Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 213 66.1%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 40 12.4%

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

    Votes: 69 21.4%
  • Total voters
    322
#4,410
#4,410
CagleMtnVol said:
NASA using Rocket Lab for this makes me nervous.
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I wonder how many of the things like this simply wouldn't get done if the ability to do it at a reasonable cost didn't exist. To me part of the justification for the risk would be to help grow the stable of providers.
 
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#4,411
#4,411
twoffo said:
I wonder how many of the things like this simply wouldn't get done if the ability to do it at a reasonable cost didn't exist. To me part of the justification for the risk would be to help grown the stable of providers.
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Your right but this seems like a very important mission to keep Artemis on schedule.
 
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#4,412
#4,412
CagleMtnVol said:
Your right but this seems like a very important mission to keep Artemis on schedule.
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My thoughts is they should have thrown that money at SpaceX. For a billion dollars a pop every time they light that candle, it seems like a waste.

ETA: Or split with other innovative designs like Sierra Nevada
 
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#4,413
#4,413
CagleMtnVol said:
Your right but this seems like a very important mission to keep Artemis on schedule.
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At this point I half expect Jared Isaacman to be the Mayor of Lunopolis before Artemis makes their first landing, at the colonial spaceport.

Unless they decide to land on Yusaku Maezawa's private pad instead.
 
#4,414
#4,414
twoffo said:
At this point I half expect Jared Isaacman to be the Mayor of Lunopolis before Artemis makes their first landing, at the colonial spaceport.

Unless they decide to land on Yusaku Maezawa's private pad instead.
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The thing is if SpaceX was capable of launching to the moon tomorrow they are at the mercy of the FAA to allow it. The current administration isn't Musk's biggest fan. Biden a week or so ago sarcastically joked saying "Good Luck" about Elon going to the moon seemingly forgetting or not knowing that SpaceX is who will be landing US Astronauts when they get there.

If a Republican administration were in office they probably would already have had two or three Starship test launches by now. IMO
 
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#4,415
#4,415
CagleMtnVol said:
The thing is if SpaceX was capable of launching to the moon tomorrow they are at the mercy of the FAA to allow it. The current administration isn't Musk's biggest fan. Biden a week or so ago sarcastically joked saying "Good Luck" about Elon going to the moon seemingly forgetting or not knowing that SpaceX is who will be landing US Astronauts when they get there.

If a Republican administration were in office they probably would already have had two or three Starship test launches by now. IMO
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I don't disagree, I just think for Artemis to get to the moon in a reasonably timely fashion that it can't encounter too many problems. And SLS and Orion both seem ripe with potential for problems.

So I'm not saying SpaceX will get there next year, or even 2024 (they might). I just see Artemis slipping badly because too many things have to go right for them to meet the schedule, and at some point the natural tendency of bureaucracies to pivot to avoid accountability will take over, and the program will be replaced with a "new and improved" version.
 
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#4,422
#4,422
It wouldnt even have to be a nation. Getting something to crash into the moon is not relatively difficult.
 
#4,424
#4,424
LouderVol said:
It wouldnt even have to be a nation. Getting something to crash into the moon is not relatively difficult.
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