Mars: Boeing vs. SpaceX

awesomeness, news, politics, spacecraft Add comments

Dec 082017

Boeing CEO Says Boeing Will Beat SpaceX to Mars

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg: “Eventually we’re going to go to Mars, and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket.”

Do it

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2017

One of the worst things to happen to the space race was when the Soviets conceded. If we can get American aerospace companies competing against each other… we can get this train moving again. Its a pity there’s been so much consolidation among US aerospace companies… a perfect future would have involved things like Ceres being acquired by Grumman, Phobos by Republic Aviation, Pluto by General Atomic, with Mars divvied up by Boeing, Lockheed and Walmart, with Europa in contention between Northrop and McDonalds, Ganymede being fought over between Chrysler and Ford.

A collection of relevant alternate memes:

The Unwanted Blog

Little Metal Excelsiors April 16, 2024
I’ve achieved a measure of success with getting metal casting up and running. I don’t intend to make too many of these NX-Excelsiors; they’re practice. But I have some spares and can make some more. Anyone interested? Say, $20 plus postage? It is my intention to make some NCC-2000 Excelsiors, and then some NCC-1701-B Enterprises. […]
Gyrojet in high speed/high rez April 11, 2024
For all the documentaries and such about the 1960’s Gyrojet “rocket gun,” this is the first time I’ve seen rounds fired with this sort of clarity. The rounds cost $200 each… which once again makes me wonder why someone hasn’t decided to put them into production. If there’s a market for them at $200 each, […]
Bell-Boeing LHX Tiltrotor art April 8, 2024
Artwork circa 1983 depicting a one-man combat tiltrotor tearing up a column of Soviet armor. At this time the Light Helicopter – eXperimental program included the possibility of tiltrotors as well as conventional choppers. In the end the RAH-66 won… and was then cancelled before series production. Tiltrotors showed promise, but also promised to be […]
Metal casting April 7, 2024
Some thirty or so years ago I took a stab at casting small parts and models in metal… my very early 1/144 lifting bodies, X-20, etc. The results were sad, so the project was abandoned. For reasons that evade me I’ve recently decided to try again. Materials available to me today are much better… high […]
Coming to ebay: ships, phasers, books March 26, 2024
Hansen’s “US Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History” is particularly nice. Contact with ridiculously generous bribes if you’re prefer not to wait: Some stuff I plan on putting on ebay… Star Trek ships, phasers, German/Japanese WWI aircraft & nuclear weapons books. If you want something but don't want to wait… I take bribes. pic.twitter.com/JKuW6vvd3u […]
Canon March 24, 2024
A few days ago someone on twitter repeated some nonsense that getting irritated about canon violations in, say, Star Trek was a sign that you’re kinda dumb, because canon is an impediment to writers who want to tell stories. Well, guess what: established canon is an impediment to only one kind of writer: the lazy […]
RIP Vernor Vinge March 22, 2024
Well, hell. Vernor Vinge has died. Some years back he read some of my sci-fi stories (specifically my first novel) and suggested that I could/should get published. Turns out he was wrong on that score (couldn’t get any agent to actually read the damn thing), but for a brief moment a pro gave me hope. […]
Starship launch 3 videos March 17, 2024
Giggity: And… Said it before: this is some sci-fi stuff right here. From one perspective, this was another failure. The booster failed at the end… it had difficulty with engine restart for the final landing burn and either kerploded just before hitting the water, or smacked into the water going *real* fast. Starship […]
Some stuff on ebay March 16, 2024
Some items I currently have on ebay. Come get some! https://www.ebay.com/itm/256440373208 Moebius Painted & Assembled 1/4105 Battlestar Galactica, unopened, great shape https://www.ebay.com/itm/256444007689 Back to The Future Time Machine 1 /15th Scale Diamond Select in box https://www.ebay.com/itm/256444023152 ULTIMATE SOLDIER 1/18 M41 WALKER BULLDOG TANK VIETNAM SERIES #10125 NEW […]
Rockwell Space Station: 1982 March 7, 2024
Published in a magazine in 1983, this artist depiction shows a concept for a 1982 space station by Rockwell. Clearly of the same *kind* of station as the eventual ISS, this is a simpler, smaller construct. However, it also includes a “cargo bay” modeled aft that of the Space Shuttle, allowing payloads (what appear to […]