Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

621–630 of 1001 posts

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

#621

Post by fluoridation »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #595
fluoridation wrote: post #540

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It’s just as absurd today as it was in the 60s. Nah. You can argue that the goal "land on the moon" is artificial, but it being artificial doesn't make it fake or abstract. If you're the first to achieve it then you're the first, and that's it. What does it prove if you're able to repeat it fifty years later? You didn't have to invent anything new (obviously), and you're certainly not learning anything new. Now, if…

> What does it prove if you're able to repeat it fifty years later? You didn't have to invent anything new (obviously), and you're certainly not learning anything new. Despite you throwing the word "obviously" at it, that is an extremely untrue claim. Even if we hadn't forgotten a lot of the details, we're solving new engineering challenges with modern material science and manufacturing, and learning a lot of new thi…

What I said was that you didn't have to invent anything new. And yeah, that is obvious. If you've already figured out how to build a Saturn V, to build a second one you just do the same steps you did for the first one. You don't have to use new techniques just because new ones exist.

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

#622

Post by jjk166 »

shdh wrote: post #579
jjk166 wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stainless steel was a questionable choice for starship. If the pros outweigh the cons, which is yet to be seen, it will be mostly due to the peculiarities of Starship's other design choices. In general it's a terrible choice for rockets. I'm not saying Boeing would do a better job, but any actual engineer doing a ground up redesign starting today would definitely go with carbon fiber.

They did experiment with carbon fiber if I recall correctly Stainless steel is much more cost effective

And they abandoned it to try to eliminate the need for a heat shield. This plan did not pan out.

The whole point of a reusable launch system is the cost of the vehicle is amortized over many launches, so you can use expensive, high performance materials.

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

#623

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

tinfoilhatter wrote: post #378
mwigdahl wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Wait til you hear about Phi Beta Kappa. Sometimes they even have pizza parties. Probably.

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

#624

Post by Yeul »

themgt wrote: post #609
zdragnar wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America cannot possibly win the space race again, because it has already been won. The first to get there has already happened. The idea that we need to land on the moon once a generation just to say that we are as good at landing on the moon as our parents is absurd.

America cannot possibly win the space race again, because it has already been won. This is sort of like saying Leif Erikson and the Icelandic Commonwealth won the "the new world race" in 1000AD. Whatever Columbus et al were up to would surely be of trifling concern to future generations.

It also ignores the fact that empires can decline.

(Although I think the moon landing is ridiculous there is no scientific reason for it).

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

#625

Post by [deleted] »

nothercastle wrote: post #598
rayiner wrote: post #587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first job out of law school was at a 176 year old law firm. New lawyers were socialized to identify with the past achievements of the firm, like helping J.P. Morgan build the railroads. There was a good reason for that: it socializes people to adhere to a culture and practices that have proven to be effective. You’re right that, if overdone, it can lead to complacency. But if you treat every generation as a blank…

Established on 176 years of lying cheating and graft. That’s definitely a legacy. Rail was AI and dot com of the 1800s.

[deleted]

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

#626

Post by Electricniko »

rayiner wrote: post #587
Waterluvian wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: 1. I think the America of Theseus mindset is a bit troubling. A lot of people like to identify with achievements that they played no role in. Based on zero expertise whatsoever, I have a sense that this is a bit self defeating. To be born a winner, to be taught you’re a winner… how can that be healthy? Today’s America scores zero points for its accomplishments of the past. But I think one way it can be a good thi…

My first job out of law school was at a 176 year old law firm. New lawyers were socialized to identify with the past achievements of the firm, like helping J.P. Morgan build the railroads. There was a good reason for that: it socializes people to adhere to a culture and practices that have proven to be effective. You’re right that, if overdone, it can lead to complacency. But if you treat every generation as a blank…

Relevant Mitchell and Webb sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AeCo3AD1cM

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

#627

Post by JumpCrisscross »

None of this is real.

Duffy and Isaacman are fighting to be head of NASA. This is that fight spilling from Washington over the weekend onto Twitter today because of course it has with this administration.

Duffy, as acting head of NASA, is trying to lob a threat at Musk, Isaacman’s patron. He’s done so poorly, and so here we are.

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

#628

Post by grafmax »

eru wrote: post #606
mjamesaustin wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It succeeded in the 60s because we didn't just focus attention, we focused a LOT OF MONEY on it. In comparison, today's NASA has a meager budget which has only been further slashed by the current administration. I would love to see the kind of investment in NASA we had during the 60s. The scientific advancements were staggering. Today, the only thing we have money for is weapons and warfare.

Technological progress should allow us to repeat ancient feats for cheaper. True excellence in engineering is being able to do amazing things within a limited budget. (And overall, sending some primates to the moon should come out of our entertainment budgets. Manned space flight has been one giant money sink without much too show for. If you want to do anything scientifically useful in space, go for unmanned. > Toda…

> Have a look at some statistics to find what the biggest items are these days.

Note that if you attribute interest for military-related debt to military spending(roughly 40-50% of our interest payments) then it ends up climbing in the ranking. But it’s true that we have other major expenses as well.

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

#629

Post by foxyv »

terminalshort wrote: post #584
foxyv wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booster re-usability is only the first half of the problem. It's the second stage re-usability that makes Starship viable despite its massive second stage. The re-entry heating is trashing their second stages which would make the killer feature of Starship, fast turnaround, impractical. Also, as far as I can tell from their last test video, they are still shredding their Flaperons at the joint.

Who cares? Even if they never solve the flap issue, the cost of bolting on new flaps every flight is minimal.

That's like bolting new wings on a 777 after every flight. It's going to cost a LOT and you won't be able to just load up fuel/passengers and take off again.

I'm sure SpaceX will eventually fix the problem. They are well funded, the materials exist, and they have amazing engineers. They just haven't reached that point yet.

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

#630

Post by zdragnar »

eru wrote: post #610
naasking wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A lot of people like to identify with achievements that they played no role in. They arguably footed the bill.

Are you suggesting people eg born after 1980 footed the bill for the Apollo programme?

To the extent that the government runs on debt, that's something of a given.
Post reply on HN