Recent comments in /f/space

KeaboUltra t1_ja1hcw4 wrote

Reply to comment by PandaEven3982 in what's the future of space travel within the next 27 years in 2050 to 2100 by LatterCardiologist47

And what does any of that have to do with being unable to achieve a future of space travel in any meaningful way? What does meaningful mean to you vs humanity? You talked about how we cant get big projects off the ground due to no funding yet we've already managed to complete step 1 of 3 on the artemis mission after shooting JWST into orbit among other space related missions. those are pretty significant. in a time frame of 27 years, I don't think anyone's expecting to be on Mars or Venus levels of significant, let alone travelling out of the solar system unless it was just a probe but the beginnings of a moon base are significant none the less.

Back when you said:

>ATM, I see nothing more than small stuff in the inner planets. Mostly military buildup over Terra and lots of science. Maybe a billionaire hotel somewhere pretty

and

>Not gonna be a lot of space travel except military, science and industrial concerns.

Is exactly what I'm talking about. A research facility on the moon or even military activity is significant. None of that is small. And when these things start, it will be what allows us to travel further into space as it becomes the norm throughout society from 2050 and beyond. Anything more than what we currently have on the moon is significant, but the perspective I'm adding is that this is what will be what pushes humanity in a direction to have the mindset you claim we wouldn't get unless we worked together, the more we ingrain local space faring, the more our society advances in that direction, not because we'll be more mature, but because of what it has to offer to humanity.

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kog t1_ja1eh9e wrote

Reply to comment by ithappenedone234 in NASA's Artemis moon program receives salute from Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin (video) by kevindavis338

Artemis 2 is slated for next year, what are you even talking about?

Starship has literally years of testing to go before NASA will consider it human safe for launch and return, and they aren't even working on a human safe launch and return vehicle right now, they're working on launching payload into orbit.

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Shrike99 t1_ja1bcje wrote

Reply to comment by Chadnarok1337 in NASA's Artemis moon program receives salute from Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin (video) by kevindavis338

There's a huge gap between knowing enough about rockets to critique their merits and knowing enough to build one entirely yourself. I doubt many car reviewers could build a car from scratch, but they can still make an informed choice between two options by analyzing and comparing various criteria.

As it happens though I do know a fair bit about rockets, so I'm quite happy to discuss any specifics you want.

 

I'd also point out that it's not just random people on reddit levying criticisms at the SLS program, there are some people with serious credentials saying similar things. The Government Accountability Office issued a pretty harsh report on it, and Lori Garver, former Deputy Administrator of NASA, has also had some choice comments and insights.

Perhaps the most notable example is Charlie Bolden, who was the head of NASA under Obama, and as such oversaw the SLS program for about 5 years. In 2014 he (in)famously said:

>“Let’s be very honest, we don’t have a commercially available heavy-lift vehicle. The Falcon 9 Heavy may some day come about. It’s on the drawing board right now. SLS is real.”

At that point in time he clearly had a very high opinion of the SLS program and believed it would come to fruition well before Falcon Heavy. However, after Falcon Heavy ended up launching before SLS (by almost 5 whole years), he had to reevaluate his stance. In 2020 he said:

>“SLS will go away. It could go away during a Biden administration or a next Trump administration, because at some point commercial entities are going to catch up. They are really going to build a heavy lift launch vehicle sort of like SLS that they will be able to fly for a much cheaper price than NASA can do SLS. That’s just the way it works.”

Note that comment was made before the 2020 election results, so when he says "during a Biden administration or a next Trump administration" he's talking about the period from 2021-2024.

And while he doesn't explicitly say who or what rocket, SpaceX and Starship are really the only ones that fit his description.

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