By Jo Nova
Ponder the remarkable physics
SpaceX just launched Starship Flight Test 7. As Elon Musk says “Atmospheric reentry speed is more than twice as fast as a bullet from an assault rifle and this is the largest flying object ever made“. Yet they still manage a perfect catch. The top speed on the return of the booster was 4,135 km/h. It went to space and back in just 7 minutes, reaching 90 km up.
The unmanned test rocket though, wasn’t so lucky, as SpaceX described it, suffering a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent’
Musk also says: You can see the much higher propellant mass fraction of the new ship design by the percentage of rocket that is frosty. As the rocket lifts off, it is so powerful it appears to create the weather around it almost, tearing through the atmosphere.
One commenter said SpaceX will change the way we fly… Elon said “Yes”.
Imagine being able to fly anywhere in the world in under an hour…
paceX Earth to Earth Transport will enable:
LOS ANGELES TO NEW YORK
5 hours, 25 min —> 25 minBANGKOK TO DUBAI
6 hours, 25 min —> 27 minTOKYO TO SINGAPORE
7 hours, 10 min —> 28 minLONDON TO NEW YORK
7 hours, 55 min —> 29 minNEW YORK TO PARIS
7 hours, 20 min —> 30 min… pic.twitter.com/Q9YsOahnOl— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) January 17, 2025
It’s a strange moment in history. So much corruption and graft, yet also something extraordinary…
Flight time might be under an hour but the whole journey, door to door will take much longer!
80
Yes much like the “one hour flight” to Sydney for us. Once you add it all up we may as well drive our non EV , and have our own car when we get there.
Dont really see the connection between there SpaceX flights and commercial aviation.Maybe I just lack the vision thing.
50
The vision thing is another issue.
I think it is unlikely that the rocket will have any windows, so no looking out at the wonderful view!
30
The downside to these “Miniscule”flight times is the fact that to achieve them the acceleration an decceleration rates will only achieve mass of mangled occupants at opposite ends of the craft depending on whether it is speeding up or slowing down to meet the schedules.
00
Yes, you can hardly launch or land a rocket at Heathrow or JFK. So the 1 hour flight time is nearly irrelevant.
Concorde was mostly going slowly over Ireland and Newfoundland. The rest was only 1 hour 20 at Mach 2. And the sky above was black and the world a ball. But I would rather takeoff and land in an aircraft at an airport than experiencing the G forces of a rocket. The whole experience was ridiculously luxurious.
But ultimately Concorde failed economically. The final and only crash was not the fault of the aircraft, but an impetuous pilot and a spanner left on the wing. But they were all put out of service immediately.
Few people thought the expense was worth it. Except for the novelty. And even that faded. Plus I found a lot of people were just too scared to fly on it, even if it was free.
20
I think Musk will do this.
And as Peter C said above, the door to door time will be much longer taking into account boarding, deboarding, customs, security checks etc.. And getting to and from spaceport.
The fastest London to New York passenger carrying commercial flight was Concorde on February 7, 1996, at 2h 52m 59s.
The fastest flight from New York to London was on September 1, 1974 at 1hr 54m 54s was in the SR-71 (former US spy plane, max. speed about Mach 3.2).
40
Why did you start a new comment and not reply to Peter C?
But back to your comment…. It might be faster now with rockets but how about the cost. Concorde was expensive but affordable. How about a Musk flight across the Atlantic. Any idea of a cost?
And what concerns me is the need for security, imagine the bragging rights for the first terrorist who brags about bringing down a rocket.
Sick people exist in this world, it’s not a matter of if but when.
20
“boarding, deboarding, customs, security checks etc.”
These were all close to zero for Concorde. You sailed through both ends on red carpets. And only 120 people. You can guarantee the same approach for the same reasons. Plus you had a complimentary Sikorsky helicopter straight into Manhattan. There is now an air train/monorail.
David Frost flew nearly every day for three years to host two shows, one in London and one in New York. The time saving was fantastic for business. For people on holiday, it hardly mattered.
10
Amazing, but I’m happy to watch these passenger flights when they start and try and take it all into my tiny brain.
I heard Elon say his brain is like a storm and I wonder when he has the time to sleep.
60
I wonder if he gets hail in there too.
02
Can you imagine George Soros doing this
40
The Left never produce, only destroy.
10
With Elon as head of DOGE, I wonder if he’ll still be allowed to run his business?
11
Until this thing takes off, anyone have an opinion of Jetstar vs Scoot between Singapore and Perth?
10
Where in London (or anywhere in the UK) or near New York city would there be a free area with adequate clearance to build a spaceport? I think any launches would have to be offshore from an island (if available) or an artificial island or barge.
10
The blast radius would exclude the English channel around southern England. Shetland might be an option. But then you’d need a 4 hour ferry, a 12 hour train trip or a couple of flights.
I’m not seeing the real savings here.
Imagine trying to land near New York or DC.
Note…. travel times above are estimates only.
00
London to New York?
Cool.
Just in time.
As both are quickly becoming places where no one wants to go.
Along with LA.
40
There’s already movies:
Escape from New York. 1981
Escape from LA. 1996
“Call me Snake.” https://youtu.be/5TH54D2lm9c
Now we need Escape from Londonistan.
20
Elon’s vision is for hundreds of Starships in operation, with rapid turnaround like aircraft, continuously launching matériel into space or shipping to Mars.
The Raptor engine, a reinvented rocket engine concept, allows this because it does not need cleaning or rebuilding between uses.
See video on Raptor engine:
https://youtu.be/nP9OaYUjvdE
30
How many G’s does the starship apply to your body?
What does the oxygen and cushioned seating cost?
What is the price of a ticket when a human must be provided
with habitable space and survive the trip without injury?
How much is 20 hours worth to you? $10,000 per hour? $20,000 per hour?
10
Acceleration at 2G, a relatively safe level, for just over 2 minutes will get you to 10,000km/hr. That will be quick enough for short duration flight to NY from London.
Acceleration won’t be the limit, it’ll be cost.
And the fact that you won’t even get a complimentary glass of champagne during your flight.
00
How many average people can cope with the G forces involved whithout prior training .
20
The Space Shuttle went up to 3G. That was judged to be the appropriate limit for people untrained for high G and without g-suits.
10
The g forces top out at around 4g, which is well within an average persons ability to withstand for the minute or so they occur, especially since everyone will be lying down in a couch.
Mind you, they will NEED passengers to have medical clearance to fly regardless.
The bigger issue is the “swoop of death” maneuver and/or the zero g portion of the flight
00
The Swoop of Death Manoeuvre?
00
There was a quiet announcement a couple of months back that the Pentagon were tipping money into the bucket so they could put marines anywhere in the world in an hour.
The only thing not explained at the time was how to get the marines out of a spaceship that could hover for a couple of seconds, but not land. I’m sure they expect Musk will solve that problem for them too.
It does show how accurate missiles are these days, you can come in from space and land within mm using only machinery. ..or you may not bother to slow down…
00
Some Starship configurations can land with legs, such as the ones that will land on moon or Mars.
The way people, such as US Space Force Marines, exit will be some sort of elevator type contraption down the side of the vehicle.
Incidentally the US Space Force was established under TRUMP.
00
No windows, massive acceleration, fear of these sort of flights and heights, is enough to make me feel really motion sick. Just like his Tesla EV. And what sort of luggage allowance? My wife’s needs in this department are not negotiable!
30
Looks like the 2025 Federal election campaign vehicle one-way flight out.
10