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SpaceX cleared for US military launches

bbc.co.uk

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Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#91

Post by wahsd »

mikeash wrote: post #43
wahsd wrote: post #36

This seriously compromises the integrity of SpaceX. Even if they were to only support "national security" there is absolutely zero chance they can know whether they are actually supporting national security or global surveillance and oppression of human rights. What people don't realize is that we, SpaceX and Musk, are really no different whatsoever than any of the companies that have been chided for "working with th…

There's no comparison. The US is not trying to conquer the world and the US is not committing genocide. Yes, the US government does lots of bad things. It also does lots of good things. It's a vast collection of sometimes loosely affiliated organizations with lots of competing interests and there's no reason to expect consistency. But there's no sensible comparison to the Nazis.

Just because you cannot comprehend the nature of America's conquest of the world does not mean it is not so. The specific characteristics of something does not determine the nature. What, does world conquest only happen when it comes with characteristics you have been trained to understand like sailing in wooden boats that fly the union jack or the spanish crown and killing many millions upon millions of people around the globe, or does it only come in tanks with red flags that have a black swastika in the center?

You should try peering beyond what you have been told to know. Because as NSA whistle-blowers have stated the expressed goal of the NSA is total global surveillance and population control dominance. It seems like the only and singular example of real global domination that humanity has ever even come close to. Do we really have to wait for a robot army to exterminate the masses of humans that serve no purpose once AI and robotics takes hold before you will start understanding the dire circumstances you are facing at far too late of a point in time?

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#92

Post by datamingle »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #50
datamingle wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the corruption? Galileo (Euro planned system) was going to use the same frequency as GPS. So, during conflict areas the US could not jam Galileo without also affecting GPS. So the US military probably made plans on destroying satellites if it was determined that the enemy was using Galileo. The Euro group decided instead to use another frequency than the GPS frequency. Now.... "Galileo will start offering fi…

A different frequency means that all the existing GPS hardware won't work with the new network. > I fail to see any corruption. http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/221020... http://www.itworld.com/article/2792924/data-center/secret-u-... http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/dec/08/world.internationa... http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1145904

Yes, if you want to use a new network operator you would need to purchase new hardware for it. That happens all the time everywhere. I don't see the big problem.

All of those links do not point to any corruption. Budget overruns that are usual with large govt. contracts. And other links with hard negotiations with US officials over the already resolved issue with Galileo wanting to use the same frequency. They have already moved on to use another frequency.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#93

Post by wahsd »

mac01021 wrote: post #76
wahsd wrote: post #36

This seriously compromises the integrity of SpaceX. Even if they were to only support "national security" there is absolutely zero chance they can know whether they are actually supporting national security or global surveillance and oppression of human rights. What people don't realize is that we, SpaceX and Musk, are really no different whatsoever than any of the companies that have been chided for "working with th…

assassinate scientists?

Iranian scientists at the very least, quite possibly others for which there is less evidence. Whether you agree with what those scientists may of may not be doing, they were assassinated, at the very least with our government's approval.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#94

Post by seanflyon »

engi_nerd wrote: post #86
ceejayoz wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm pretty sure those costs are estimates based on a high production rate.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#95

Post by seanflyon »

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?

Or Russia could abruptly decide not to sell us any more. Relying on a foreign government to keep our military functioning is not ideal and our relations with Russia, while generally friendly, are somewhat strained the last few years.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#96

Post by yc1010 »

simonh wrote: post #89
shit_parade2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"The US is no different or infact worse" is a typical argument used to justify various Putinite wrongdoings and deflect discussion. Just go to /r/worldnews for a taste on reddit.

* Russia aggressively annexing its neighbors? Hey look over there at the US and Middle East

* Russia curbing various freedoms and opposition? Sure the US is a 2 party system where there is no hope for change.

* Putin gaining complete control of the media? Sure in the US the media is all run by same companies.

And so on, the best lies are those sprinkled with a small grain of truth as the saying goes...

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#97

Post by engi_nerd »

seanflyon wrote: post #94
engi_nerd wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm pretty sure those costs are estimates based on a high production rate.

The costs I gave are the costs as contracted for LRIP lot 8, which consists of 43 aircraft. There are two more LRIP batches after LRIP 8, and then full rate production begins.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#98

Post by shit_parade2 »

ryanlol wrote: post #60
drzaiusapelord wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 How's that democracy working out in Libya and Syria? Many (probably pretty much everyone actually familiar with the situation) would argue that things were better under those dictators.

Egypt is the best example.

Go read Obama's Cairo speech, do impassioned, if only he believed in his own words.

No, instead we watched a people overthrow a corrupt regime, establish a democracy, and then continued to fund the mitary junta and ignore the country as it becamenobce more a dictatorship which just recently sentenced its former president to death.

Egypt, neighbor to Israel, and the largest secular middle Eastern country by population is too important to the supposed US political interest to allow democracy, especially if that democracy doesn't agree with our policies. It is entirely morally bankrupt, anyone who defends such policy is a warmonger.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#99

Post by shit_parade2 »

sqeaky wrote: post #90
shit_parade2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

By contracting with the US military Musk has explicitly joined the military industrial complex, an arrangement akin to Mussolini's corporate-fascism, little different from a nationalized company in practice except there isn't even the facade that profits are shared. Profits are privatized once Musk has sucked off enough public wealth through government by building various machines designed in aid in the killing of people.

Maybe that is just the world we live in, at least except it and stop trying to glorify the killing of women and children for profit.

Re: SpaceX cleared for US military launches

#100

Post by shit_parade2 »

yc1010 wrote: post #96
simonh wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"The US is no different or infact worse" is a typical argument used to justify various Putinite wrongdoings and deflect discussion. Just go to /r/worldnews for a taste on reddit. * Russia aggressively annexing its neighbors? Hey look over there at the US and Middle East * Russia curbing various freedoms and opposition? Sure the US is a 2 party system where there is no hope for change. * Putin gaining complete control…

>* Russia curbing various freedoms and opposition? Sure the US is a 2 party system where there is no hope for change.

Now this comment depresses me. Why not compare the us patriot act or civil forfeiture, or the wide spread illegal 4th amendment breaking mass surveillance program a whistle blower had to reveal (who incidentally lives in Russia now).

Then you use the phrase hope and change, is that satire, a man became president lying with that platform slogan.

How about including torture, indefinite imprisonment without trial, or kill lists to show how the US also has erroded civil liberties?

How much more comic book evil does the American empire need to become before people stop defending it with 'Russia and China are worse', maybe they are, but its a sad pissing match to ask if Mao or Hilter was the worst 20th dictator, both men caused tremendous amounts of Human misery.

Why do people want to defend a military that has killed hundreds if thousands of civilians? How morally bankrupt are the techies of hacker news.

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