Space and Science BS Thread

When we know what “consciousness” is and how to harbor/sustain it then that could happen. I’m more concerned with giving ourselves the chance to see what we can learn.

 

https://twitter.com/nasahubble/status/1582759738118660101?s=46&t=uOH_1b5vwYG--MJZ_E0fYQ

 

Full Webb pic for those of us that don't want to do all that work shtuff...

 

So is Boeing/Northrop Grumman the only game in town for future Artemis SLS rocket versions beyond A3/4/5? NASA basically set up the process so that only one consortium was even considered as a viable candidate and also made it so they didn’t even consider the possibility of other bidders. They just assumed that because nobody else could provide what they wanted NOW, no one would be able to in far longer than the time it took to do so by B & NG. Furthermore, they worded the justification so that no matter how successful Spacex is with Starship it would not be considered as an option. WTF! It has to be a single launch to lunar injection, can’t have any refueling launches no matter how much cheaper that might be.
Because B & NG is 6 years late they stated anyone else would cause a 10 year delay in the next round of SLS rockets. Because obviously B & NG are the best there is nobody else could do better.
The justifications belabored the already mature Engine and booster segments(neither of which are the purview of either Boeing or Northrop Grumman) and which could be integrated by any other rocket/capsule provider.

I could understand it if a case could be made for excellence in current management or even if the current SLS system was proven but that’s not the case. This seems like a purely self serving continuation of good old boy handshake back room dealing done under the guidance of a former senator used to doing things in just that fashion and no other. Lip service only to competition.

 

Apparently Vulcan has one BE-4 installed now, golly!

 

Nelson's just the latest mouthpiece. The ball got rolling when he was a sitting Senator and he and his collegues passed laws to ensure the B and NG constuents still had jobs and they got their kickbacks. Lotsa corporate/legislative grifting still going on but we can thank Bridenstien and Garver (and any others who supported the commercial space program.) Funny how SpaceX, aka New Space, has been successful and Boeing, aka Old Space, has floundered in this new paradigm.

SLS will die a quick capitalistic death if Starship is successful . Of course this is assuming Capitalism still exists..

 

Skirting the P word here, hopefully.

I don't see any government support for SLS after A5. Starship will be a proven human flight vehicle at that point and we will probably have 1 or 2 other companies either working on or be in the initial stages of Starship-like heavy lift reuseable rockets. We know that Starship was built with a Boring company borer machine in mind, so the expansion of the moon base after A5 and the eventual trips to Mars and the gas giants will not be done with SLS.

 

Could you imagine being cramped in a stinky, tiny capsule for a months long trip to Callisto?

 

What seemed most ludicrous as well as contrived was the stipulation that it has to be a single launch vehicle. That automatically eliminates any notion of using any kind of nuclear propulsion to shorten transit times or even using crew launch systems to bring people up to a vehicle specifically designed for interplanetary travel and not limited by the constraints imposed by earths gravity well. It’s myopic.

 

It seems pretty obvious that the payload requirements would disqualify SLS for any such missions. Environmental needs plus mission cargo put Starship at the minimum level necessary. It’s not at all surprising that Elon has already envisioned a 2.0 version. The fictional Hermes vessel allowed for a well supplied, diverse crew but isn’t one that could launch from planetside. Trying to cram everything into a single vessel/launch even for just lunar missions would be like packing a Yugo for a road trip with no grocery stores or gas stations.

 

https://twitter.com/tgmetsfan98/status/1583139787283697664?s=46&t=iR8-OZA0d4d4U59Q2lh_uQ

 

Ew! That would be awful! What if you had an Apollo type toilet problem halfway there?

I'm hoping I live long enough to see Starship take up the pieces for a Space Dock. Or build a toroidal space station!

 

https://twitter.com/hubbletelescope/status/1583143841183322113?s=46&t=iR8-OZA0d4d4U59Q2lh_uQ

 

Even using the moon to smelt, forge, and tool ores mined there would expand the possibilities greatly. Once we are set up to fabricate hulls & fuel out of the gravity well we can concentrate on low mass/high value components that still need to be brought out.

 

Or even using an automated metals mill on the moon to process asteroids.

 

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1583202906370887682?s=46&t=hK1eEGhXPlqMJvxlgFqs_Q
https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1583203067838681090?s=46&t=hK1eEGhXPlqMJvxlgFqs_Q
Freaking ridiculous..

All in for Artemis after all, how could they cancel the missions if we’ve already spent so much $$ on them.
https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1583207748765786114?s=46&t=hK1eEGhXPlqMJvxlgFqs_Q

 

I should have tag you with the post above. We’re up to A8 now…