The second stage probably won't be recoverable, unless it is turned into something that resembles a mini space shuttle (due to the speed it has to hit the atmosphere, it needs appropriate heat shielding).
The first stage, which is 70% of the rocket cost, gets exposed to a lot of stress, so it may end up being reused only 10 times. But there is inspection and refurbishment costs -- this is still up in the air. I know the plan is to get it up to maybe 50 reuses, and 24-hour turnaround time. But that part still needs to be proven out yet. So on the low side, if minimal cost to inspect / refurbish, and it gets 10 uses, the cost drops down to 33% of the original cost. Adding back in refurbishment, plus infrastructure and staff, you are talking closer to a 50% cost reduction. Not bad, but not earth-shattering either.
If the second stage ever becomes reusable, and everything proves to need only minimal refurbishment, that is where you get 1 order of magnitude savings.
There is already a way to fuel them. It's called a full service gas station. Assuming the truck can navigate to the appropriate spot, and if there is a market for it, I'm more than sure that truck stops will be willing to add a person to staff to handle the fuel dispensing (for a price).
Why not have the drivers in full control, and the computers just observer and record what the would have done? Then compare the logs of the two, to spot the differences. Take the Teslas for example -- why not have the self driving part always running, but in "disconnected" mode, to build up the training data?
Because out of 100 people, one person will have a family emergency they have to attend to. 2 people will have mis-set their alarm clocks, 5 are first-time travelers and underestimated traffic and security delays. Then there are the business travelers who have a last minute change of agenda, and take a flight at a later time.
That's basically how Android Auto (and I'm assuming Apple Carplay) work. When it is plugged into the dashboard display, you get driving friendly apps, and the rest of the phone is disabled while in that mode.
Refrigerant based dehumidifiers produce about 2 liters per kilowatt hour (at least in a somewhat damp basement -- probably less efficient in drier areas). So that would be over 40 megawatts of continuous input needed to get 2000 liters per day. Or, at 10 cents per kilowatt hour, $100 of electricity per day to reach that target. Or about 5 cents per liter -- not too far off from the 2 cents needed, and it can be renewable if powered off wind or solar. But then you need to factor the capitalized cost of the equipment in -- a dehumidifier is about $100.00 or so, with a 5 year write off that works out to be 1/10 penny per liter. Not sure how much the solar panels will cost to run it though.
The simple answer -- have a specific list of job titles and matching skills requirements that are determined to be in short supply. This list gets reviewed annually. Any unemployed IT worker could register their skills, and would get first crack at new positions when an H1B worker is requested.
Not to mention, that self driving cars will very rarely commit traffic violations (speeding, etc). That will dry up a major revenue source for a lot of smaller towns, another billion dollar industry.
One day, I had a Slashdot page still opened in my browser, locked my screen, went to lunch. Came back to complaints that my computer was annoying everyone in the office -- delayed auto-playing video ads were the culprit. So thanks to Slashdot (and me wanting to keep my job), I now have adblock installed.
Oh, not to mention the 3 times in the past I got a nasty computer virus due to an infected ad network. These are now no longer a worry.
I thought that it was primarily because McDonald's served a hot beverage in a cup that easily collapses when you grab it, and the lid pops off. Now their cups are very rigid even with no lid.
You would think so, but now it is who has to load/unload the dishwasher. Dishes go from the dinner table to the sink, after a day or two they pile up, and it is a chore to cycle them through the dishwasher.
I like the free soda, because it acts like a canary in a coal mine. As soon as they take away the free soda machine, I know that the place is about to go under, and it is time to start sending out resumes.
I'm sorry, but going to Mars is NOTHING like going to California. You can be pretty well assured that wherever you go on Earth, you won't die of suffocation (except maybe from exposure to fumes from an active volcano). And food grows or is found almost everywhere on the planet (excluding Antarctica -- even most deserts have food available in them).
The only way Mars would work is if machinery can be sent that digs a deep enough pit, so it can have a usable air pressure. From there it can be terraformed.
They may not owe US taxes, but they will probably have to file paperwork every year declaring such. Failure to file the paperwork can result in large fines, which are a problem if they ever decide to travel to the US.
:: Why would you pick classes that wouldn't transfer?
Simple -- you have basically 3 degree options in Community college -- Associates in Arts, Science, and Applied Science. The applied degree consists of classes that generally don't transfer. However, that degree does prepare you for the work place after 2 years (assuming you can find a job that doesn't think of an Associates degree as a failed Bachelors). Whereas the non applied degrees won't give you any job skills, but only prep you for a 4-year college. In any case, it is recommended that a student work with the target 4 year institution, to determine which courses to take at the local community college, and not do it blindly.
However, this is actually a bigger issue. A lot of the high school classes are dumbed down enough that they really don't prepare students for college level courses. So often times students have to take 1 - 2 semesters of additional prep work classes before they can jump into the real college classes. This can even be true if one took "college prep" classes in high school (depending on how crappy the local school district is).
It actually depends. Back a while ago, a large consulting / outsourcing firm had faced a lawsuit, that a bunch of their IT employees were mis-classified. The outcome of that suit is that they were all reclassified as hourly, eligible for overtime -- but their pay got slashed by about 30%.
For myself, I like not having to punch a clock or fill in a time sheet. And if I have to run out an hour early, I like that my pay won't be docked by that amount. (Note, that employers can deduct hours from your vacation pool for less than either 8 hours a day worked, or 40 hours a week, can't remember which, but they can't dock your pay if you are exempt).
The way the updates work: When the device check Google for an update, for the first few days it gets a random chance of 1 in 100 of being selected. That chance is then reset after a few days, so when it checks again it gets another chance, maybe 5 in 100. Note, that once the dice is rolled, no matter how often it checks for updates, it will always get the same decision until a certain time has elapsed. This chance increases as time goes on, allowing more devices to get the updates. If there are a significant number of issues reported during the first few days, this gives Google a chance to address the issues with additional patches, or to pull the update completely if required.
Let's say you pay the burger flippers more. That means the price of the burger goes up (the money has to come from somewhere). Now, the person working at the bread factory is going to want more pay to afford the higher cost of the burger. And so is the plumber. And the construction worker building a house. All of these companies now have to raise the price of their products to accommodate the higher payroll. Looks like raising the pay of the burger flipper really didn't accomplish much, as bread and housing is now more expensive. Congratulations.
That 25 seconds of fuel was landing fuel. If they ran out before landing, they would have pushed the abort button and shot back into orbit with the takeoff fuel allocation. Now I don't know if this was automatic, or if the launch fuel physically separated (to absolutely prevent using it for landing), so that could have been a factor also.
How would the reactors provide power? Remember, Nuke just provides a lot of heat, which is used to boil water to generate steam, which powers dynamos. And they use so much water that they are almost always built near the sea, a lake, or river.
I agree that most of what people have can be re-downloaded. However, separating that out is a chore, and what if you miss something? Might as well back up the entire drive just to make sure. But that would be a great product -- a search engine service that you can upload a list of file hashes and have it return a url for each file that is available online.
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The second stage probably won't be recoverable, unless it is turned into something that resembles a mini space shuttle (due to the speed it has to hit the atmosphere, it needs appropriate heat shielding).
The first stage, which is 70% of the rocket cost, gets exposed to a lot of stress, so it may end up being reused only 10 times. But there is inspection and refurbishment costs -- this is still up in the air. I know the plan is to get it up to maybe 50 reuses, and 24-hour turnaround time. But that part still needs to be proven out yet. So on the low side, if minimal cost to inspect / refurbish, and it gets 10 uses, the cost drops down to 33% of the original cost. Adding back in refurbishment, plus infrastructure and staff, you are talking closer to a 50% cost reduction. Not bad, but not earth-shattering either.
If the second stage ever becomes reusable, and everything proves to need only minimal refurbishment, that is where you get 1 order of magnitude savings.
There is already a way to fuel them. It's called a full service gas station. Assuming the truck can navigate to the appropriate spot, and if there is a market for it, I'm more than sure that truck stops will be willing to add a person to staff to handle the fuel dispensing (for a price).
Why not have the drivers in full control, and the computers just observer and record what the would have done? Then compare the logs of the two, to spot the differences. Take the Teslas for example -- why not have the self driving part always running, but in "disconnected" mode, to build up the training data?
Because out of 100 people, one person will have a family emergency they have to attend to. 2 people will have mis-set their alarm clocks, 5 are first-time travelers and underestimated traffic and security delays. Then there are the business travelers who have a last minute change of agenda, and take a flight at a later time.
That's basically how Android Auto (and I'm assuming Apple Carplay) work. When it is plugged into the dashboard display, you get driving friendly apps, and the rest of the phone is disabled while in that mode.
Refrigerant based dehumidifiers produce about 2 liters per kilowatt hour (at least in a somewhat damp basement -- probably less efficient in drier areas). So that would be over 40 megawatts of continuous input needed to get 2000 liters per day. Or, at 10 cents per kilowatt hour, $100 of electricity per day to reach that target. Or about 5 cents per liter -- not too far off from the 2 cents needed, and it can be renewable if powered off wind or solar. But then you need to factor the capitalized cost of the equipment in -- a dehumidifier is about $100.00 or so, with a 5 year write off that works out to be 1/10 penny per liter. Not sure how much the solar panels will cost to run it though.
The simple answer -- have a specific list of job titles and matching skills requirements that are determined to be in short supply. This list gets reviewed annually. Any unemployed IT worker could register their skills, and would get first crack at new positions when an H1B worker is requested.
Not to mention, that self driving cars will very rarely commit traffic violations (speeding, etc). That will dry up a major revenue source for a lot of smaller towns, another billion dollar industry.
One day, I had a Slashdot page still opened in my browser, locked my screen, went to lunch. Came back to complaints that my computer was annoying everyone in the office -- delayed auto-playing video ads were the culprit. So thanks to Slashdot (and me wanting to keep my job), I now have adblock installed.
Oh, not to mention the 3 times in the past I got a nasty computer virus due to an infected ad network. These are now no longer a worry.
I thought that it was primarily because McDonald's served a hot beverage in a cup that easily collapses when you grab it, and the lid pops off. Now their cups are very rigid even with no lid.
You would think so, but now it is who has to load/unload the dishwasher. Dishes go from the dinner table to the sink, after a day or two they pile up, and it is a chore to cycle them through the dishwasher.
I like the free soda, because it acts like a canary in a coal mine. As soon as they take away the free soda machine, I know that the place is about to go under, and it is time to start sending out resumes.
Or they should sue the company who made the copper wire that brings the internet to their homes. Makes about as much sense.
I'm sorry, but going to Mars is NOTHING like going to California. You can be pretty well assured that wherever you go on Earth, you won't die of suffocation (except maybe from exposure to fumes from an active volcano). And food grows or is found almost everywhere on the planet (excluding Antarctica -- even most deserts have food available in them).
The only way Mars would work is if machinery can be sent that digs a deep enough pit, so it can have a usable air pressure. From there it can be terraformed.
They may not owe US taxes, but they will probably have to file paperwork every year declaring such. Failure to file the paperwork can result in large fines, which are a problem if they ever decide to travel to the US.
Well considering that the Mississippi flows from North to South, and water flows downhill, I think you were more right than you realize.
:: Why would you pick classes that wouldn't transfer?
Simple -- you have basically 3 degree options in Community college -- Associates in Arts, Science, and Applied Science. The applied degree consists of classes that generally don't transfer. However, that degree does prepare you for the work place after 2 years (assuming you can find a job that doesn't think of an Associates degree as a failed Bachelors). Whereas the non applied degrees won't give you any job skills, but only prep you for a 4-year college. In any case, it is recommended that a student work with the target 4 year institution, to determine which courses to take at the local community college, and not do it blindly.
However, this is actually a bigger issue. A lot of the high school classes are dumbed down enough that they really don't prepare students for college level courses. So often times students have to take 1 - 2 semesters of additional prep work classes before they can jump into the real college classes. This can even be true if one took "college prep" classes in high school (depending on how crappy the local school district is).
The odds of a star having a lifeless planet with an oxygen rich atmosphere is pretty close to 0. Earth's oxygen was a result of life.
It actually depends. Back a while ago, a large consulting / outsourcing firm had faced a lawsuit, that a bunch of their IT employees were mis-classified. The outcome of that suit is that they were all reclassified as hourly, eligible for overtime -- but their pay got slashed by about 30%.
For myself, I like not having to punch a clock or fill in a time sheet. And if I have to run out an hour early, I like that my pay won't be docked by that amount. (Note, that employers can deduct hours from your vacation pool for less than either 8 hours a day worked, or 40 hours a week, can't remember which, but they can't dock your pay if you are exempt).
The way the updates work: When the device check Google for an update, for the first few days it gets a random chance of 1 in 100 of being selected. That chance is then reset after a few days, so when it checks again it gets another chance, maybe 5 in 100. Note, that once the dice is rolled, no matter how often it checks for updates, it will always get the same decision until a certain time has elapsed. This chance increases as time goes on, allowing more devices to get the updates. If there are a significant number of issues reported during the first few days, this gives Google a chance to address the issues with additional patches, or to pull the update completely if required.
Let's say you pay the burger flippers more. That means the price of the burger goes up (the money has to come from somewhere). Now, the person working at the bread factory is going to want more pay to afford the higher cost of the burger. And so is the plumber. And the construction worker building a house. All of these companies now have to raise the price of their products to accommodate the higher payroll. Looks like raising the pay of the burger flipper really didn't accomplish much, as bread and housing is now more expensive. Congratulations.
That 25 seconds of fuel was landing fuel. If they ran out before landing, they would have pushed the abort button and shot back into orbit with the takeoff fuel allocation. Now I don't know if this was automatic, or if the launch fuel physically separated (to absolutely prevent using it for landing), so that could have been a factor also.
How would the reactors provide power? Remember, Nuke just provides a lot of heat, which is used to boil water to generate steam, which powers dynamos. And they use so much water that they are almost always built near the sea, a lake, or river.
Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
I agree that most of what people have can be re-downloaded. However, separating that out is a chore, and what if you miss something? Might as well back up the entire drive just to make sure. But that would be a great product -- a search engine service that you can upload a list of file hashes and have it return a url for each file that is available online.