Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 214 66.3%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 40 12.4%

  • We need to explore, but not at the current cost

    Votes: 69 21.4%
  • Total voters
    323
#3,353
#3,353
Matt2496 said:
They sure are. ULA's newest rocket Vulcan will use BE engines for the first stage, in addition to Blue Origin rockets ofc.

Vulcan Centaur
Click to expand...

Yeah, I knew they were moving away from the Russian engines and towards Blue Origin. Still, a single engine making a suborbital jump with that payload is pretty impressive.
 
#3,358
#3,358
Grand Vol said:
Powerful is actually subjective in the rocket world.

Long video, but well worth the time to watch.

Click to expand...


Good point. All about thrust to weight, fuel efficiency and corresponding lift capability, which is everything to aerospace. Exponentially much more so than a drag car.
 
#3,360
#3,360
Matt2496 said:
You’re definitely correct. I was simply approaching it from a thrust perspective.
Click to expand...

I think it's going to be hard to ever top the engineering that went into the F-1, RD-180 and RS-25. Those engines were designed before computers did calculations and CAD drawings. Everything was a blueprint and slide rule and many of the parts machined by hand.

I watched a YouTube video (can't recall who put it out) but basically there were rocket designers that said they couldn't build the F-1 today. Not only that, no two engines were built to the same tolerances because of the hand machining that was done.
 
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#3,361
#3,361
Speaking of engines ...

6131C718-25FA-4CD9-A539-8DA319B4FDBB.jpeg

These are supposed to be improved Raptors, so we’ll see how it goes for SN15’s flight, which could be as soon as next week.
 
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#3,362
#3,362
"The year is 2030 and SpaceX and Elon Musk is set land the first humans on Mars.

Here on earth Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin look to launch their first Astronauts into orbit."

 
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#3,364
#3,364
Matt2496 said:
Click to expand...

I am pleasantly surprised. It did sound like NASA prepared for the inevitable push back by emphasizing this is just for the initial landing(s) and that they would be spinning up a Landing Services competition/program that Dynetics and the National Team could compete for along with anyone else new that may jump in. But Congress will need to allocate additional funding for that.
I was also a bit surprised how hard NASA dinged Dynetics on their technical proposal; many people, including me, thought they had the most realistic solution. Apparently not.
 
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#3,365
#3,365
Well, Elon is really on the hook now. However, Starship does make the most sense from the standpoint of the cargo capacity along with the amount of people it can haul around.

I'm actually kind of surprised they didn't go with the Blue Origin team since it was the most "conventional" of the proposals. Of course, with the speed at which Blue Origin moves, they could probably meet the 2124 landing date.
 
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#3,366
#3,366
twoffo said:
I am pleasantly surprised. It did sound like NASA prepared for the inevitable push back by emphasizing this is just for the initial landing(s) and that they would be spinning up a Landing Services competition/program that Dynetics and the National Team could compete for along with anyone else new that may jump in. But Congress will need to allocate additional funding for that.
I was also a bit surprised how hard NASA dinged Dynetics on their technical proposal; many people, including me, thought they had the most realistic solution. Apparently not.
Click to expand...
I agree I really liked the look of the Dynetics renderings.
 
#3,373
#3,373
With the news from NASA could we see Elon & SpaceX change course over the next couple of months and put more focus on the Moon version of Starship?
 
#3,374
#3,374
I've seen folks online ask where this leaves SLS & Orion but something has to get to people to Lunar orbit and currently a Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon doesn't have the power to do that. Could a Falcon Super Heavy maybe?

Perhaps a FH with a 2nd Stage booster making it a 3 stage rocket?🤔
 
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