Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50020076

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

as for alternatives:

    > Starship, which NASA is hoping will return humans to the moon, may still offer ride-share missions. But the rocket is designed with flat Starlink satellites in mind, deploying them through a slot in the side like a candy dispenser. This design might not support bulkier satellites from other companies, although some versions of Starship might have a more traditional satellite deployment mechanism.

    > The war in Ukraine is also having an impact. Prior to Russia’s invasion in 2022, about a fifth of global launch capacity, including many commercial launches, was handled by Russian rockets such as Soyuz, says Henry. Since the war began, that route to space has ended.

    > Another issue is the lack of commercial rivals to SpaceX. Its next closest competitor is US company Rocket Lab, which launched 18 of its smaller Electron rockets to orbit in 2025, but has yet to launch its new, larger Neutron rocket. Many other firms are developing new rockets, but these haven’t started flying regularly. Another competitor, the New Glenn rocket from Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin, is grounded after exploding in May. Other rockets, such as Europe’s Ariane rockets and India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, meanwhile, launch only a few times a year.

    > China has also begun operating more commercial rockets, but US and most European satellites are barred from launching on these rockets because of US regulations. “Even if you have a satellite built in Europe, if it has a component from America, it cannot fly on a Chinese rocket,” says Henry.

    > Much of global launch capacity was already taken up by another of Bezos’s companies, Amazon, before SpaceX reportedly ended bookings on Falcon 9. In 2022, the firm ordered 83 launches for its own space internet constellation, Amazon Leo, of which only 14 have launched so far.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49930228

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

    > I anticipated that not having a smartphone would make me more reliant on other people — perhaps without Google Maps on hand, I’d have to ask an actual human for directions. And sure, that’s happened. But I think it’s more accurate to say that I’ve become more reliant on other people’s smartphones. Instead of ordering from the bar or printing out movie tickets ahead of time, I inevitably wind up having somebody else scan the QR code menu or pull up the e-tickets. It’s still smartphones all the way down; I’ve just exempted myself from the costs of carrying one around.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49743101

Points: 5

# Comments: 1

My MSc dissertation was on accounting for aeroplane fuel emission... during research I discovered an interesting fact; because of how the EU ETS (airline emissions regulations) works, (fuel consumption acts as a proxy for emissions) you can technically end up with less ETS penalty by adding a stop just before entering the EU.

You see the penalty applies for the entire flight and not the portion over EU airspace... so you just have to condense the flight instead. So add a stop just before adding EU, and now you have two flights instead of one, and that second flight has lower 'emission' even though the entire trip was longer, and more importantly the extra stops's landing and take off increases fuel expenditure and thus emissions!

Gives you some perspective on how legislation to reduce fuel usage and emissions can act counter to its stated goals.

____

    > https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jate/vol2/iss2/3/

    > Another way to reduce the EU ETS charges is to change the route so that the last leg of the flight into or out of the EU is shorter than the current non-stop route. Changing routes to include an additional stop reduces the amount of fuel used for flight segments into and out of the EU, and therefore reduces EU ETS charges because the charges are based on fuel consumption during the entire flight, not just the portion over EU. A major US-based cargo carrier, UPS Airlines, considered adding stops to reduce the EU ETS charges (Cameron & Michaels, 2011). Instead of flying non-stop from between hubs in Hong Kong and Cologne, Germany, the route would be changed by adding a stop in Mumbai, India. While UPS estimates that the route change reduces the ETS charge by 25%, UPS also estimates that the emissions are increased by 33% due to the longer route and added takeoff and landing.

https://x.com/chizutodesign/status/2093530030467092512

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49573318

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49496372

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

    > SpaceX, in partnership with Nvidia, has designed a space-optimized Vera Rubin NVL72 system for launch to orbit in Q4 next year, with significant scale in 2028

    > Our design is significantly simpler, lower cost, denser and lighter than a traditional rack

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49424210

Points: 6

# Comments: 4

The latest message I'm being bombarded with it a reminder not to use Whatsapp without a 'valid' sim... like wtf? Is there something should know? Whatsapp is a private org, why is govt asking me about that? But all I get is the random sms bombardment and more questions than answers.

    > With a growing number of constellations big and small, there is a huge and growing demand signal. The Commercial Space Federation predicts demand for thousands of satellite launches annually in less than a decade. Analysys Mason forecasted that more than 37,000 satellites will need to be launched between 2023 and 2033. Henry’s own firm, Quilty Space, has charted a change in the discussion from how many launch companies the US market can support to who can execute the fastest to meet surging satellite needs.

    > And if things are bad now, there are reasons to believe they may get even worse over the next two to four years.

    > The company’s president, Gwynne Shotwell, has previously said the operational lifetime of the Falcon 9 may end in 2030 or 2032. However, more recently, commercial satellite customers have been running into difficulties when trying to purchase a launch after 2028. One source said SpaceX has told the US government that it intends to end commercial launches after 2028 but will continue flying the Falcon 9 rocket for a limited number of federally contracted missions after that.

    > As the impending launch crisis comes to the industry, questions have begun to swirl about whether the federal government might intervene to keep the Falcon rockets flying. After all, NASA financially supported the development of the Falcon 9 and its launch pads to some degree through the Commercial Cargo program. And the US military has leverage over SpaceX through the National Security Space Launch Program.

    > Some of the wilder ideas involve forcing SpaceX to sell its Falcon 9 infrastructure to a third party—another space company, a space-interested billionaire, or someone else. Others have suggested that the US government could step in and nationalize SpaceX. That could be done if the US Congress passes a law stating that assured access to space is essential to national defense.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49331710

Points: 6

# Comments: 1

    > ABSTRACT

    > We study the effects of H-1B immigration on U.S. industries that employ H-1B workers and their trading partners. Using a novel cross-industry design and the 1999–2003 expansion of the H-1B visa cap for identification, we find that H-1B exposure raised incomes for natives and pre-existing immigrants, with gains concentrated in non-STEM occupations. Income gains propagate forward through supply chains to downstream industries but not backward to upstream industries, consistent with a productivity shock rather than a labor supply shock. We find no direct effect on patenting, suggesting that productivity gains arise from better task execution rather than patentable invention.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49239095

Points: 64

# Comments: 26

The question is, will it be meaningfully lower?

if processes are mature, and because of economies of scale the difference comes out to something like a few cents (or less) per cell... at that point it might become meaningful to ask if the density becomes in play again.

Sure for grid density is not an issue, but installing and setting up a pack still has a cost... so let's say the cost saved by sodium allows them to buy an extra pack... but lithium's density allows them to save the headache of installing that extra pack... won't it even out?

Lithium prices have faced a massive crash, so there is no cost penalty for them anymore. Sodium's cost benefit isn't that significant now, and while other technical benefits exist, the question remains, is it worth it to setup an entire new factory from scratch for that marginal benefit?