By Jo Nova
Ponder the remarkable physics
SpaceX just launched Starship Flight Test 7. As Elon Musk says about the booster section: “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’.
The launch itself is a spectacle of raw power. As the rocket lifts off, it is so powerful it appears to create the weather around it almost, tearing through the atmosphere. Elon explains: “You can see the much higher propellant mass fraction of the new ship design by the percentage of rocket that is frosty.”
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…
SpaceX 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!
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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.
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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!
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It’s a shame Musk wasn’t in charge at Reaction Engines. Their Sabre hybrid gas turbine/rocket engine and Skylon space plane had the potential to be a real game changer. Skylon was designed for conventional take off to orbit and runway landing. There was an estimated 48 hours turn round time to get it back in the air. The LAPCAT, using the Scimitar engine, was designed as a Mach 5 passenger plane. Granted, LAPCAT would not have been as fast as the Musk option in the story above, but London to Sydney in 4 hours at an projected cost similar to a current first class airfare. I can’t help but think that if Musk had been in charge, these things would have been up and flying by now. Hopefully someone with enough cash and vision will pick up the remnants.
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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.
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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.
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One of my major regrets in life was not managing to fly on Concorde.
We saw the British prototype make her maiden flight from Filton to Faiford. She was always accompanied by a Canberra on her testing flights.
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Fairford
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Annie,
Flew from Heathrow to JFK New York early 80s on the Concorde.
Seat 2A, turned right as I entered BA Check-in Area in Terminal 1, I turned right rather than up to 1st Class Check-in,
felt really great to go behind the “Curtain”
Received solid silver & leather key ring as a memento of the Concorde flight
Very Narrow, but comfortable seat and as we started take-off roll from Heathrow, Captain came on audio to say
Ladies & Gentlemen, we will have the After Burners on as we take-off, soon after take-off, due to noise abatement
requirements, we will turn the After Burners off, and it will feel/sound like we are going to drop from the sky –
do not be alarmed – we will continue without the After burners till we reach the end of the Bristol Chaneel, when
we will re-ignite them and go for Mach 2 and 61,000 Ft
Food, including Caviar amazing and they had a Speed Indicator of Mach above entrance to cockpit which was open and we were
able to talk to crew
At 61,000 Ft the earth was curved, and at Mach 2 the Window felt quite warm
Arriving at JFK one was entitled to a Helicopter transfer from JFK to Helicopter Landing pad on the Hudson River next to the Pan-Am
building – It was the Clearest day I have ever been in New york and the Views were amazing
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That’s the most tedious aspect. We are a 2-hour drive to MEL and tired before even starting the airport routine.
Our last journey, while I was still feeling post viral, was a good 5-hour drive from Southern Spain to freezing cold MAD, then the flight to DXB, then DXB to MEL and finally 2 hours to home at night, eyes wide open for roos, wallabies, wombats, deer (including a very large one) and foxes. I’m sick of travelling!
BTW, MEL airport was really quick and efficient, kudos to them I say.
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We are a 2-hour drive to MEL
No sympathies.
Pushing it hard I am 4 hours from Perth. Five is always allowed.
Which is why I will likely never use QF 72 SIN-PER (arrives roughly 00:30).
Once upon a time QF had a flight leaving SIN at 09:00 (I took it three times in 2011).
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Horribly smug here, with the airport at the end of our road, about 1km away. Manned by lovely local people, such a social event departing and arriving. Free parking. 2 hrs flight to Brisbane.
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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).
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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.
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“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.
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Complimentary? Really?
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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.
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I wonder if he gets hail in there too.
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Can you imagine George Soros doing this
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The Left never produce, only destroy.
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Yep
Soros made his billions by shorting currency markets, destroying middle-class people’s savings and purchasing power while enriching himself.
Elon made his billions by making cool stuff and advancing human technological achievement.
The fact the political establishment around the world consider Elon the bad guy and Soros the good guy tells you all you need to know about how upside-down the priorities of the political ‘elites’ are.
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With Elon as head of DOGE, I wonder if he’ll still be allowed to run his business?
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Until this thing takes off, anyone have an opinion of Jetstar vs Scoot between Singapore and Perth?
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Yes Mate, neither if you can avoid them would be my advice……!!!
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Depends on how badly you need ~ or SC.
And the direction you are flying combined with the time needed to get to/from the airport.
exPER:
Scoot has two evening flights exFri
Jetstar early am (TuThSa) late pm (TuThSu)
exSIN: PER arrival times are reasonable for me.
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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.
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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.
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London to New York?
Cool.
Just in time.
As both are quickly becoming places where no one wants to go.
Along with LA.
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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.
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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
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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?
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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.
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How many average people can cope with the G forces involved whithout prior training .
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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.
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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
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The Swoop of Death Manoeuvre?
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The landing without the go around option
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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…
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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.
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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!
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Looks like the 2025 Federal election campaign vehicle one-way flight out.
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Hazard a guess at the fuel consumption per passenger?, would make the Concorde look like a bus. This is exactly what the world needs, more joy rides for the rich.
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What’s the problem with fuel consumption or “more joy rides for the rich”?
As long as they pay their own way, I don’t understand what the issue is.
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Sure, as long as no one’s pretending this is for ordinary ‘people.’
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About 1 Ton per passenger. Starship + Booster hold a bit over 1000 tons of methane, most of the propellant mass is Oxygen (3900 tons).
Elon has talked about 1000 passengers. A 20000 km flight at 5 Liters/100km per passenger would use 800 kg of jet fuel.
So for very long haul fights, not much difference in fuel used. Simplistic analysis excludes freight, and the energy required to liquefy the Oxygen.
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London to NY?
One rotten sh#thole to another in 30 minutes.
Whoopee! 😆
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London is not a sh@thole IMHO.
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Try San Francisco, So much rubbish and homeless on the streets.
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Musk is aiming for an Earth to Mars trip rather than London to Melbourne flight
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I watched a documentary about Venus and the planning underway for exploration using humans and stations suspended in the atmosphere, ground level is far too hot and gravity crushed the first landing craft within minutes of landing. Apparently it is believed that the planet could be changed to return to being an Earth-like place as it was a long time ago.
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Exploration of Venus;
https://science.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/nasas-davinci-mission-uses-old-data-to-reveal-new-secrets-venus/
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Perhaps he can rescue the stranded astronauts on the space station……
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Who cares? For one thing, ordinary folk can barely afford energy, a situation guaranteed to worsen because our own nation’s appalling political classes, elected and unelected (replicated elsewhere). Ever lower standards of living have become the imperative of these people.
Meanwhile who can take seriously the writers (at SpaceX) who conjured the following:
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Humans still need to be shown visions of what is dreamed, no matter how difficult our lives are (and they aren’t, so far, anywhere near as difficult as those of the silent generation).
Really liked the tongue-in-cheek description of the Starship kaboom. Reminded me of some sci-fi show or film, maybe more than one.
Able to be light-hearted when something like that happens with nobody aboard, thank God.
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Get serious, a catastrophic explosion with the re-entry vehicle disintegrating!
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Humans still need to be shown visions of what is dreamed, no matter how difficult our lives are (and they aren’t, so far, anywhere near as difficult as those of the silent generation).
Really liked the tongue-in-cheek description of the Starship kaboom. Reminded me of some sci-fi show or film, maybe more than one.
Able to be light-hearted when something like that happens with nobody aboard, thank God.
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