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Artemis II Launch Day Updates

nasa.gov

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Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#591
post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Regardless 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. You watch too much Star Trek. This is precisely the kind of thing that will benefit the military industrial complex, enrich billionaires at the expense of everyone else, and justify the government raping natural resources li…

I guess we should collectively give up on space. The people at NASA are all doing hard science for that notoriously bloated government salary.

We actually should. By "we" I mean just Americans, though.

Leave the hard science to cultures that still have an educated populace and a government that believes in it. Americans are going to need that money to fund the holy war in Iran over the next decade and to build out Trump's Epstein Memorial ballroom. All that gold filigree is expensive.

If I were a Real Scientist working for NASA I would have seen the writing on the wall and packed my bags for greener pastures once Elon let his pack of groyper skiddie goons slash the department's budget because there were too many brown people on the payroll.

The United States is no longer a serious nation worthy of scientific endeavor, and it won't be again for a very long time. The next person to set foot on the moon won't be an American. These are just the consequences of the choices the American voters have made.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no technological innovation in the Artemis stack. Three of the main engines are refurbished Shuttle engines. The fourth is a clone that cost more than the entire SpaceX Starship stack. The boosters are derived from the Shuttle SRBs. It's a late-60s technology rocket stack with a 2000s-era flight computer. It's such a travesty.

It's silly to say there's no innovation here. These aren't legos that you just snap together. I'm sure there are innovations up and down the whole thing, using the old technology they have easily available to them. No, it's not the most modern Rocket Lab or SpaceX project but they have immense drag on their process that those companies don't have and they still got the dang thing up and headed toward the moon.

That old technology wasn't remotely "easy" and the reason the top minds aren't going to NASA is because nobody wants to work on tech selected for maximum pork.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#593
post #294

I do hope the doomers who think that the entire US government has been completely gutted will take note of this. The government workforce is in a bad spot for sure, SLS is far from a perfect program, but this still demonstrates that we are doing some real work still.

I have a really hard time telling if this is despite the current administration’s best efforts, because the current administration’s policies, or just an artifact of government inertia. Top level: Super excited to witness this in my lifetime. Edit: Also, my 40 years of life leads me towards the latter category.

How exactly would you interpret this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#Redefinition_a...

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#594
post #208

Regardless 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…

I think these space projects are great, can create much good will, and give people dangerous things to do that are worth risking the danger for. But war, inequality, and climate mismanagement are political problems that are not going to be solved (if they need to be solved) by science and engineering (the first two at least).

If AGI stages a hostile takeover of all the governments of the world would that count as a technological solution to war and inequality?

For that matter I suppose the terminator timeline also counts. Can't have war and inequality if you don't have humans.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#595

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sparked the environmental movement, to name but one major impact.

> > The previous Moon missions certainly didn't accomplish that. > Sparked the environmental movement, to name but one major impact. It...really didn't. There was a new wave with a different political orientation (less conservative/elite) in the environmental movement roughly contemporary to the space program from—the 1950s through the 1970s—but it was driven by a variety of human driven (nuclear testing, oil spills,…

Regardless of what you think of those first shots from Apollo 8, you have to admit they put things into a different perspective for a lot of people. Seeing the whole of the Earth like that moved a lot of people into realizing this planet is worth saving. That one image was a significant moment causing such a spike in people paying attention that it can be forgiven for being confused as the thing. It's not like John Muir needed to see the Blue Marble image to start his movement. It's just so many more people did

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't solve these problems in a single step, but notice how space imagery and analogies pop up every time people try to talk about peace, global problems, mutual empathy, understanding, etc. The Pale Blue Dot, images of Earth from orbit or the Moon, etc. Those are anchors in public consciousness, competing in memetic space with usual divisive, dystopian, hope-draining pictures and soundbites - we need more of the…

It's crazy to believe that people who believe in one holy book are killing people over another holy book in countries like (but certainly not limited to) Nigeria, while another country launches people to the moon. But, alas, I agree with you. There's no way out but through I guess.

You seem to be forgetting that the country launching people to the moon is primarily of one holy book and is currently bombing the people of another holy book.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#597

It is very disconcerting to see so many completely disregarding incredible technological innovation because other problems exist, especially on HN. If we were not allowed to progress technology until everybody is 100% free of suffering, we'd never be able to create technological that may potentially lead to the alleviation of suffering. It all feels very crabs in a bucket - "I don't feel happy so nobody else should,…

How dare we want to fix the existential threats on the planet before we spend billions on a publicity stunt.

No, there's no possible way we "save humanity" with space exploration. The whole "eggs in more than one basket" thing is insane.

The resources required to establish a colony, get it self-sufficient, then able to grow, and then put enough people on it will take half a century and the planet is burning up today.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I've also read material outside of that article from NASA's own staff and literature. Statements like this: "Put more simply, NASA is going to fly Artemis II based on vibes, hoping that whatever happened to the heat shield on Artemis I won’t get bad enough to harm the crew on Artemis II." Are just so intellectually dishonest and completely ignore the extensive research and testing that's gone into qualifying thi…

So did they! And they showed their work. So far you're just beating around the bush. What would would help is if you said something like "Maceij says modeling a different entry approach on computers is no substitute for a bona fide re-entry testing a new design, but that's incorrect because _____."

It's Maciej.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its true that innovation isn't clearly shown in this mission; we also haven't flown humans out that far in more than 50 years either and while we have memories of it, our ability to even execute something like this must be built again. I'd rather see us doing this and 'pick up from where we were last time', than giving up on it or just using a stack that's not currently set to do this. What Artemis is doing is not im…

> our ability to even execute something like this must be built again Why? Because "dreams"? "Reach for the stars"? You know what I remember from the shuttle launches as a kid? I remember my school not being able to afford textbooks but apparently we had enough to spend billions on putting people in space for no reason.

Developing something like this would push the frontiers of human technology. Without the Apollo program, not to mention anything else, the personal computer boom in the 1970s might have been delayed by a long time.

Re: Artemis II Launch Day Updates

#600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NASA had another feed that was just the view of the launch from Kennedy Space Center, no commentary. It was a few seconds ahead of the main broadcast, so it seems they already had a delay built in for the masses.

I certainly missed that one. Is it available somewhere recorded? If it is, can you please send a link to it? I'm sorry if I'm asking something stupid, it's just that I can't find anything like that and I also want to see this badly.

For some reason the Kennedy Center one is saying not available right now, but this was the link for it if it returns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJklsJonD4

The main broadcast is still up, with the ten minute countdown starting around 5 hours and 27 minutes into it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_UjBMIzNo

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