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

SpaceX cleared for US military launches

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 118 posts

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#81

Post by laurencerowe »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #48
nraynaud wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the US invaded Iraq, and kill people everywhere in the world on a regular basis too, overthrow governments, helps dictators and lie to people all the time. Nobody gets ahead when you only look for scapegoats and with Manichaeism as a policy. We are bringing back the world into the 20st century, this will be a big problem.

That's fine, you are very welcome not to buy our rockets, iphones, software, and processors if you want to protest our foreign policy. We're not buying Putin's stuff, so don't buy ours. I don't see a problem with this. >overthrow governments The middle east is migrating to democracy and has the least amount of dictators in charge in my lifetime, thanks to US foreign policy. While I think foriegn policy is hard to jud…

>The middle east is migrating to democracy and has the least amount of dictators in charge in my lifetime, thanks to US foreign policy.

US/Western policy in the region can hardly be described as pro-democracy. We've been propping up dictators and overthrowing democratically elected regimes from Iran in 1953 to Egypt in 2013.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#83

Post by shit_parade2 »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #78
shit_parade2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No its not. Regional power and influence is an important concept for sovereign countries. The US is more interested in insuring its neighbors are well behaved than if a country across the Atlantic likes it. The same is true for Russia, if Russian-Canadian relations are tense that's not as nearly important as whether its neighbor Ukraine is bombing civilians on its border. America is not exceptional, your argument req…

>America is not exceptional, You're on an American site, on the American made internet, using American root DNS, using American made TCP/IP, using an American OS, writing in American English, and on a site about American entrepreneurship in the American silicon valley/tech industry discussing America's space program, which is the envy of the world. There's a reason we're not all talking on some Chinese or Russian sit…

I'm also willing to bet we're both Americans.

How nationalistic do you have to be to believe there aren't Russian or Chinese tech forums?

America had an amazing run 1950-2000, comparable or even superior to the miraculous breakthroughs which happened in Germany from 1900-1945, that didn't make Germany above reproach, in fact it confused the moral with the technical, which you are doing right now.

Fascist.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#84

Post by sparky_z »

shiggerino wrote: post #82

What exactly are the national security implications of using Russian engines? That it will combine and burn fuel and oxidizer like a stinking, dirty commie?

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/15/world/the-bugged-embassy-c...

It's not wise to trust Russian-built anything, especially with diplomatic relations in their current state. Just like how foreign intelligence services shouldn't trust American-built computers.

What could go wrong? I'm not sure. But why make your attack surface larger than it has to be?

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#85

Post by engi_nerd »

ceejayoz wrote: post #65
icelancer wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think the JSF is quite the boondoggle, this is not necessariy a fair comparison. We should expect the F-35 to cost quite a bit more in both upfront and operating costs; it is, after all, much more capable.

There seem to be a wide variety of concerns on the capability front. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_...

I think somewhere else on HN today there was mention of the famous discussion between Kissinger and Ellsberg about how the world seems different when you have access to information that most people don't.

I think most people that work on the F-35 feel that way.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#86

Post by engi_nerd »

ceejayoz wrote: post #63
engi_nerd wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.bga-aeroweb.com/Defense/F-18-Super-Hornet.html F-18E/F: $65.3 million (flyaway cost) or $80.7 million incl. support costs. You'll see a number of places quoting slightly different per unit costs for an F-18E/F, but they cluster around that figure. The cost of an F-35 in the latest LRIP lot (8) was as follows: http://www.janes.com/article/46129/pentagon-finalises-f-35-l... "The US buy is for 19 F-35A conven…

Sorry, I was going off F/A-18D unit costs from Wikipedia rather than the Super Hornet. Still, ~2x the unit cost plus a 79% increase in support costs is nothing to sneeze at.

Well keep in mind that we are still in a low production rate situation. Production will ramp up greatly in the next few years, driving costs down further.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#87

Post by soperj »

shit_parade2 wrote: post #54
yc1010 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. I was born and lived during the dying days of the USSR in 80s (left in mid 90s) Under communism everyone knew the system was a failure and everything was a sham, hell the jokes being made were hilarious. Now on the other hand in last few years everything in Russia under Tsar Putin went full retard mode with people actually believing the unashamed propaganda that the state controlled media puts out. Many R…

doesn't sound different from the US. People believe the unashamed media propaganda, few speak anything besides English, many can't afford to leave, people believe the evil east is out to get them. In the 80s the NSA kept out of politics for most part... But now the state is taken over by a miz of NSA and criminal corporate-military-financial entities. Nationalism and borderline Fascism is the order of the day. We've…

Not to mention the whole "Greatest country on earth".

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#88

Post by soperj »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #78
shit_parade2 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No its not. Regional power and influence is an important concept for sovereign countries. The US is more interested in insuring its neighbors are well behaved than if a country across the Atlantic likes it. The same is true for Russia, if Russian-Canadian relations are tense that's not as nearly important as whether its neighbor Ukraine is bombing civilians on its border. America is not exceptional, your argument req…

>America is not exceptional, You're on an American site, on the American made internet, using American root DNS, using American made TCP/IP, using an American OS, writing in American English, and on a site about American entrepreneurship in the American silicon valley/tech industry discussing America's space program, which is the envy of the world. There's a reason we're not all talking on some Chinese or Russian sit…

My OS isn't American, and my English certainly isn't American.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#89

Post by simonh »

shit_parade2 wrote: post #54
yc1010 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. I was born and lived during the dying days of the USSR in 80s (left in mid 90s) Under communism everyone knew the system was a failure and everything was a sham, hell the jokes being made were hilarious. Now on the other hand in last few years everything in Russia under Tsar Putin went full retard mode with people actually believing the unashamed propaganda that the state controlled media puts out. Many R…

doesn't sound different from the US. People believe the unashamed media propaganda, few speak anything besides English, many can't afford to leave, people believe the evil east is out to get them. In the 80s the NSA kept out of politics for most part... But now the state is taken over by a miz of NSA and criminal corporate-military-financial entities. Nationalism and borderline Fascism is the order of the day. We've…

Comments like this depress me. It's like saying a matchstick is the same as a tree because they are both made of wood. Theres no real way to engage with a comment like that.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#90

Post by sqeaky »

shit_parade2 wrote: post #54
yc1010 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. I was born and lived during the dying days of the USSR in 80s (left in mid 90s) Under communism everyone knew the system was a failure and everything was a sham, hell the jokes being made were hilarious. Now on the other hand in last few years everything in Russia under Tsar Putin went full retard mode with people actually believing the unashamed propaganda that the state controlled media puts out. Many R…

doesn't sound different from the US. People believe the unashamed media propaganda, few speak anything besides English, many can't afford to leave, people believe the evil east is out to get them. In the 80s the NSA kept out of politics for most part... But now the state is taken over by a miz of NSA and criminal corporate-military-financial entities. Nationalism and borderline Fascism is the order of the day. We've…

Except this whole thread exists because an American company, SpaceX, led by a foreign national who chose to become a US citizen, Elon Musk, could create a company that competes directly with government run competitors here and nowhere else.

There are superficial similarities. But any investigation shows real difference.

Post reply on HN