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Elon Musk Trying to Scrap NASA's Moon Program (futurism.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/world@quokk.au
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Consequently, the South African billionaire has been put in charge of a so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" to excise $2 trillion from the national budget. Whether this advisory group will be able to take aim at the Artemis program remains to be seen.

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[–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

Yeap, starship looks cool but is entirely impractical for lunar missions.

Just to get to LEO its fuel is pretty much completely depleted. So to get it fueled up to attempt a trans lunar injection you're going to need an additional 8 launches, which all have to link up in orbit.

Not only is this going to be adding an incredible amount of additional cost, it's going to be much more dangerous.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    There are no humans on starship when it is being re tanked in orbit, so no its not more dangerous to humans. SpaceX are experts at in space docking, proven by their dragon capsule that docks perfectly with the space station evey time, and a startship launch will eventually be cheaper than a Falcon 9 launch. Yes I believe spaceX when they say that because they have always proved the nay sayers wrong (flacon 9 landings) and will continue to do so in the future. So you're wrong calling it expensive, all launches to retank the lander will cost less than a NASA SLS launch that will actually take the humans to space.

    You sound like a United Launch Alliance shill lol, that's the arguments they tried to use to win the contract over spacex too.

    I think most of you hate on SpaceX because of musk, and I agree fuck musk, but spaceX is the most revolutionary space company in our generation and I can't wait to see them continue to prove you all wrong like they always do and keep advancing human space flight capabilities.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    There are no humans on starship when it is being re tanked in orbit, so no its not more dangerous to humans.

    Unmanned launches can't be dangerous to humans? Even if there aren't humans on the starship, you're still talking about synchronized docking in orbit, which can fail and spew dangerous debris across leo.

    SpaceX are experts at in space docking, proven by their dragon capsule that docks perfectly with the space station evey time.

    Aww yes, two examples are surely a big enough sample to guarantee safety for the foreseeable future. Surely something that's gone right twice has never failed in the future.....

    startship launch will eventually be cheaper than a Falcon 9 launch.

    Maybe for individual launches, But for a lunar or mars mission......

    think most of you hate on SpaceX because of musk, and I agree fuck musk,

    Nah, I think SpaceX has done a lot of brilliant things. I just think musk has a tendency to over hype and over promise whenever he really gets involved in a project.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Aww yes, two examples are surely a big enough sample to guarantee safety for the foreseeable future. Surely something that's gone right twice has never failed in the future.....

    SpaceX has docked over 40 times with the ISS with no issues, of course, there's always a chance for something to go wrong, no matter how reliable a system. But you're grasping at straws with this point, they demonstratively know how to dock in space.

    Nah, I think SpaceX has done a lot of brilliant things. I just think musk has a tendency to over hype and over promise whenever he really gets involved in a project.

    You are absolutely correct, musk always overhypes the shit out of everything and he is always late on his promises. But SpaceX has always delivered and there's no evidence to suggest they won't keep delivering on their promises into the future.

    I still stand by my opinion on the price of the launches. You're concern about LEO debris is a non concern for me because like I said SpaceX knows how to dock in space. I guarantee the first few tests will be in very low orbit so that if something goes wrong all the debris will decay quickly and not risk any infrastructure we have in space.

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