BFR is arguably the biggest risk SpaceX has ever taken.

In absolute figures, perhaps. Relatively, Falcon One was by far the biggest risk.

Even if that doesn't pan out, SpaceX has a profitable business on its hands.

They're planning to discontinue Falcon 9 to free up factory space for BFR production while continue launching with their existing stock of reusable rockets. So there's quite a bit of risk there if BFR ends up getting too delayed.

Can't they just keep making Falcons if they run into delays with BFR?

They could but they'd have to retool the converted factory space back to making Falcons and there would certainly be disruptions.

They will not stop producing them until they are sure they can pull of BFR. The CTO has already said that Falcon 9 will be available as long as people ask for them.

By that point where they can no longer produce F9 they plan to have a fleet of Falcon 9 on the books that could continue for quite a while.

This.

Googled "kackflasche".

Was disappointed.

Has he been able to solve the problem of bridging the gap between the bathroom stall and the waste bin? Ir does he flush them? Most stalls in the colonies don't have waste bins in the stall. So you are faced with the problem of how to dispose of your dirty nappies. If you walk out of the stall to the vin before going to wash your hands you will be on the business end of some odd looks. This why most wet wipers flush. There are, however, alternative methodologies.

He owns his own business (funeral home) so he has his own bathroom for employees. He's hardly ever at a public restroom so I don't know what he does. I recall him carrying around a 10 pack of disposable wipes so he probably flushes them.

How do you get them from the stall to the trash?

Women's bathrooms have trash cans in the cubicle.

Mind. blown.

Unisex bathrooms do as well.

you bundle it like a paper basketball and shoot it from the stall.

Boy was my aim way off! Will have to put some more work in on my sky-hook.

You must be talking about a public toilet? I think most "normal" or home toilet routines go out the window when using a public restroom.

I don't think throwing them out of the window is the answer either.

And then there is the mountain-climbing poo experience... I would guess that eventually (when the plastic degrades) there is some rather lush, fertile groundscaping at the foot of some of those places.

I have raised chickens, after a year or so to "cook" (I am a low-intensity composter) we end up with some pretty rich compost.

>If I had poo on my arm, I'd use soap and water to clean it then rinse well.

This is the correct answer.

Baby wipes or go home.

Plumbing wasn't designed for them in most places. Most of them are not really "flushable" like they claim.

Thankfully we also invented rubbish bins to dispose of stuff instead of throwing it down our pipes.

That's because people use "face wipes" instead of "wet wipes" meant to be used for the bum.

Nope. At least from all the articles I have seen from different waste treatment plants in America. Those wipes that are advertised as flushable don't breakdown that much and they just end up getting pulled out at the waste treatment plant.

That's because you are not buying the right ones. Real biodegradable & flushable wipes are okay for waste treatment plants. You need to purchase those that do not contain any trace of plastic fibers.

If you are so worried about clogging anything, put them in the compost bin.

And then there are those of us on a septic system - "Septic safe" still causes issues.

And do not get me started on antibacterials... RID dosages to the rescue! (not necessarily a product endorsement).

No. Not really. flushable bum wipes are not really flushable.

What? You can't say "no" to an entire line of products. Simply make sure that you buy wipes that are flushable AND biodegradable. Flushable simply means that the wipe will make it out of your home. You also need to live in a country where there are rules in place stopping manufacturer from lying on the packets.

If they are made of, let's say, viscose rayon which is wood pulp (well, any compatible plant fiber) there's no reason why it would clog anything at the processing plant.

Edit: Well, it would also depend on how your local plant processes waste. Give them a call and ask them.

How is it possible to design a wipe that 1) does not disintegrate when wet inside its box and 2) disintegrates when wet in a sewage system?

Even Andrex's maximally biodegradable 'flushable washlets' offering contains 2% plastic fibers.

>Looking forward to trying a Japanese toilet with those sprays...

Why wouldn't you just use the 3 seashells?

FWIW a Martian year is 687 days.

Unfortunately that's not their financial year. They still need to generate cash or find more investors.

At one point he briefly mentions (almost in an off-handed way) the issue of scaling the novel semiconductor production approach. Would be interesting to know how big of an ask that really is. Maybe I'm jaded by current events but figure it's only a matter of time before the science community has its Bernie Madoff moment. Especially in light of how renewables seem on the cusp of their moment to shine.

>semiconductor

Is there a reason everyone in this thread is saying "semiconductor" instead of 'superconductor'?

Might be because people here generally work with computers. Not many people work with superconductors, so might be a priming issue.

Extremely hard, the superconductors are a ceramic that is very brittle, it's quite hard to make a nice wire out of it. If a single break in a long length ruins the whole stretch then scaling up would be massively challenging, you can't just rely on melting and cooling to nicely even out issues during drawing a wire.

This exactly misses a significant feature of these new, high temp and high field superconductors: they are a mass manufactured flexible steel-backed tape. These are not the old ceramic superconductors.