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A comment on Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket. Parent comment

Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by njarboe on Monday March 01, 2021 @01:26PM (#26306129)
Elon Musk is really shooting for a self-sustaining city on Mars and SpaceX is his part of working towards that goal. He really is happy for competition and wishes there was more of it. He has stated that he is sometimes concerned that SpaceX has too many of the best people. With these other rocket companies doing well and drawing top talent, he is probably less concerned about that at this point.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by RivieraKid on Monday March 01, 2021 @03:10PM (#26307735)
> He really is happy for competition and wishes there was more of it.

Only if the competition is mediocre. If the competition takes away money, attention and admiration from Elon, he will not be happy.

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by Robotbeat on Monday March 01, 2021 @03:14PM (#26307780)
I doubt it.

RocketLab has already been doing that, and he still has praised it.

Musk doesn’t have to be your villain to be an imperfect person.

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by cma on Monday March 01, 2021 @08:17PM (#26310760)
I found it odd with all the focus he has had on Mars and how often he tweets, he tweeted nothing about NASA's success of its recent landing.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by Robotbeat on Monday March 01, 2021 @09:43PM (#26311340)
You miss this? https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1362726185931857925?s=20
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by cma on Monday March 01, 2021 @11:21PM (#26311880)
Yes, I didn't see it on his page, that is good to see.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by anonisko on Monday March 01, 2021 @05:11PM (#26309146)
I've got a feeling that Elon is the kind of person who would only be happy with death on a battlefield, bested by a worthy opponent.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by xupybd on Monday March 01, 2021 @06:52PM (#26310144)
He started out trying to blow some money to get a green house to Mars. His goal was to get enough interest to start another space race to Mars. If someone else gets there first I think he has achieved his original goal.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by shazmosushi on Monday March 01, 2021 @08:20PM (#26310778)
Rocket Lab is an excellent company that makes innovative rockets: flying electric pump fed engines, carbon fiber frames and 3D printed Inconel engines all the way to orbit. They've achieved a high flight rate and a nice niche for themselves in a area where SpaceX themselves have moved away from.

Rocket Lab deserves the praise it receives. More so than Blue Origin, an older company whith grander ambitions but has been unable to execute on anything beyond a few small scale suborbital hops. Their methalox BE-4 engine is admittedly pretty cool though.

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by ragebol on Tuesday March 02, 2021 @04:23AM (#26313438)
It seems Blue Origin has gone almost full SLS with their New Glenn. So different from SpaceX. The approaches could not be more different: 1. spend a lot of money on first-time-right, making no money in the process and having all risk at the end (while trying to lower it on paper). Big kudos to BO if sticks the first landing (my bet is that the first will not land OK)

vs

2. Design for first-time-close enough, spend a lot of money on many relatively cheap-ish prototypes that get blown up but improve each time. While making money with a less (but still) ambitious design

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by bryanlarsen on Tuesday March 02, 2021 @03:58PM (#26320624)
But BO has some beautiful factories built for New Glenn, whereas SpaceX is building Starship in tents. Elon says that the factory is 10-100x as hard as the prototype, so New Glenn must be way ahead of Starship, right? /s
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by ragebol on Wednesday March 03, 2021 @09:21AM (#26328606)
Beautiful empty factories, it seems.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by Judgmentality on Monday March 01, 2021 @01:47PM (#26306492)
Something tells me he's going to be perfectly content to settle for richest man on Earth.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by imdsm on Monday March 01, 2021 @03:08PM (#26307715)
I think what Elon wants, money alone can't buy. It's taking him time and effort, as well as money, to help humans to become a multi-planetary species. This drive is why I've been a fan of Elon for so long.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by jonplackett on Monday March 01, 2021 @03:06PM (#26307689)
I really don't agree.

Anyone motivated by money would have stopped working that hard many, many Billions ago.

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by CydeWeys on Monday March 01, 2021 @04:56PM (#26308998)
Look at all the other billionaires: This is just simply not true. They can never have enough. Their net worth is a high score to them and is an end unto itself.

I'm sure he's motivated by other stuff too but he's very clearly also motivated by wealth accumulation to some degree.

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by boringg on Monday March 01, 2021 @08:23PM (#26310804)
My take is Elon's goals on wealth accumulation are so that he can put capital back into the projects he cares about - he isn't accumulating for the sake of wealth.

I would argue that many of the billionaire class (outside of wall street) are more interested in their projects and goals than strictly capital accumulation. Especially those who have signed off on donating a majority of their wealth after their death.

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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by hndamien on Monday March 01, 2021 @06:31PM (#26309981)
Only in that is gives power to make change.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by jonplackett on Monday March 01, 2021 @06:45PM (#26310088)
Other billionaires I guess. I'm sure they get more sleep and weekends though.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by jiofih on Monday March 01, 2021 @02:10PM (#26306811)
What’s that something? His recent getting rid of possessions says he doesn’t care much...
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by Judgmentality on Monday March 01, 2021 @02:23PM (#26307019)
Honestly it was a lazy comment and I should've deleted it. Rather than derail this thread with an argument about Musk, I genuinely encourage you to downvote that comment (if you hadn't already replied to it I'd delete it).
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by sschueller on Tuesday March 02, 2021 @07:24AM (#26314546)
If he didn't care about money he would pay his employees a fair wage and provide a safe working environment.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by shazmosushi on Monday March 01, 2021 @08:26PM (#26310816)
By selling his houses in California and moving to Texas he reportedly will save billions in taxes.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by mempko on Monday March 01, 2021 @02:42PM (#26307330)
If he didn't care much, he wouldn't be the richest man on earth.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by testnew2 on Monday March 01, 2021 @03:05PM (#26307671)
Absolutely no one would have ever suggested that electric cars and rockets were the way to become rich. Instead back when he invested in and or started these companies people would have told him it was a quick way to become poor. I really dont think he was ever seeking becoming the richest person in the world.
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Re:Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket by mempko on Wednesday March 03, 2021 @11:26PM (#26338590)
He didn't start Tesla and SpaceX was possible because of NASA's program to create a market for a private space industry. Both are heavily government subsidized enterprises. If I was a betting man, building government subsidized companies does not seem like a way to become poor.
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