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SpaceX Unveils Heavy-Lift Rocket Designs
FleaPlus writes "At the recent Joint Propulsion Conference, SpaceX's rocket development facility director Tom Markusic unveiled conceptual plans for how its current Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 commercial rockets can be evolved into heavy-lift rockets, ranging from a Falcon X capable of lifting 38,000kg to orbit, up to a 140,000kg Falcon XX (more than either the Saturn V or the 75,000kg shuttle-derived rocket Congress currently plans on having NASA spend >$13B building). SpaceX presentations also discuss a new Merlin 2 heavy-lift engine, solar-electric cargo tugs, adapting their current engines for descent/ascent vehicles fueled by Mars-derived methane, and a desire for the government to take the lead on in-space nuclear thermal propulsion while commercial focuses on launchers. In a recent interview, SpaceX CEO/CTO Elon Musk expressed his goal of lowering the price of Mars transportation enough to enable early colonization in 20 years, and his own plans for retiring to Mars."
More like Falcon XXX.
Did you see the shapes of those things?
Accidental Public Confession
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Not necessarily confined to a villain confessing a crime, sometimes it's just information someone had wanted to keep secret, or information that someone wasn't ready to share yet.
Type 1: The villain has the goody-goody face on, but someone has provoked him into a moment of rage, at which point the anger does the talking and the confession of the dastardly deeds spills out along with all the vitriol. Different from an Engineered Public Confession because the villain's mental state has rendered him/her temporarily unaware/uncaring that there's an audience. The audience may or may not have any idea there's going to be a confession.
Type 2: The most unfortunate kind of Accidental Public Confession comes from someone blithely blurting out something they thought the other party already knows.
Type 3: "Is This Thing Still On?" Somebody doesn't realize there's a live microphone to pick up their confession. See also some examples in Did I Just Say That Out Loud.
See also You Just Told Me for when the confessor is tricked into believing the other person already knows, and Engineered Public Confession for when the hero secretly arranges and records/broadcasts the confession. I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You is a variation of this.
Type 1:
* Monsters Inc - the Corrupt Corporate Executive reveals his plan to capture all human children and scare them shitless for a lifetime to solve the city's power issues. Fortunately, a protagonist has the whole thing on record and reveals it to the authorities.
* Sideshow Bob, as mentioned above, does this, but there's also that bit in Order Of The Stick where Vaarsuvius, faced with Elan and his evil twin Nale and no way to tell them apart, gives a little speech that culminates in a flat assumption that Nale just isn't smart enough to pull off a good con—at which point Nale blurts out "Oh, yeah? So, what, you think you could have come up with something more clever than Nale did?" Vaarsuvius blasts him with lightning and replies, "Apparently."
* In Bob And George, the Helmeted Author disguises himself as George, and blows up Proto Man's weapons cache, with Proto Man still inside. Still acting as George, he's questioned by Dr. Light, who doesn't seem shocked or even at all concerned with what's happened, prompting Helmut to scream, "BUT I JUST (BLEEP)ING VAPORIZED HIM!!!" Cover blown.
* Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic: "How dare you accuse me of petty theft?! What my daughters and I have planned is nothing less than high treason!"
* "A Few Good Men": Col. Nathan R. Jessup angrily admits to ordering the code red in this famous speech.
Type 2:
* From Kinky Boots: Lauren, who has been falling in love with Charlie but makes nice with his wife anyway mentions with sincere appreciation that he put his house up for mortgage in order to save the factory. Nicola didn't know, and is less than pleased he kept it from her. Lauren is mortified; she had no idea Charlie hadn't discussed it with Nicola first.
* The Little Mermaid: Triton calls Sebastian about Ariel being in love. Sebastian thinks he knows that she is in love with a human, and blurts it out.
Sebastian: I tried to stop her, sir! She wouldn't listen! I told her humans were bad! They are bad, they are...
Triton: Humans? What about humans?!
Sebastian: Humans? [chuckles] Who said anything about humans?
* Happens in Real Life all the time. Don't tell me I'm the only person who ever does this...
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