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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

#661

Post by daemonologist »

squigz wrote: post #322
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.

Didn't JFK say something about going to the moon by the end of the decade?

Yes, but the program was started under his predecessor Eisenhower (a Republican) and "the end of the decade" was beyond the end of a hypothetical second term. The timeline was arbitrary and political - probably set primarily to beat the Soviets - but not self-serving.

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

#663

Post by allenrb »

cma wrote: post #520
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…

> The SpaceX Super Heavy has been more capable arguably as early as the second flight test and certainly now. Well except with regard to astronaut travel: very different and controversial launch abort approach and no escape tower like apollo

That’s an upper-stage issue — I was talking about the booster (1st stage). A conventional stage could be placed on top, complete with a traditional abort system and/or something like what Dragon uses.

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

#664

Post by bluGill »

harimau777 wrote: post #529
bluGill wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the point of winning though? We could be doing other things in stead, and I'm going to submit that they are more valuable (you are of course welcome to disagree - this is an opinion). Personally I hope no human lands on the moon again. I like telling my parents they are so old humans walked on the moon in their lifetime (last human left the moon December 1972 - before I was born). There is no value in this st…

To me, a significant part of the value presented by space exploration is the way that it inspires society. I think that whatever else we would do instead would need to be equally inspiring. Honestly, I can't really think of something comparable.

So lets focus on genetics and see if we can get fire breathing dragons instead. That should be just as inspiring

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

#666

Post by tclancy »

tw04 wrote: post #559
harimau777 wrote: post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I think it matters whether its achieved by a private company versus by society. That's especially the case when the private company is so closely tied to someone who hates and alienates so much of society. I don't think that I could view a win for Musk as a win for anything that looks like my chunk of the US. There's also the fact that part of NASA's mission is to share their knowledge with the public.

>Personally, I think it matters whether its achieved by a private company versus by society. How exactly are you making the distinction? Space-X wouldn't exist without governemnt funding. CATL sells launches to commercial entities as well as servicing the government. Official ownership? Because China seems to think a lot of what Space-X is doing can only be accomplished by the commercial sector and is funding startup…

Who any profits go to would be an easy first measure.

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

#667

Post by fastball »

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.

It's not even clear the USA "won" the space race. America was first (and last) to land men on the moon, but arguably the USSR had far more space-related "firsts" than the US.

Landing on the moon only become the end-all-be-all when the US achieved it and the USSR could not (for various reasons).

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

#668

Post by mrheosuper »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #653
bdangubic wrote: post #614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The first to get there has already happened. Motorola was the first to create a handheld mobile phone, Apple just did not get that memo... :)

But Apple didn't recreate the same mobile handset as Motorola or anybody else. There is very little value or scientific benefit in going back to the moon within the parameters of this mission; it's literally "do the same thing again".

What do you mean "the same thing"? Different rocket, different suits, and different budget.

If we want to put people on Mars, we must prove we can put people on Moon, again.

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

#669

Post by tayo42 »

testing22321 wrote: post #600
ks2048 wrote: post #500

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why mention Tesla in here? They produce 1.8M cars/year while GM and Ford produce 6M and 4M, respectively. (2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_manufacture... )

GM went bankrupt, and are not producing anything that would sell globally. They’re a dead company walking. If the Chinese EV tariffs are dropped, or if BYD start manufacturing at scale in the US, all the old US auto manufacturers are dead.

Americans like f1/2/350 to much

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

#670

Post by parineum »

nxor wrote: post #560
tw04 wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Based on SLS and the comments here, it seems extremely unlikely the US is still dominant. Literally every other nation is trying to catch up to Space-X and is nowhere close. An American company, based in American, primarily staffed by American engineers. I don't know by what measure you'd say that the US isn's still far, far ahead but I don't know of any other country currently re-using rockets dozens of times. What…

By h1b engineers

A policy of the US to attract talented people.

Immigration of talent is historically an American asset. Look bo further than the moon landing itself for an example.

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