Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 222 65.9%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 41 12.2%

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

    Votes: 74 22.0%
  • Total voters
    337
#3,876
#3,876
Hunerwadel said:
While no one was paying attention NASA is preparing this fall to launch a solar sail with a shoebox size cubesat to process and return date from an asteroid. With the JWST, the return to the Moon and preparations for Mars missions dominating space news this has received little press coverage. Anyway I think its cool and solar sails will have a niche in future space exploration.

EarthSky | NEA Scout, NASA’s solar sail mission, readies for launch on Artemis 1
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Looks like Artemis is delayed further.

NASA's Space Launch System Not To Fly Until 2022, Space Agency Says
 
#3,879
#3,879
Matt2496 said:


It did explode, but props to firefly for streaming their first launch attempt ever.
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I do wonder if Bezos ends up buying one of these startups. Might be a quick way for him to inject some new blood into his space efforts.

Just joking, he’ll probably buy a law firm.
 
#3,882
#3,882
I meant to post this the other day. Elon is right the FAA has no idea how to cover these civilian space flights.




 
#3,886
#3,886
OrangeTsar said:
I have decided that Blue Origin is totally a scam of a company. Poor ULA is never going to get a single working BE-4 engine. Vulcan and it’s Huntsville assembly facility are in serious doo doo right now
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I just drove by the Blue Origin facility here by the Cape. It has been 6-8 months since I was up that way and I was telling my wife that there is a whole new building there. Aren't they launching out of Texas? Why all the real estate here in Florida?
 
#3,887
#3,887
SpaceCoastVol said:
I just drove by the Blue Origin facility here by the Cape. It has been 6-8 months since I was up that way and I was telling my wife that there is a whole new building there. Aren't they launching out of Texas? Why all the real estate here in Florida?
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Their Texas properties are not on the coast. For orbital launches, they will need a trajectory to the east over water to avoid potentially dropping or crashing things into populated areas. Since you also need to be as far South as possible to take maximum advantage of earth‘s approximately 1000 mph rotational velocity (saving propellant and/or increasing payload) that leaves you with a choice of Eastern Florida or the Texas Gulf Coast. Elon Musk was smart enough to grab real estate or access at both. Bezos….let’s just say he isn’t a rocket scientist 😉
 
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#3,888
#3,888
FYI for Texas Tank Watchers around here. BN4 has been lifted back onto the Orbital Launch Table at Boca Chica. I smell pressure testing and static fire in the not too distant future. Preparing for the most powerful controlled combustion event in the entire history of the human race.
 
#3,889
#3,889
OrangeTsar said:
Their Texas properties are not on the coast. For orbital launches, they will need a trajectory to the east over water to avoid potentially dropping or crashing things into populated areas. Since you also need to be as far South as possible to take maximum advantage of earth‘s approximately 1000 mph rotational velocity (saving propellant and/or increasing payload) that leaves you with a choice of Eastern Florida or the Texas Gulf Coast. Elon Musk was smart enough to grab real estate or access at both. Bezos….let’s just say he isn’t a rocket scientist 😉
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Oh I am pretty sure that Bezos has access to 39A and B if he wants/needs it. I just think he is years behind SpacEx in his product.
 
#3,891
#3,891
SpaceCoastVol said:
Oh I am pretty sure that Bezos has access to 39A and B if he wants/needs it. I just think he is years behind SpacEx in his product.
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It would require some contract renovation, especially on 39A which SpaceX keeps so busy infam surprise it’s not glowing 😂
Don’t know what the exact state of 39b is outside of SLS, which should launch about as frequently as Bama loses to an SEC East team
The main advantage SpaceX has in Texas as that their factory is just over one mile from the Launchpad. Transport of the completed vehicles will be fast and cheap
 
#3,892
#3,892
Grand Vol said:
The only con I see going on is Boeing.

Change my mind...
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I would say ULA and not just Boeing.
Blue Origin is definitely a con. The funny thing is that Bezos‘ con is going to con the con master ULA because they are going to be left with a Rocket with no engines when BO fails to deliver the promised BE-4 for Vulcan 😂😂😬
 
#3,893
#3,893
OrangeTsar said:
I would say ULA and not just Boeing.
Blue Origin is definitely a con. The funny thing is that Bezos‘ con is going to con the con master ULA because they are going to be left with a Rocket with no engines when BO fails to deliver the promised BE-4 for Vulcan 😂😂😬
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ULA was just guilty of overpricing their systems for years.

Boeing has:

Starliner (almost double the budget over Crew Dragon and still hasn't successfully performed a manned launch)
SLS Core Stage (budget has doubled to $8.9 billion over the initial cost)
Human Landing system (included because they couldn't even win that competition with insider information AND they wanted to use... a Boeing rocket to get it there in the SLS Block 1b)
 
#3,894
#3,894
This is a pretty cool way of honoring those who helped your company.

SpaceX names 2 new recovery ships after NASA astronauts

The two newest members of SpaceX's recovery fleet sailed into Port Canaveral this month. At least one of the dynamic duo, named "Bob" and "Doug," will help in the recovery efforts of the company's newest crew mission: Inspiration 4.

The ships are named after Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, two NASA astronauts who were the first to fly inside a crew Dragon spacecraft. Their mission, known as Demo-2, was the final test flight of SpaceX's commercial crew program, which blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020. It's success cleared the way for routine astronaut flights to and from the space station, and ultimately Inspiration 4.
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#3,897
#3,897
#3,899
#3,899
Fun fact with a successful launch tonight of SpaceX's crew Dragon Resilience they will have three Dragon Spacecraft on orbit.

Crew Dragon Endeavour and a cargo Dragon docked on ISS and Resilience carrying Inspiration4.
 
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