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BusinessI am Elon Musk, CEO/CTO of a rocket company, AMA! (self.IAmA)

ElonMuskOfficial が 投稿x6

Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity. Started off doing software engineering and now do aerospace & automotive.

Falcon 9 launch webcast live at 6am EST tomorrow at SpaceX.com

Looking forward to your questions.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/552279321491275776

It is 10:17pm at Cape Canaveral. Have to go prep for launch! Thanks for your questions.

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トップ新着論争中古い順Q&A

[–]Forrestal 2066ポイント2067ポイント  (211子コメント)

Brief Question here from someone that is interested.

SpaceX's current strategy revolves mostly around old style Rockets, even if they are now approaching complete reusability (Grasshopper rocks). Has SpaceX looked into Hybrid craft like the SABRE program happening in the UK, or look into the possibility of a space elevator (Even at a thought experiment stage) in the way that Google and NASA have done?

Thanks for doing this AMA.

[–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 3306ポイント3307ポイント  (187子コメント)

If you want to get to orbit or beyond, go with pure rockets. It is not like Von Braun and Korolev didn't know about airplanes and they were really smart dudes.

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    [–]1201alarm 1567ポイント1568ポイント  (53子コメント)

    Mr Musk,

    How will you secure the first stage of the Falcon 9 to the barge when it lands? Gravity or some mechanism?

    [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 2036ポイント2037ポイント  (50子コメント)

    Mostly gravity. The center of gravity is pretty low for the booster, as all the engines and residual propellant is at the bottom.

    We are going to weld steel shoes over the landing feet as a precautionary measure.

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      [–]FoxhoundBat 1526ポイント1527ポイント  (331子コメント)

      In order to use the full MCT design (100 passengers), will BFR be one core or 3 cores?

      [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 2429ポイント2430ポイント  (327子コメント)

      At first, I was thinking we would just scale up Falcon Heavy, but it looks like it probably makes more sense just to have a single monster boost stage.

      [–]Skov 2259ポイント2260ポイント  (275子コメント)

      Nice to see you are doing things the Kerbal way.

      [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 4515ポイント4516ポイント  (267子コメント)

      Kerbal is awesome!

      [–]RowsdowerKSP 2940ポイント2941ポイント  (53子コメント)

      In the off chance u/elonmuskofficial reads this, Elon, we think you're awesome, too. <3 All of us at Squad.

      [–]KSP_HarvesteR 424ポイント425ポイント  (6子コメント)

      Elon Kerman added to crew name pool.

      Cheers :)

      [–]kami232 55ポイント56ポイント  (0子コメント)

      Oh no... That means I'll end up blowing up the real life Tony Stark... #gameishard.

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        [–]Poromenos 113ポイント114ポイント  (3子コメント)

        Is your homepage tomorrow going to feature the following quote?:

        Kerbal is awesome!
        -- Elon Musk

        [–]stefeyboy 161ポイント162ポイント  (21子コメント)

        No You're Awesome too

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          [–]Sirius__Star 1727ポイント1728ポイント  (101子コメント)

          HE PLAYS KERBAL EVERYONE!!!

          [–]DuffmanOfTheCosmos 1510ポイント1511ポイント  (61子コメント)

          Squad HQ

          [–]RowsdowerKSP 1943ポイント1944ポイント  (56子コメント)

          Pretty much.

          [–]JakeTheSnake0709 817ポイント818ポイント  (41子コメント)

          And that's a KSP developer, ladies and gentlemen.

          Thanks for making such an awesome game

          [–]Silent_Sky 570ポイント571ポイント  (30子コメント)

          I'm so proud to be punching the same planets Elon Musk is landing on.

          [–]coolkerbal 187ポイント188ポイント  (6子コメント)

          All hail the great planet puncher

          [–]Firestar1161 136ポイント137ポイント  (13子コメント)

          This is a star studded thread. Elon Musk, KSP Dev, and you, the all-mighty Puncher of Planets.

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                  [–]ericwdhs 445ポイント446ポイント  (23子コメント)

                  He also plays Human Space Program.

                  I hope the next update is good.

                  [–]GavinZac 140ポイント141ポイント  (8子コメント)

                  HSP 1.999991 Changelog: Increased base weight of humans to balance difficulty

                  [–]Airclot 81ポイント82ポイント  (5子コメント)

                  Are they doing a rolling update? Seems the North America server got the update first.

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                      [–]staythepath 243ポイント244ポイント  (9子コメント)

                      He literally plays Kerbal IRL.

                      [–]S2000 57ポイント58ポイント  (1子コメント)

                      One of us! One of us! ONE OF US!!!

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                        [–]olexs 110ポイント111ポイント  (14子コメント)

                        This answer will sure make a lot of people over at Squad very happy :)

                        [–]RowsdowerKSP 359ポイント360ポイント  (7子コメント)

                        It sure did! Max and I are currently freaking out like girls at a Backstreet Boys show in 1999.

                        [–]Maxmaps 244ポイント245ポイント  (5子コメント)

                        I am freaking out so hard right now.

                        [–]SecularMantis 102ポイント103ポイント  (2子コメント)

                        And you're one of few people who gets to play it with real rockets!

                        [–][deleted] 237ポイント238ポイント  (1子コメント)

                        Yup, SpaceX's FB page just posted that they're doing the weekly challenge and that tomorrow's F9 launch will start upside down

                        [–]pcpastafarian 45ポイント46ポイント  (0子コメント)

                        I got wayy too excited for the official SpaceX entry to the challenge before I got to the end of your sentence :-P

                        [–]NeilJHopwood 176ポイント177ポイント  (31子コメント)

                        Any chance of an official SpaceX mod for Kerbal Space Program?

                        [–]RowsdowerKSP 399ポイント400ポイント  (13子コメント)

                        KSP CM here. So far, an official one is not in the cards, but if we had the opportunity to work with SpaceX on one, we'd do it in a heartbeat.

                        [–]FogItNozzel 208ポイント209ポイント  (9子コメント)

                        /u/ElonMuskOfficial please make this happen. We have NASA Asteroids, lets now do a SpaceX Duna pack!

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                          [–]illectro 93ポイント94ポイント  (11子コメント)

                          The mod I'm wanting most for KSP is stowable, functioning grid fins so I can try the landing.

                          [–]Wetmelon 30ポイント31ポイント  (2子コメント)

                          Well there's a really good unofficial one - LazTek

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                            [–]NovaSilisko 72ポイント73ポイント  (9子コメント)

                            Used to develop KSP, feels awesome to see it all over the real space industry now.

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                                [–]DuffmanOfTheCosmos 927ポイント928ポイント  (30子コメント)

                                monster boost stage.

                                This is how I play Kerbal Space Program.

                                [–][deleted] 330ポイント331ポイント  (22子コメント)

                                monster boost stage. In order to support this we will of course have to increase the number of struts.

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                                      [–][deleted] 1305ポイント1306ポイント  (84子コメント)

                                      Europa: attempt no landing there. True or false?

                                      [–]TCEchicago 4161ポイント4162ポイント  (238子コメント)

                                      What daily habit do you believe has the largest positive impact on your life?

                                      [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 5696ポイント5697ポイント x2 (221子コメント)

                                      Showering

                                      [–]minminminmin 4302ポイント4303ポイント  (45子コメント)

                                      I do that too!!!! Which way to the space company club?

                                      [–]ShinyMissingno 3732ポイント3733ポイント  (50子コメント)

                                      No one wants to smell his natural Musk.

                                      [–]SahinK 588ポイント589ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                      Please start posting to /r/showerthoughts. That would be glorious.

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                                          [–]usa_dublin 2801ポイント2802ポイント  (219子コメント)

                                          Hi Elon. A friend of mine is all paranoid about the computer singularity, and used your name as a source of his paranoia. Don't you think it could all be a bunch of hype?

                                          Awesome car/rocket/etc stuff you do! Huge fan!

                                          [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 4471ポイント4472ポイント x3 (200子コメント)

                                          The timeframe is not immediate, but we should be concerned. There needs to be a lot more work on AI safety.

                                          And, with all due respect to the Roomba dude, that is not a concern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of2HU3LGdbo

                                          [–]usa_dublin 3929ポイント3930ポイント  (69子コメント)

                                          I'm kind of giddy and star struck, but I'm more completely at a loss that the guy that owns Tesla, the guy that owns a company that is putting a rocket into space tomorrow, just sent me a video of a cat riding a roomba chasing a duck. What just happened? I was having the worst day, and now everything seems alright. Heck yeah!

                                          [–]jcarmona24 480ポイント481ポイント  (10子コメント)

                                          The man even includes a video. Blessed

                                          EDIT: An amazing video, DO watch

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                                              [–]AvenueEvergreen 2239ポイント2240ポイント  (254子コメント)

                                              Previously, you've stated that you estimate a 50% probability of success with the attempted landing on the automated spaceport drone ship tomorrow. Can you discuss the factors that were considered to make that estimation?

                                              In addition, can you talk more about the grid fins that will be flying tomorrow? How do they compare to maneuvering with cold-gas thrusters?

                                              [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 3911ポイント3912ポイント  (247子コメント)

                                              I pretty much made that up. I have no idea :)

                                              The grid fins are super important for landing with precision. The aerodynamic forces are way too strong for the nitrogen thrusters. In particular, achieving pitch trim is hopeless. Our atmosphere is like molasses at Mach 4!

                                              [–]MayContainPeanuts 4053ポイント4054ポイント  (129子コメント)

                                              Can you help me with Kerbal Space Program?

                                              [–]illectro 1267ポイント1268ポイント  (59子コメント)

                                              I'm always happy to help with KSP.

                                              [–]willseeya 810ポイント811ポイント  (34子コメント)

                                              Now there's a tough choice: Elon Musk or Scott Manley for KSP lessons.

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                                                [–]SpiderOnTheInterwebs 742ポイント743ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                Asking the important questions

                                                [–]SonicFrost 67ポイント68ポイント  (44子コメント)

                                                I've always wanted to play but I'm constantly terrified by the fact that I more than probably suck at building rockets and will only get frustrated.

                                                Also, I'd probably cause the deaths of hundreds of Kerbals...

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                                                  [–]majerus1223 550ポイント551ポイント  (20子コメント)

                                                  I pretty much made that up , lmao

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                                                      [–]catsx3 2241ポイント2242ポイント  (79子コメント)

                                                      Hi Elon, I currently work for Toyota Tsusho in Fremont doing the wheel assembly for Tesla. I want to let you know how proud I am to be however minutely linked to such a powerful and positively influential company such as yours. Keep doing the good work, sir. You are an inspiration to not only myself but countless others around the world.

                                                      My question: You seem to have had to deal with a tremendous amount of adversity in a few of your ventures. Do you have any advice for those dealing with seemingly insurmountable adversity?

                                                      [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 4143ポイント4144ポイント  (72子コメント)

                                                      There is a great quote by Churchill: "If you're going through hell, keep going."

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                                                        [–]aerovistae 3542ポイント3543ポイント  (332子コメント)

                                                        tl;dr: How do you learn so much so fast? Lots of people read books and talk to other smart people, but you've taken it to a whole new level.

                                                        It seems you have an extremely proficient understanding of aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, all various subdisciplines (avionics, power electronics, structural engineering, propulsion, energy storage, AI) ETC ETC nearly all things technical.

                                                        I know you've read a lot of books and you hire a lot of smart people and soak up what they know, but you have to acknowledge you seem to have found a way to pack more knowledge into your head than nearly anyone else alive. Do you have any advice on learning? How are you so good at it?

                                                        [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 5471ポイント5472ポイント x2 (230子コメント)

                                                        I do kinda feel like my head is full! My context switching penalty is high and my process isolation is not what it used to be.

                                                        Frankly, though, I think most people can learn a lot more than they think they can. They sell themselves short without trying.

                                                        One bit of advice: it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.

                                                        [–]ravedave 1803ポイント1804ポイント  (60子コメント)

                                                        I see you haven't forgotten your Computer Science roots (trunk?). Hopefully you are still thread safe.

                                                        [–]BigTunaTim 2637ポイント2638ポイント  (42子コメント)

                                                        Hopefully you are still thread safe.

                                                        "Hi, Tesla support? Yeah, so I pushed start on my Model 3 and now I'm in orbit. Am i still covered under warranty?"

                                                        Edit: thank you for the gold, kind stranger! May your threads never race and your global state remain minimal.

                                                        [–]TheWheez 1113ポイント1114ポイント  (31子コメント)

                                                        To which they will reply with a how-to guide on returning from orbit by Scott Manley.

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                                                              [–]Ptolemy48 376ポイント377ポイント  (16子コメント)

                                                              There was a really neat post on askreddit some months ago on how to study/learn based on how memory works. It's more tailored to classroom-type learning, but it's got applications to functional learning too.

                                                              [–]BreakYourselfFool 246ポイント247ポイント  (33子コメント)

                                                              The trick is, he built himself. He's an android that keeps repairing himself.

                                                              Edit: spelling.

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                                                                [–]MarsColony_in10years 988ポイント989ポイント  (44子コメント)

                                                                In your recent MIT talk, you mentioned that you didn't think 2nd stage recovery was possible for the Falcon 9. This is due to low fuel efficiency of kerosene fuel, and the high velocities needed for many payloads (high orbits like Geostationary orbit). However, you also said that full reusability would be possible for the Mars Colonial Transporter launch vehicle.

                                                                What have you learned from flights of Falcon 9 that taught you

                                                                a) that reuse of its second stage won't be possible and

                                                                b) what you'll need to do differently with MCT to reuse its second stage.

                                                                [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 1292ポイント1293ポイント  (42子コメント)

                                                                Actually, we could make the 2nd stage of Falcon reusable and still have significant payload on Falcon Heavy, but I think our engineering resources are better spent moving on to the Mars system.

                                                                MCT will have meaningfully higher specific impulse engines: 380 vs 345 vac Isp. For those unfamiliar, in the rocket world, that is a super gigantic difference for stages of roughly equivalent mass ratio (mass full to mass empty).

                                                                [–]chasbecht 472ポイント473ポイント  (30子コメント)

                                                                What kind of mass ratio do your upper stages have?

                                                                [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 922ポイント923ポイント  (28子コメント)

                                                                With sub-cooled propellant, I think we can get the Falcon 9 upper stage mass ratio (excluding payload) to somewhere between 25 and 30. Another way of saying that is the upper stage would be close to 97% propellant by mass.

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                                                                      [–]danielle_miller 4334ポイント4335ポイント x2 (253子コメント)

                                                                      I’m a teacher, and I always wonder what I can do to help my students achieve big things. What’s something your teachers did for you while you were in school that helped to encourage your ideas and thinking? Or, if they didn't, what's something they could have done better? thanks!

                                                                      [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 5333ポイント5334ポイント  (225子コメント)

                                                                      The best teacher I ever had was my elementary school principal. Our math teacher quit for some reason and he decided to sub in himself for math and accelerate the syllabus by a year.

                                                                      We had to work like the house was on fire for the first half of the lesson and do extra homework, but then we got to hear stories of when he was a soldier in WWII. If you didn't do the work, you didn't get to hear the stories. Everybody did the work.

                                                                      [–]danielle_miller 958ポイント959ポイント  (42子コメント)

                                                                      Thanks for answering! I teach high school astronomy in Orlando, and we always watch your rocket launches and talk about SpaceX. We're big fans. I'll get to work on my storytelling skills.

                                                                      [–]qweswr2 3824ポイント3825ポイント  (127子コメント)

                                                                      Alright, I'll keep that in mind the next time I have an opportunity to be a soldier in WWI.

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                                                                          [–]StapleGun 3744ポイント3745ポイント  (291子コメント)

                                                                          Hi Elon, I'm already saving up for my Model 3. Can you share anything about the Model 3 that we don't already know?

                                                                          [–]Its_Rumble 1187ポイント1188ポイント  (139子コメント)

                                                                          Would you ever consider becoming a politician?

                                                                          [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 2476ポイント2477ポイント  (128子コメント)

                                                                          Unlikely

                                                                          [–]Norose 2054ポイント2055ポイント  (79子コメント)

                                                                          Im still going to nominate you for King of Mars

                                                                          [–]darga89 1372ポイント1373ポイント  (62子コメント)

                                                                          So Elon?

                                                                          [–]I_want_hard_work 317ポイント318ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                                                          That's unsettling. There's coincidences and then there's just weird.

                                                                          [–]ProbablyPostingNaked 113ポイント114ポイント  (7子コメント)

                                                                          I had to go check if he was born Elon. Apparently he was. The plot thickens...

                                                                          [–]extreme_secretions 56ポイント57ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                                                          maybe his parents were von braun fans and tried to push him in this direction?

                                                                          [–]ProbablyPostingNaked 57ポイント58ポイント  (5子コメント)

                                                                          NO! von Braun prophesied the King of Mars!

                                                                          Edit: van - von

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                                                                            [–]l337sponge 1094ポイント1095ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                            http://imgur.com/2Iw5QAY

                                                                            [–][deleted] 100ポイント101ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                            All hail the King of Mars!

                                                                            [–]virnovus 33ポイント34ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                            Wait... where is this from?

                                                                            [–]MrArron 108ポイント109ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                            Dr. Wernher von Braun himself in The Mars Project.

                                                                            It seems Wernher von Braun chose Elon to be the champion and he is rising to the challenge.

                                                                            [–]helpful_hank 31ポイント32ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                            /r/synchronicities.

                                                                            That one is out there.

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                                                                                    [–]prettypenny42 2260ポイント2261ポイント  (362子コメント)

                                                                                    Hi Elon, I'll leave the technical questions to the experts. 1) do you plan on getting any sleep tonight and 2) how will you celebrate if the test is successful? Best of luck! x

                                                                                    [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 3146ポイント3147ポイント  (361子コメント)

                                                                                    Yes, but probably only a few hours

                                                                                    Party at Cocoa Beach!

                                                                                    [–]IDlOT 3774ポイント3775ポイント  (57子コメント)

                                                                                    Elon got the club going up

                                                                                    on a Tuesday

                                                                                    [–][deleted] 1075ポイント1076ポイント  (172子コメント)

                                                                                    Follow-up question: How much do you sleep per night, on average?

                                                                                    [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 2426ポイント2427ポイント  (170子コメント)

                                                                                    I actually measured this with my phone! Almost exactly 6 hours on average.

                                                                                    [–]ImPieLife 3538ポイント3539ポイント x2 (98子コメント)

                                                                                    Hey, I hope you know that it is medically recommended that you get 7-8 hours of sleep minimum. If you don't, you won't become anextremelysuccessfulbillionaire

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                                                                                        [–]Yugiah 425ポイント426ポイント  (57子コメント)

                                                                                        Well it's definitely reassuring to know that he sleeps, just like rest of us.

                                                                                        [–]DuffmanOfTheCosmos 168ポイント169ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                        Or so he would like us to believe...

                                                                                        [–]Oriole5 340ポイント341ポイント  (39子コメント)

                                                                                        But do you think he poops or pees?

                                                                                        [–]nolepointer 583ポイント584ポイント  (20子コメント)

                                                                                        Nope. And he does not have a butthole; he has no need for one.

                                                                                        [–]milkshakedrinker 218ポイント219ポイント  (5子コメント)

                                                                                        but he CAN talk to dolphins, right?

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                                                                                              [–]test3545 897ポイント898ポイント  (60子コメント)

                                                                                              You are an early investor in AI startups like DeepMind and Vicarious. What was the most amazing demonstration of an AI capabilities you have seen so far?

                                                                                              [–]TVNTRICSCVRXCRO 262ポイント263ポイント  (0子コメント)

                                                                                              This question probably breaks certain agreements sadly

                                                                                              [–]The35thVitamin 160ポイント161ポイント  (40子コメント)

                                                                                              If this doesn't get answered, someone else in the field should give their response...

                                                                                              [–]primaryobjects 223ポイント224ポイント  (33子コメント)

                                                                                              In case no one else is answering this, I can at least provide some thoughts.

                                                                                              Recent advances in image recognition, specifically scene parsing and labeling, is very impressive. If you check out what Google is doing with intelligently labeling scenes http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-picture-is-worth-thousand-coherent.html and http://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/deepimagesent/ you can see how deep learning has helped image recognition come a long way.

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                                                                                                  [–]salty914 2156ポイント2157ポイント  (48子コメント)

                                                                                                  Has the Raptor engine changed in its target thrust since the last number we have officially heard of 1.55Mlbf SL thrust?

                                                                                                  EDIT: Thanks for the gold!!

                                                                                                  [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 2359ポイント2360ポイント  (43子コメント)

                                                                                                  Thrust to weight is optimizing for a surprisingly low thrust level, even when accounting for the added mass of plumbing and structure for many engines. Looks like a little over 230 metric tons (~500 klbf) of thrust per engine, but we will have a lot of them :)

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                                                                                                    [–]EchoLogic 5122ポイント5123ポイント x5 (559子コメント)

                                                                                                    Hi Elon! I'm asking three questions on behalf of the nearly 20,000-strong fan community /r/SpaceX. We consider these the best questions we'd like you to answer for us (trust me, there were hundreds more), so a response to each would be much appreciated!

                                                                                                    1. Falcon Heavy. Some have speculated that at stage separation the Falcon Heavy center core is too far downrange and travelling too fast to be feasibly returned to the launch site. Could you go into some detail on whether you plan to use barge landings permanently for this core, expend it depending on the mission, or take the payload loss and boost back to the launch site?

                                                                                                    2. Mars. Could you please clarify what the Mars Colonial Transporter actually is? Is it a crew module like Dragon, a launch vehicle like Falcon, or a mix of both? Does it have inflatable components? Is MCT just a codename?

                                                                                                    3. Spacesuits. How does SpaceX plan to address the limitations and contribute to the advancement of current spacesuit technology to best serve humans enroute and on the surface of Mars? You mentioned in 2013 that there'd be an update to SpaceX's "spacesuit project" soon - how is it coming along?

                                                                                                    Thanks for taking the time to do this AMA! Also at some point, /r/SpaceX would love to have an AMA with someone such as Gwynne Shotwell, Steve Jurvetson, Hans Koenigsmann, or even yourself - so if we could organize something for the future that would be great! And finally, just in case your work and this AMA hasn't already made you aware, you're launching Falcon 9 in less than 12 hours (the 19th SpaceX launch & 14th F9 launch no less!), so here's a countdown clock & website I built for you. Best of luck with Dragon & the landing! Regards, Lukas.

                                                                                                    [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 5047ポイント5048ポイント x2 (481子コメント)

                                                                                                    1. Yes, the Falcon Heavy center core is seriously hauling a** at stage separation. We can bring it back to the launch site, but the boost back penalty is significant. If we also have to the plane change for geo missions from Cape inclination (28.5 deg) to equatorial, then a downrange platform landing is needed.

                                                                                                    2. The Mars transport system will be a completely new architecture. Am hoping to present that towards the end of this year. Good thing we didn't do it sooner, as we have learned a huge amount from Falcon and Dragon.

                                                                                                    3. Our spacesuit design is finally coming together and will also be unveiled later this year. We are putting a lot of effort into design esthetics, not just utility. It needs to both look like a 21st century spacesuit and work well. Really difficult to achieve both.

                                                                                                    [–][deleted] 3750ポイント3751ポイント  (87子コメント)

                                                                                                    We are putting a lot of effort into design esthetics, not just utility

                                                                                                    im glad we have top men ensuring the future is sexy

                                                                                                    [–]patm718 2791ポイント2792ポイント  (90子コメント)

                                                                                                    Way to go, /r/spacex. Thanks Elon.

                                                                                                    [–]Destructor1701 688ポイント689ポイント  (27子コメント)

                                                                                                    The Mars transport system will be a completely new architecture. Am hoping to present that towards the end of this year. Good thing we didn't do it sooner, as we have learned a huge amount from Falcon and Dragon.

                                                                                                    Wow... I think my brain might be leaking out of my ears right now.

                                                                                                    [–]salty914 337ポイント338ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                    This AMA has already exceeded my wildest expectations. So much new info.

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                                                                                                      [–]PmButtPics4ADrawing 1193ポイント1194ポイント  (63子コメント)

                                                                                                      You can curse on the Internet, Elon.

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                                                                                                        [–]Spacedrake 297ポイント298ポイント  (7子コメント)

                                                                                                        Aren't these the spacesuits where one of the specifications was that they must be "badass?"

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                                                                                                          [–]salty914 1438ポイント1439ポイント  (150子コメント)

                                                                                                          Hello Elon, HUGE HUGE fan here!! Question about the Mars Colonial Transporter:

                                                                                                          There has been a lot of speculation over comments about exactly how much mass you are hoping to send to the Martian surface with the MCT. Can you tell us how much cargo you would like to be able to land on Mars with MCT, not including the mass of the MCT itself?

                                                                                                          [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 2011ポイント2012ポイント  (144子コメント)

                                                                                                          Goal is 100 metric tons of useful payload to the surface of Mars. This obviously requires a very big spaceship and booster system.

                                                                                                          [–]EchoLogic 683ポイント684ポイント  (81子コメント)

                                                                                                          /r/SpaceX denizens, do your math now please!

                                                                                                          [–]salty914 725ポイント726ポイント  (29子コメント)

                                                                                                          We're getting enough new numbers here for a dozen new discussion posts full of math :)

                                                                                                          [–]large_butt 624ポイント625ポイント  (25子コメント)

                                                                                                          rubs greasy math hands together

                                                                                                          e: rubs greasy hey-if-anyone-has-some-good-speculation-as-to-MCT-mass-ratios-they-should-tell-me-but-otherwise-I'll-just-guess math hands together

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                                                                                                            [–]OriginalApotheosist 93ポイント94ポイント  (31子コメント)

                                                                                                            ~400 tons to leo for chemical propulsion to mars! HUGE! Electric propulsion may be used though... (Vasimir?)

                                                                                                            EDIT: Assuming they do use chemical propulsion, and my guesstimate of 4x LEO payload to mars surface payload ratio is correct, then with a 5% payload to leo ratio for the booster (another reasonably good guess), the booster rocket to LEO will be 8 THOUSAND TONS on the pad.

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                                                                                                                  [–]bluegreyscale 1423ポイント1424ポイント  (132子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Hi Elon! Huge fan of yours.

                                                                                                                  Have you heard of/played Kerbal Space Program?

                                                                                                                  Also do you see SpaceX working with Squad (the people behind KSP) to integrate SpaceX parts into KSP?

                                                                                                                  [–]ken27238 1783ポイント1784ポイント  (86子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Have you played Kerbal Space Program?

                                                                                                                  What do you think SpaceX uses for testing software?

                                                                                                                  [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 3539ポイント3540ポイント  (80子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Kerbal Space Program!

                                                                                                                  [–]ultramarinestudios 183ポイント184ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Have you seen the Spacex modpack? http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/29388-LazTek-SpaceX-Launch-3-1a-Exploration-2-1a-and-Historic-1-1a-packs-24-2-%289-10-14%29

                                                                                                                  [–]KaielSu 564ポイント565ポイント  (20子コメント)

                                                                                                                  I am not surprised by this.

                                                                                                                  [–]Hexofin 924ポイント925ポイント  (17子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Plot twist, rage quit.

                                                                                                                  Decided to launch a real rocket instead.

                                                                                                                  [–]Ihmhi 2045ポイント2046ポイント x2 (10子コメント)

                                                                                                                  "Fuck this bullshit game! I'm rich, I'll build a real motherfucking rocket and show those little green assholes! I'm going the fuck to MARS!"

                                                                                                                  We later discover that Tesla exists because Mr. Musk got his ass kicked at Gran Turismo a few years back.

                                                                                                                  [–]rhinofinger 115ポイント116ポイント  (1子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Let's just hope nobody kicks his ass in Left For Dead or Resident Evil.

                                                                                                                  [–][deleted] 81ポイント82ポイント  (4子コメント)

                                                                                                                  Damn. When I rage quit, all that comes of it is a broken keyboard.

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                                                                                                                        [–]U235OneHitter 70ポイント71ポイント  (5子コメント)

                                                                                                                        I imagine you give your engineers KSP .craft files and tell them to Make It So

                                                                                                                        [–]Altair1371 102ポイント103ポイント  (2子コメント)

                                                                                                                        "Sir, this is just a pile of decouplers and boosters taped together"

                                                                                                                        "Yeah? Well I made it to Eve AND BACK with that sucker! Start taping!"

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                                                                                                                          [–]mrlawson11 68ポイント69ポイント  (11子コメント)

                                                                                                                          "And Besides- It works in Kerbal Space Program."

                                                                                                                          XKCD #1244

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                                                                                                                              [–][削除されました]  (25子コメント)

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                                                                                                                                [–]bluegreyscale 100ポイント101ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                                                                                                                Yeah I'd love to play ASP but it's just way to expensive to get into plus the lack of time warp makes it really time consuming to play.

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                                                                                                                                    [–]salty914 720ポイント721ポイント  (13子コメント)

                                                                                                                                    Emily Shanklin indicated in late 2013 that the Raptor would be the first of a "family of engines" designed for the exploration and colonization of Mars. Could you elaborate on her wording, i.e. was she simply referring to a vacuum version and standard version, or do you plan on building multiple methane-based engines with significantly different thrust and size specifications?

                                                                                                                                    [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 936ポイント937ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                                                                                                                    Default plan is to have a sea level and vacuum version of Raptor, much like Merlin. Since the booster and spaceship will both have multiple engines, we don't have to have fundamentally different designs.

                                                                                                                                    This plan might change.

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                                                                                                                                      [–]MarsColony_in10years 1682ポイント1683ポイント  (115子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      TL;DR: What needs to happen to grow SpaceX to the point where you can afford to enable the colonization of Mars?

                                                                                                                                      Even Mars Direct, which would only involve temporary stays on Mars rather than colonization, would cost ~$1.5B/year. SpaceX is worth <$10 billion as a company, and the launch industry is only a ~$6B/year industry. Growing SpaceX's profit margin by a couple orders of magnitude will be difficult due to low market elasticity; you're betting Mars (the fate of the human race) that lowering launch prices will trigger a large increase in demand, allowing SpaceX to grow.

                                                                                                                                      • Given that the only growth and market elasticity seems to be in the small satellite and CubeSat launch industry, why did you cancel Falcon 1 after only 2 successful launches?

                                                                                                                                      • How specifically do you intend to increase SpaceX launch revenue by orders of magnitude?

                                                                                                                                      • Will cheap/reusable launches have a similar profit margin, or will profits/launch fall?

                                                                                                                                      • Is the SpaceX WorldVu partnership an attempt to grow the satellite industry, or for SpaceX to branch out into a more lucrative industry? (The satellite industry is a ~$200B/year industry)

                                                                                                                                      • What other approaches (by SpaceX or others) might grow the industry by orders of magnitude?

                                                                                                                                      [–]ghostrider176 1662ポイント1663ポイント  (307子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      1) What is your favorite airplane?

                                                                                                                                      2) What is your favorite video game?

                                                                                                                                      3) What is your favorite food?

                                                                                                                                      4) If you consume alcohol, what is your favorite alcoholic drink?

                                                                                                                                      [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 3034ポイント3035ポイント  (274子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      SR-71

                                                                                                                                      Hard to pick a favorite. I tend to like FPS with a story, like Bioshock, Fallout or Mass Effect, but was also a big fan of Civ and Warcraft.

                                                                                                                                      French and BBQ

                                                                                                                                      Whiskey

                                                                                                                                      [–]majerus1223 837ポイント838ポイント  (89子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      How do you find time to play video games?

                                                                                                                                      [–]Logicalpeace 2592ポイント2593ポイント  (47子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      He's probably hiding time travel from us.

                                                                                                                                      [–]Exino 327ポイント328ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      Only so much he can reveal every year... :|

                                                                                                                                      [–]SuperKlydeFrog 89ポイント90ポイント  (8子コメント)

                                                                                                                                      it's actually not technically time travel:

                                                                                                                                      the dude's got a hyperbolic time chamber, y'all.

                                                                                                                                      next up, senzu beans, i'm sure of it

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                                                                                                                                          [–]ivandam 570ポイント571ポイント  (11子コメント)

                                                                                                                                          He plays video games all day and then does all the urgent work in the last hour.

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                                                                                                                                            [–]Jysta_Fitendor 437ポイント438ポイント  (28子コメント)

                                                                                                                                            Elon, are you trying to find Prothean ruins by chance?

                                                                                                                                            [–][deleted] 88ポイント89ポイント  (3子コメント)

                                                                                                                                            Hell yeah Fallout.

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                                                                                                                                                [–]FoxhoundBat 538ポイント539ポイント  (39子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                Design life of Merlin 1D has been mentioned to be 40 “cycles”. Could you expand on what a “cycle” is? Is it just a start of the engine?

                                                                                                                                                [–]ElonMuskOfficial[S] 727ポイント728ポイント  (28子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                There is no meaningful limit. We would have to replace a few parts that experience thermal stress after 40 cycles, but the rest of the engine would be fine.

                                                                                                                                                [–]ravedave 66ポイント67ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                Is a cycle a firing?

                                                                                                                                                [–]zootam 97ポイント98ポイント  (6子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                i think a cycle is starting the engine (and obviously turning it off at some point)

                                                                                                                                                what mr. musk said about thermal stress happens when parts heat/cool unevenly (a part must heat up first in order to cool down, and it must cool down in order to cool unevenly and create stress) so yes firing the engine counts as a cycle.

                                                                                                                                                edit: in theory i guess if you never turned it off you would never get thermal stress, but you would have a host of other, more difficult issues to deal with (thus being theoretical) in order to get it running for that long (fuel and heat management), and keep it running for that long. (And it would still be 1 cycle)

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                                                                                                                                                      [–]aerovistae 315ポイント316ポイント  (38子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                      tl;dr: What spurred the AI concerns over recent months?

                                                                                                                                                      As specifically as you can get away with, what spurred you to start sharing your strong concerns about general AI over the last year to 18 months? Prior to that time window you had never made public remarks on the subject and obviously something got you thinking about it. Was it Deepmind's game-playing algorithm?

                                                                                                                                                      [–]septicman 82ポイント83ポイント  (12子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                      As interesting as the space-related stuff is, this is exactly the topic I'd like to know more about. The concerns were pretty serious, so, yes -- what galvanised them, I wonder...

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                                                                                                                                                          [–]Sidewinder77 288ポイント289ポイント  (9子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                          Hi Elon, on behalf of /r/SelfDrivingCars

                                                                                                                                                          • You've previously stated that self-driving cars will be ready in "Five or Six years from now". Could you expand on how you see events playing out between now and then?
                                                                                                                                                          • If you could regulate or deregulate any aspect of the US economy, how would you change the rules to encourage the commercialization of self-driving cars as fast as possible?
                                                                                                                                                          • Will self-driving cars be owned by individuals, or mainly used as shared fleets of robo-taxis?

                                                                                                                                                          Thanks so much for everything you do!

                                                                                                                                                          [–]Bigmaq 172ポイント173ポイント  (59子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                          Hi Elon! The hyperloop was an interesting idea that sort of came out of the blue last year. Do you have any other projects like that just kicking around in your head? Do you plan to follow up on any of them?

                                                                                                                                                          [–]TooMuchJargon 67ポイント68ポイント  (58子コメント)

                                                                                                                                                          Yes, he has talked about electric, supersonic, vertical take off and landing jets. He thinks that once batteries reach an energy density of 400 wh/kg, it will be feasible to have a range of 2000-3000 miles.

                                                                                                                                                          He's also talked about making pre-fabricated freeway sections to speed up construction on the 405. (he has to sit through the traffic there almost every day).

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