<story><title>Starship’s second flight test</title><url>https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-2</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Xenoamorphous</author><text>Any hints on how this is going to change civilisation, for non-space nerds?</text></item><item><author>happytiger</author><text>It’s bonkers. It’s absolutely bonkers. I feel like I’m witnessing the creation of the wheel.&lt;p&gt;Non-space nerds don’t quite understand why it’s so exciting. But I can’t imagine how much this is going to change the world, and civilization. It’s kind of the equivalent of going from local freighters to the Seawise Giant in one iteration.</text></item><item><author>modeless</author><text>If Starship meets its reusability goals it&amp;#x27;s going to be absolutely nuts. Flying to orbit and back multiple times in a day like an airliner or something, carrying more than the entire habitable volume of ISS every time. It&amp;#x27;s impossible to overstate how much that would change access to space, and how much of an advantage it would give SpaceX over its competitors  (even other nations).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>somenameforme</author><text>How much do you think it would cost to send a bottle of water to space? Even on a Falcon Heavy you&amp;#x27;re looking at spending around $700 [1] to send one 16oz bottle of water. That&amp;#x27;s a far better than past times, where it&amp;#x27;d cost around $25,000 to send it up on the Space Shuttle. But with Starship? You&amp;#x27;re looking at that price drop to as low as $5!&lt;p&gt;Because of this, trying to meaningfully predict the future is not possible. You&amp;#x27;re looking at a incomparably large revolutionary leap being made overnight. Up until now costs have made any significant scale space project a complete non-starter. If Starship succeeds, then costs will instantly become almost entirely irrelevant. Space colonization, industry, tourism, mining, and so all become completely viable - instantly. Really, everything becomes viable. Space just becomes another domain for casual exploration, exploitation, and expansion.&lt;p&gt;I think this is why everybody is waiting before adapting. So many industries are simply impossible to even toy with, without Starship. And while it seems ever more imminent, there is of course still the possibility that it somehow ultimately proves unviable, or perhaps it only sends that bottle of water down to $300, which would still be a great leap forward, but probably not far enough ahead to really open the door to space, just yet.&lt;p&gt;[1] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Space_launch_market_competition#2010-2020s:_Competition_and_pricing_pressure&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Space_launch_market_competitio...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Starship’s second flight test</title><url>https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-2</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Xenoamorphous</author><text>Any hints on how this is going to change civilisation, for non-space nerds?</text></item><item><author>happytiger</author><text>It’s bonkers. It’s absolutely bonkers. I feel like I’m witnessing the creation of the wheel.&lt;p&gt;Non-space nerds don’t quite understand why it’s so exciting. But I can’t imagine how much this is going to change the world, and civilization. It’s kind of the equivalent of going from local freighters to the Seawise Giant in one iteration.</text></item><item><author>modeless</author><text>If Starship meets its reusability goals it&amp;#x27;s going to be absolutely nuts. Flying to orbit and back multiple times in a day like an airliner or something, carrying more than the entire habitable volume of ISS every time. It&amp;#x27;s impossible to overstate how much that would change access to space, and how much of an advantage it would give SpaceX over its competitors  (even other nations).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>maxlin</author><text>-Not being dependent on Earth for survival of the species as Starship in its huge capability and reasonably cheap cost, among with refuelability on Mars begins the road to believable planetary colonization&lt;p&gt;-Asteroid &amp;#x2F; Moon mining&lt;p&gt;-Overally, being capable of going to space with more than just miniscule science-oriented payloads. FYI, ISS has cost us over a 100 billion dollars. When Starship hauls its worth in volume in one launch with just just methane and maintenance costs, it&amp;#x27;s a whole new space age.</text></comment>