps ask the conference officials whether regular attendees are allowed to bring in a tripod and make recordings.)

I think Stewart articulates well SpaceX's skill of finding a good technical and economic way forward. future tech has to be affordable, especially if we're ever to get to Mars or permanently inhabit anywhere outside LEO. For instance, the down-scaled ITS we're looking forward to hearing about seems to be a better fit for the foreseeable future. I look forward to reading the book.

On the other scale, Issac Arthur is a great story teller for future space and tech. Quite how we make the jump to Dyson spheres etc. seems difficult to imagine from an economic perspective, well at least in our lifetime! Issac's YouTube Channel

‘Relatively’ is the key word here. You might find the book The High Frontier: An Easier Way interesting - they postulate a ~112m habitat in VLEO that could be built by successive BFR launches.

Second, I’m not implying this would be the immediate next step - just that if we have the ability to colonize Mars, then we would also have the ability to build much larger stations.

Larger spinning habitats further away from Earth will require ISRU and some form of manufacturing in space, I agree.

There is a book about Iridium that came out recently called Eccentric Orbits by John Bloom. I recommend it if you are interested in commercial space companies or the communications business generally. I also recommend it if you're interested in endless bureaucratic manoeuvring -- which I'm not but I found those parts tolerable enough to enjoy the book overall.

Links:

Wall Street Journal article about the story and the book: http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fall-and-rise-of-iridium-1464980784

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eccentric-Orbits-Iridium-John-Bloom/dp/0802121683/
(If you click "Look Inside" by the cover I believe you will be able to read the beginning pages of the book, which Amazon has as a "Kindle Sample".)

> wait another 50 years, when strong AI is a reality

Because, if we can even make an AI with near future technology, there is a very real chance that the goals of an AI wouldn't mesh well with the goals of humans. Assuming it is even possible, it is likely to rapidly go either extremely well or extremely poorly for humanity. The AI might even take itself out, or might only care about controlling circuit board realestate and not actual land per se.

For much more detail, I highly recommend reading Nick Bostram's book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. If you don't feel like paying the price of a new book, I can track down an article or two. He in particular does a good job of pointing out what isn't likely to be possible and what technologies are more plausible.

Good to know. Do any of these bundles look like a good deal? Or is it better to buy all the accessories separately?

How To Build Your Own Spaceship is a fantastic introduction to rocket appliances and commercial space flight. It's pretty short, too. I highly recommend.

And obviously The Case for Mars.

Awesome! If you have a tripod I highly recommend mounting the binoculars on it. You can see a lot more detail with a stable view (and take pictures through them with a phone if you want). And you can always pop them off and hand-hold them during the launch.

You'll need a tripod adapter. This one is all metal and very sturdy, and cheap.

Wow. It's like he took the two-stage, semi-modular design from The Rocket Company and scaled it up to go to Mars.

I'm skeptical though. It smells like a lifting-body design, which to me seems like more complexity than I would have expected from SpaceX. And I'm waiting to hear about a space cargo version that Musk can sell to cover NASA's tepid LEO/BEO plans. At $0.5B/flight, I don't think Musk wants to fund this himself.

This stand is pretty awesome. Solid heavy base.

https://www.amazon.com/Vertical-Monitor-Mount-Freestanding-002-0014/dp/B003XZVTJ0/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1468352873&sr=8-7&keywords=vertical+dual+monitor+stand

Which is a state that Lockheed, Boeing, and AJRD (or whatever they are called now...) are happy to live in.

Obligatory reference to Rand Simberg's excellent and cheap ebook: "Safe is not an option"

This article is excerpted from a book, The Space Barons. Looks like a great read!

Amazon's Audible offers two free audiobooks as a trial, so everybody should be able to listen to it for free.
https://www.amazon.com/The-Space-Barons/dp/B07BH34HTQ/ref=mt_audio_download?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Do you believe this would be a good place to start for the August launch? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T85P56C/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1MTUOAO59PZ3R&colid=141B0JQWEPS0Y
(some input from people that know what they're talking about is pretty much what im looking for, as i know basically nothing about this sort of thing)

Have you read Asteroid Mining 101? It's by the Chief Scientist at Deep Space Industries and is a fantastic breakdown of the industry from a very technical and practical perspective. Closely related to that proposal and maybe helpful too.

Huh? Paperback and Hardcover editions exist on amazon, for $25 and $99 respectively.

> $1k on Amazon

I was also looking to buy this book, but I see the hardcover is priced $95. Are you talking about a different edition?

BTW, Ignition! is back in print!