Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 225 65.8%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 42 12.3%

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

    Votes: 75 21.9%
  • Total voters
    342
#1,980
#1,980
Went outside last night and watched the Starlink 6,7 satellite train fly by. Pretty cool. If you are in the Orlando/Cape Canaveral area you get a chance tonight around 9pm.

Here's the link to see when you will be able to see it. Put in your lat/long or city if it is listed. You can get lat/long from Google Maps, but don't put in the - sign on the longitude. There are 3 groups in orbit currently (I believe)

SpaceX Starlink Satellites Tracker
 
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#1,983
#1,983
zeppelin128 said:
I'm really surprised they didn't go with Boeing's two element HLS proposal. This is probably a good thing though, if I recall correctly Boeing's lander required a Block1B SLS, which is still several years out. Good to have flexibility with launch vehicles.
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It still a disgrace that NASA continues to give SpaceX less money than their competitors with all they have accomplished.
 
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#1,986
#1,986
CagleMtnVol said:
I'm afraid if Trump doesn't win reelection then the democrats will cancel everything the way Obama did with the Constellation program and the Ares rocket.
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I always hate that for NASA. They work on something for years, new dude heads to WH and scraps half of it. I believe the hardware for SLS through Artemis 3 has already been funded, which is the landing mission. Maybe they can keep the plan on track regardless of November results.
 
#1,987
#1,987
zeppelin128 said:
I always hate that for NASA. They work on something for years, new dude heads to WH and scraps half of it. I believe the hardware for SLS through Artemis 3 has already been funded, which is the landing mission. Maybe they can keep the plan on track regardless of November results.
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Everything else aside I truly believe that the Trump administration has championed American Space Exploration more than any other President since Kennedy and he only did it to beat the Soviets.

I really like Jim Bridenstine as the NASA administrator. He talks up NASA more than any administrator has in years. I had high hopes when Obama named a former astronaut as his administrator but then he went and canceled everything.
 
#1,989
#1,989
CagleMtnVol said:
Everything else aside I truly believe that the Trump administration has championed American Space Exploration more than any other President since Kennedy and he only did it to beat the Soviets.

I really like Jim Bridenstine as the NASA administrator. He talks up NASA more than any administrator has in years. I had high hopes when Obama named a former astronaut as his administrator but then he went and canceled everything.
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I don't have much critique on the Trump space policy. I want boots on the Moon. I want NASA's budget doubled. Or tripled. And I've really liked Bridenstine's approach to a public-private partnership. I despise Trump, but his space policy has been solid.
 
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#1,990
#1,990
CagleMtnVol said:
It still a disgrace that NASA continues to give SpaceX less money than their competitors with all they have accomplished.
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From what I understand the amount given to SpaceX was basically what they asked for. SpaceX may have wanted to keep it low to increase the chances that they would make the cut for this first round of funding.

I look forward to more details about the complete mission profile. The part of their proposal that mentioned a Starship variant acting as a fuel depot was intriguing.
 
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#1,991
#1,991
twoffo said:
From what I understand the amount given to SpaceX was basically what they asked for. SpaceX may have wanted to keep it low to increase the chances that they would make the cut for this first round of funding.

I look forward to more details about the complete mission profile. The part of their proposal that mentioned a Starship variant acting as a fuel depot was intriguing.
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From what I've read, these three will be cut to two when the final designs are accepted. I'm with you, I want more details on the mission profile for Starship. I get the others, but Starship is the outlier in this honestly. Still blows my mind they were even selected.
 
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#1,992
#1,992
Will that thing launch on a falcon heavy? Also, Starship or whatever it is will not have the delta V to get to the moon. It will either need an extra kick stage, or be refueled in LEO, which would require more than one launch.

The artist's rendering doesn't show any heat shield tiles, so I guess it won't be returning through the atmosphere like a normal Starship would.
 
#1,993
#1,993
Matt2496 said:
Will that thing launch on a falcon heavy? Also, Starship or whatever it is will not have the delta V to get to the moon. It will either need an extra kick stage, or be refueled in LEO, which would require more than one launch.

The artist's rendering doesn't show any heat shield tiles, so I guess it won't be returning through the atmosphere like a normal Starship would.
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It is a multi launch architecture, per NASA.
 
#1,996
#1,996
Matt2496 said:
Will that thing launch on a falcon heavy? Also, Starship or whatever it is will not have the delta V to get to the moon. It will either need an extra kick stage, or be refueled in LEO, which would require more than one launch.

The artist's rendering doesn't show any heat shield tiles, so I guess it won't be returning through the atmosphere like a normal Starship would.
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If you are referring to the lunar lander that is from Blue Origin the company founded by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos. They are developing their own rockets like the New Glenn that would be used to launch the lander.

 
#1,998
#1,998
CagleMtnVol said:
If you are referring to the lunar lander that is from Blue Origin the company founded by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos. They are developing their own rockets like the New Glenn that would be used to launch the lander.

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I was referring to the Starship-esque lander concept by SpaceX.

I'm wondering if they're going to construct a brand new 1st stage booster, or if they're just going to use falcon heavy.

Edit (This one):

EW3eLciU4AEKnFN.jpeg
 
#1,999
#1,999
Matt2496 said:
Will that thing launch on a falcon heavy? Also, Starship or whatever it is will not have the delta V to get to the moon. It will either need an extra kick stage, or be refueled in LEO, which would require more than one launch.

The artist's rendering doesn't show any heat shield tiles, so I guess it won't be returning through the atmosphere like a normal Starship would.
Click to expand...

Starship will be able return to earth it will be using brand new shielding unlike anything seen before here is an older article I recommend along with some excerpts
SpaceX releases a new render of what the all-steel Starship will look like returning to earth

The render offers a beautiful impression of the Starship surrounded by plasma. It also calls to mind the hexagonal-tile heat shield that will ensure the reusable spacecraft can survive repeated reentries. According to Musk's statement, these steel tiles will reinforce the sections of the spacecraft that experience the most heating as a result of atmospheric drag.

once it is finished testing and integrated into the design of the Starship,

Known as the thermal protection system (TPS), this shield was made up of LI-900 silicate ceramic tiles, fibrous refractory composite insulation tiles (FRCI), toughened unipiece fibrous insulation (TUFI) tiles, Nomex insulation blankets, and reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) surfaces for the nose cap and the leading edges of the wings.

For comparison, the Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) relies on an ablative heat shield that is composed of Avcoat, a heat-retardant substance similar to what the Apollo missions used (sans toxic materials like asbestos). Similarly, the SpaceX Crew and Cargo Dragon capsules rely on ablative heat shields, known as the PICA-X system.
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