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Comment by dgunay

1 day ago

I feel like a curmudgeon because like yes the demo was really cool, but more from the standpoint that they were willing to do a stunt like that in an industry that is incredibly boring (at least in the US). The engineering behind making a relatively heavy object fly around with thrusters is very well understood at this point, I wouldn't call it "incredible" to rig RCS thrusters on a brick and make it do a barrel roll.

EDIT: I want to make it clear that 1) I'm not talking about the driving upside down thing, and 2) just because I am not sensationalizing the kickflip trick as some incredibly complex endeavor doesn't mean I didn't think it was cool and I'm some kind of hollow, depressed sad sack. The kick flip made me laugh my ass off, but be real. His companies make rockets that can belly flop and land themselves, stream hi res video of reentry using LEO satellite constellations, catch huge boosters in towers, and this is what's blowing your mind?

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dgunay

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chis  1 day ago

How about the part when it drove upside down on a ramp, launched into midair and then used controlled thrusters to land with near-0 vertical speed

  • tarpitt  1 day ago

    Its pretty cool but its not like its a flying car in the sense of a production car/aircraft. And even then it's like temporary flight.

    Edit: another user in this comment section said "This is not a flying car. It's a falling car. It's good at falling though."

    I think the downforce fans themselves are notable and pretty impressive however. It's like a McMurty

    It would be interesting if they could add the RCS to the production model and have it solely as a "safety" feature if you fall off a cliff or need to break or something. I have a hard time imagining how you would integrate the flight control systems without designing the whole vehicle around it, so maybe it could have some "automatic landing" program.

  • bigyabai  1 day ago

    What about it?

    • pizzafeelsright  1 day ago

      I want to live in an alternate reality where this question can be answered.

      Elon has been working on this for ~8 years

      How long would it take another company to do the same?

      Just the engineering alone is impressive regardless of beliefs but this posting has so many Eore replies that makes me wonder if I am one of the few not miserable people on the planet.

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