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NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

cnn.com

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Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#371

Post by audunw »

albumen wrote: post #236
imtringued wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Rocket Lab doing carbon fibre rockets?

Carbon fibre second stages that melt/burn up on re-entry.

And? We still have yet to see whether full re-usability of the second stage is the best approach. The Neutron approach is really interesting, they can make the second stage incredibly light and cheap. Blue Origin claims the economics of a super-cheap disposable second stage, even for as one as large as theirs, is pretty much equal to a more expensive and heavier reusable second stage. (they're developing both in parallel to see where the chips land).

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#372

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

Ekaros wrote: post #270
marcellus23 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have to start at some point don't we?

Many including myself would say we do not have to. And even we really should not.

Why do you say that we "really should not"?

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#373

Post by allenrb »

There is just so much wrong with this from start to finish. Here are a few things, by no means inclusive:

1. We’ve already beaten China to the moon by 56 years, 3 months, and some change. And counting.

2. Nothing based around SLS is remotely serious. The cost and timeline of doing anything with it are unreasonable. It is an absolute dead-end. The SpaceX Super Heavy has been more capable arguably as early as the second flight test and certainly now. They could have built a “dumb” second stage at any time, but aren’t that short-sighted.

3. Blue Origin? I’ve had high hopes for the guys for two decades now. Don’t hold your breath.

4. Anyone else? Really, really don’t hold your breath.

This whole “race to the moon, part II” is almost criminally stupid. Land on the moon when we can accomplish something there, not just to prove we haven’t lost our mojo since Apollo.

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#374

Post by MangoToupe »

mullingitover wrote: post #338
tinfoilhatter wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

These people had some kooky hobbies, but they actually had resumes that got them their jobs and the key qualification wasn't "completely unprincipled sycophant."

[flagged]

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#375

Post by nobleach »

bahmboo wrote: post #242
WalterBright wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a deadline is how things get done. With no deadline, nothing gets accomplished.

This is a political deadline with no grounding in reality.

Most deadlines are completely made up to create a false scarcity of time. While I agree this one is pretty meaningless and we'll forget about it in a few days... it's not unlike any other silly deadline.

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#376

Post by jrflowers »

vlovich123 wrote: post #336
oytis wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Werner von Braun was competent though, as was Parsons. Being a little silly is fine as long as you can do the job.

[flagged]

No, but in Parson’s case using sex magic to attempt to summon a goddess named Babalon is a bit silly.

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#377

Post by brightball »

sigmoid10 wrote: post #331
jm4 wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The silver lining is that they are operating under the assumption that he will leave office at the conclusion of his term.

[flagged]

This is the trolling equivalent of "embrace, extend, extinguish." They are mocking the people who believe it by amplifying it, making Trump 2028 merch, etc.

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#378

Post by tinfoilhatter »

mwigdahl wrote: post #359
tinfoilhatter wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Tau Beta Pi is an engineering honor society with no Illuminati-style secret agenda. The only silliness associated with it is any concern over the "initiation rites and rituals".

That is what every society with initiation rites and rituals claims.

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#379

Post by kulahan »

henryfjordan wrote: post #335
kulahan wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a serious answer: it's a lot cheaper to launch rockets from there, and we're running out of stuff to do in the region immediately surrounding Earth.

Is it? You have a build a whole fuel refinery on the Moon before it's worth even thinking about. And even then, you have to get whatever you want to launch to the moon in the first place...

Building the fuel refinery is a high upfront cost which will quickly disappear. The delta-V required to exit Earth's surface is nearly an order of magnitude higher than what's required to exit the Moon's surface, and the moon is full of fuel.

Re: NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

#380

Post by slowmovintarget »

vlovich123 wrote: post #351
jotux wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>NASA regresses so far that they are now unable to do anything by themselves... I keep running across this perception and I don't understand where it comes from. Overwhelmingly, like since the 1970s, NASA has not built anything per it's appropriations from congress. Their job is to 1) Define mission requirements and objectives, 2) Oversee contracts to execute those missions, 3) Test and verify elements of those syste…

You mean the 1970s as in Raegan when the space program stalled and became irrelevant and became mostly a way to funnel money to districts for certain congresspeople?

Reagan took office in the 80s. The 70s was Nixon, Ford, and Carter.
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