Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you been to the rocket garden at KSC? The Saturn V isn't vertical, but they've got almost everything from the Redstone and later vertical. I was in Florida in 2018 and I think they were getting ready to display a pair of SRBs. They did have Atlantis inside, too. And of course a horizontal Saturn V. I saw that Saturn V as a child once, too. I think that the Saturn V really made me the person that I am today. Seei…
I've never been to KSC. I've been to Houston a few times. I couldn't imagine trying to have a Saturn V permanently standing would be an easy feat with both locations susceptible to hurricanes and tornadoes. Walking the length of it is still pretty impressive. I come from a construction family, so I'd put some of the famous sky scrapers in that category too. Especially thinking about the crazy beam walkers like that f…
Artemis II Launch Day Updates
811–820 of 1001 posts
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#812Direct livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_UjBMIzNo
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#813Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#814Regardless of whether this particular mission is perfectly planned, this is precisely the kind of thing that will help humanity outgrow the dark age of war, inequality and climate mismanagement. It is a noble endeavor - science, engineering and peaceful exploration hold the keys to our survival and prosperity. It is also important psychologically to our survival - a reminder there is a bigger pie, that we can solve h…
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#815Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#816I really hope the report from a few days ago about the heatshield not sustaining earth reentry does not turn out to be true.
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#817Earlier quoted context omitted.
Far too dangerous and noisy for that to ever happen, surely. And too fragile/explodey for niche military uses (long range troop drops?)
If you're thinking of passenger service, perhaps it is a bit unattractive in the short term. No good launching and landing spots. But for military use - think logistics. Rapid delivery of equipment to unusual places. This applies to civilian purposes as well. All kinds of use-cases for speeding up cargo. The entire economics of Starship and rapid reusability was presented at the beginning of the Starbase work, way ba…
Not very good on delivering tech though, which is what makes it more fiction than not.
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#818Earlier quoted context omitted.
That we probably could have developed without the space program for a fraction of the cost, if we're being honest.
> That we probably could have developed without the space program for a fraction of the cost, if we're being honest I don't think so. Some people are good at small tasks and stewardship. Some people want to ambitiouslyl build. If there isn't a space program, the engineers who were inspired to join NASA cannot be assumed to have gone into semiconductors or material science. They probably wound up, in the alternate tim…
I guess this is why in this timeline, all engineers in the world are at NASA working on sending humans to space, and everybody else in the world is a bureaucrat.
Do you actually know any kind of engineering that is not happening at NASA? Because it may explain your bias here.
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#819What was the AI usage in this endeavour?
Zero, huh?
Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates
#820Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Judging by the fact it's 2026 you must be writing this from the Mars base SpaceX was started in 2001. It announced Falcon 9 and messaged its reusability ambitions in 2005. Falcon 1 wasn’t going anywhere because making rockets is too hard. Falcons 5 and 9 weren’t going anywhere because medium lift is a different ball game. Falcon Heavy wasn’t going anywhere because timing that many engines impossible. Reuse is impos…
> But they’re ridiculously good at not persisting with stupid. They are persisting with HLS though.
Through what? What experimental data do you think renders this path foolish?
Because I’m seeing a rapid-reuse heavy lift system with a fuel depot being built.