Bill Nye on the Remarkable Efficiency of SpaceX | Big Think

Bill Nye on the Remarkable Efficiency of SpaceX
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Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Bill Nye is a lot of things. He's the world-famous Science Guy, for example. He's also Executive Director of the Planetary Society and one of the nation's most fervent bow tie aficionados.

And as you probably know, Bill Nye is a big fan of SpaceX.

There are plenty of reasons for this, not the least of which is how the private space transport company has significantly cut the cost of building and launching rockets. The key to doing so, as Bill explains, was in breaking from a NASA model that traded efficiency for resilience:

"When you build rocket engines in Alabama and you get the fuel from Utah and you test them in Mississippi and you then send them to Florida and control all that from Texas, with some drop testing done in Cleveland and all sorts of material science research done in California, some flight tests done in the desert in Arizona, when you do all that you just add cost."

SpaceX, on the other hand, handles most of the above at its massive headquarters in Hawthorne, California, before transporting the product to a launch site, thus consolidating effort and trimming overhead. For Bill, the hope is that this and similar processes from other private companies will lower the cost of launching things (and people) into low Earth orbit. NASA is certainly on board:

"SpaceX has taken at least $500 million from NASA because NASA wants to develop this capability... These are commercial rockets and NASA has gone to great lengths to develop that business."

What really excites Bill is this means relatively inexpensive space travel could soon be on the horizon. He compares the appeal of space to the exhilaration one feels when skydiving:

"Everybody's dream is to be able to fly... I can see how people get hooked on that. And I think space exploration would be the same deal."
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[Jordan-wsvn]

Someone should start a kickstarter to put Bill Nye in space. 

[JDDrct]

"Is all gewd, is all gewd". - Bill Nye The Science Guy

[Patchuchan]

Spacex is more efficient because they're vertically integrated and don't outsource every single little thing.
With a traditional aerospace contractor like ULA you can end up going though 3 layers of subcontractors before you get to someone bending metal.

[SNEAKYBOYshow]

Can we get Bill to space... like start a Kickstarter or something? I feel like he's earned that by now.

[Nexus]

The private sector is more efficent than the government. This isn't news.

[Wastingsometimehere]

Your comment: "We dont have enough money for things like space. Waste of money!"

My answer: So we can afford drones, giving police departments with less then a hundred cops to get tanks, multiple wars, bailing corporations, tax havens for corporations, funding other countries and endless corruption? I think space is a far better investment.

[PowllMorgan]

Fuck that. We need to get Bill to space ASAP!

Elon, fix this dude a ride!

[jakestockton]

Go fund me page to send Bill into space. All we expect is a killer Bill Nye the science guy episode!

[MrPlausibleDenial]

Everything Elon touches turns to gold.

[marcelopacheco]

Just one additional tidbit Dr Nye. Actually SpaceX factory is in Hawtorne-CA, and its testing facility is in McGregor-TX. So before rockets go to the pad, they go to the McGregor site, which means CA->TX->CA for a Vanderburg AFB launch. But with reuse, eventually the first stage will be recovered and stay at the launch site, so long term McGregor (and the factory) will have a smaller slice of the whole system.
If you think SpaceX is efficient, wait until they mastered first stage reuse. Will reduce their costs by 70-80% !
You carefully avoid attacking the largest problem with NASA (and most govt agencies) which is human inefficiencies. The lack of someone at the top with a direct financial stake in it drives costs higher regardless of all of the spread all over the USA model. I believe that NASA could do things at 1/3rd of its costs even with all of the districting of its activities if it stopped with the managers that fight each other over their own agendas and loose focus on the big picture all the time !

[josephfield]

I’m from the town they test the rocket boosters at in Mississippi. I remember when I was little the whole house would shake. It really sparked my whole interest in space from a young age. And now I love hearing Mr. Nye, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Sagan, etc. talk with such passion about space exploration.

[MattKoval]

Cool video - good to know.  I saw Bill once hobbling through the airport on crutches, and I still kick myself for not stopping to help him with his bags. But hey, he made it.

[sth]

If they ever make a Mass Effect movie, Bill Nye should play a Salarian.

[titothebeast]

Mr. Nye, If you wanted to go to space why don't you set up a kickstarter campaign? There would be a lot of us that would give a few bucks to make that happen.

[quicksteven]

Bill deserves to be in space. They should do a fund me for this guy so we can all pay back our dues for the wonderful times in school when we had to watch him.

[SandwichRobot]

BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL BILL B-B-B-B-B-BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY!

[Sirenhound]

"We couldn't not not go, as the expression.... goes"
So... we couldn't go?

Also, a triple negative and a repeated word with awkward pause?
No wonder Newton was kicking your ass in that rap battle.

[Spaceventuresinvestors]

It's good to hear him talk about the production and logistics behind the space industry.

[timothybratton]

BILL i grew up watching you and still to this day have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for you, you gave me a love for science that if i wouldnt have gained idk what path my life would have taken. that being said i think you should start a gofundme on you going to space and see how many of your supporters would get it going for you...

[arpeggioblues]

I heard something I saw the other day that Bill Nye said.. kind of shocked me that it came from him.. when responding to what Elon Musk said about : "Humanity has two paths:" 1) make a big serious move to start colonies within the rest of the solar system.. ie. Mars, Moon.. etc.. 2). Do nothing and wait for an extinction level event.. It IRKED me because Bill did not even mention that there is a serious issue looming.. IF we do NOT start colonizing the planet, and it keeps getting warmer, the population is at 7 Billion now, and 11-12Billion by the year 2100 (only 84 years from now).. The probablity of planet wide extinction even is very high.. I do not have confidence that humanity can adjust to living peacefully with nearly 2 times the number of people than at the end of the 20th century.. how are we going to survive, if we don't curb population..?? WE NEED TO Colonize Extra Planetary.. or Humanity could die, as well as life as we know it here.. (Is that what happened to Mars?)