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

641–650 of 1001 posts

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

#641

Post by zm262 »

elzbardico wrote: post #639

Lots of people complaining that we have already won the "moon race" and that this makes no sense. This is a completely wrong reading of the situation. Let's say we forgot how to do heart transplants. Once we did them a few times perfectly, got all surgical techniques right, but patients died shortly after the surgery due to rejection. We quit the whole transplants stuff for years, the techniques and the equipments we…

It matters more to US politically than scientifically. It's totally about the US mojo in the eyes of politicians and thus funding.

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

#642

Post by croes »

fluoridation wrote: post #540
Waterluvian wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s just as absurd today as it was in the 60s. It’s an artificial challenge that focuses attention, with the goal of exercising government, industries, academics, etc. and maybe learn and invent a few things along the way. Yes, yes, Cold War and all those theories. But it had and can again have this greater effect. It’s kind of like a FIRST Robotics Challenge for nations. The specific goal really doesn’t matter and…

>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…

> You didn't have to invent anything new

Yes, you do.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2015/12/11/how-we-lost-th...

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

#643

Post by stocksinsmocks »

bahmboo wrote: post #227

"The president and I want to get to the moon in this president's term" - Sean Duffy NASA administrator. A scary way to set a schedule on a complex project with lives at stake. They don't care though.

JFK did the same thing. Most people believe that succeeded. Obtuse, out-of-touch leadership can lead to some very interesting results when it doesn’t fail.

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

#644

Post by enraged_camel »

zm262 wrote: post #641
elzbardico wrote: post #639

Lots of people complaining that we have already won the "moon race" and that this makes no sense. This is a completely wrong reading of the situation. Let's say we forgot how to do heart transplants. Once we did them a few times perfectly, got all surgical techniques right, but patients died shortly after the surgery due to rejection. We quit the whole transplants stuff for years, the techniques and the equipments we…

It matters more to US politically than scientifically. It's totally about the US mojo in the eyes of politicians and thus funding.

This dismissal is quite shallow. Yes, it matters politically - but that has enormous downstream repercussions. China beating us to the Moon helps reinforce the narrative that the American century of global dominance is over, and China is the new superpower that is unseating it. The implications of that would go well beyond politics.

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

#645

Post by dragontamer »

jaapbadlands wrote: post #279
dragontamer wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Moon directive was set by Donald Trump in 2017. This is just the same deadline being pushed another year because of failures. Deadlines that get constantly pushed aren't deadlines at all. As I recall, SpaceX and Artemis project was supposed to be Moon by 2024. At least originally. But then SpaceX blew up all the rockets (successfully testing them or something) and now we've wasted damn near a decade.

Testing rockets that fail is still progress. Deadlines that get pushed isn't an argument against deadlines.

Deadlines that get pushed is an argument against SpaceX. How many deadlines do we miss before we realize there is no actual plan to get to the moon?

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

#646

Post by vlovich123 »

sobellian wrote: post #635
vlovich123 wrote: post #528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because pouring national wealth into gigantic single-use rockets was unsustainable You mean what SpaceX does as a matter of course and proved you make it cheap just through scale and iteration?

SpaceX uses flight proven boosters. The rockets aren't quite as gigantic nor as single-shot as the Saturn V. Also, they launch satellites into LEO for commercial reasons. It's quite a different beast from lobbing LEMs at the moon where the money is essentially lit on fire.

But it’s not like NASA had a mission change - they were just forced to carry on doing the same thing but contracting out the tech building.

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

#647

Post by UltraSane »

boston_clone wrote: post #526
UltraSane wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ain't gonna happen. It would actually trigger a civil war.

and what about him openly stating how he's considered declaring martial law to suspend elections? an apt comparison I saw elsewhere is that the left side of the aisle is acting like the opposing team from Air Bud: "hey, a dog can't play basketball, it's against the rules!!" meanwhile, the dog is making shots over and over again.

"declaring martial law to suspend elections?"

This would also absolutely trigger a civil war.

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

#649

Post by phyzix5761 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #442
allenrb wrote: post #373

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 secon…

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…

That's every country though. Just read the regional or national newspapers of other nations.

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

#650

Post by [deleted] »

zdragnar wrote: post #497
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…

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.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN