Space In General

[CodeRedR51]

egs constitute mass that could be instead used for fuel/payload. Additionally, if you can catch your booster on the tower, then it's already in place where it needs to be to load the next starship onto said booster.

Exactly this and no other reason.

 

[wfooshee]

So do retrorockets...

Well, these aren't retrorockets. They are the same engines used for the boost phase. As far as I can think of, the last American manned spacecraft to use retrorockets (that were specifically retrorockets and nothing else) was Gemini.

Granted, they need to keep enough fuel to land, but the Falcon has had several launches with the booster expended so the landing fuel became payload weight. With the payload capacity designed from the start with that fuel accounted for, it feels like a non-issue.

 

[Famine]

Well, these aren't retrorockets.

They absolutely are. Any rocket that provides deceleration thrust is by definition a retrorocket.

(that were specifically retrorockets and nothing else)

An interesting distinction that I didn't make.


Also it's good to see a former resident here has recovered from their self-reported death.

Edit: Huh, weird reaction.

 

[Danoff]

America conducts the vast majority of the world's space exploration.

Missions like Cassini and Juno come from international cooperation, but primarily from NASA.

The exploration of our solar system is not just a stunt. From it we learn how our solar system formed, how our Earth formed, what the chemical composition of worlds looks like, and how it evolves. Planetary science within our solar system helps us learn about climate change, and the origins of our species. It is some of the most awe-inspiring and important research we do. And we may have peaked.

There is talk of the Trump administration, at the hands of Elon Musk, gutting NASA. Essentially turning it into a glorified contractor for Space X to potentially maybe someday do something with Mars. This would be a major setback for humanity. And as much as humanity is being set back by the Trump administration in so many ways, from women's rights and fetal and pregnancy research and medical development, to climate change, and well beyond, one of the things at stake is whether humanity has reached its peak in terms of space exploration for many decades.

There is an army of scientists and engineers that are all top of their field pushing at the very edge of what humanity can do. Inventing ion propulsion techniques to carry us to explore the corners of our solar system. It all gets gutted if Elon and MTG take a hatchet to NASA. And make no mistake, that is on their minds.

I don't know how much can be done about any of this. But what I do know is that this is one of many ways that the Trump administration threatens to take humanity backward, and will leave us wondering how long it will take to get back to where we've been for the last few decades. Where we're going does not look promising.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Where we're going does not look promising.

At least the world is less dependent on America these days. China's built a space station, they'll probably build a moon base first, they doing the reusable rocket stuff... Humanity will be fine. It might not be American humanity, but it still counts, right?

 

[Griffith500]

It's not about taking humanity backwards, rather finding the best way for certain individuals to make as much money as possible off the back of national institutions that will cost them nothing to muscle in on and their friends in government will practically hand over the keys to.

Same in the UK.
We voted for it, too, over and over.

Some may argue that whether motivated by jingoistic / hegemonic ideals born from imperialist ambition; or simply capitalism in its basest form, if we get to Mars anyway, does it actually matter?

Science for science's sake is going the way of alchemy. Researching ion drives for Mars and beyond is the new lead-into-gold. Good work while it lasts.

How do you make people care about that when they're struggling to make ends meet, and their thoughts are funneled from all angles to focus on the modern equivalents of "bread and circus"?

 

[Danoff]

At least the world is less dependent on America these days. China's built a space station, they'll probably build a moon base first, they doing the reusable rocket stuff... Humanity will be fine. It might not be American humanity, but it still counts, right?

This isn't about America.

Nobody but NASA is doing much interplanetary exploration. There are some examples, but they pale in comparison. NASA almost exclusively represents humanity's interplanetary exploration. If that goes away, I have no doubt that humanity will soldier on, but without one of its grandest endeavors.

if we get to Mars anyway, does it actually matter?

I don't know what you mean by "get to Mars". Humanity has a presence at mars now. I think you might mean "put people on mars", and while that would be an impressive stunt and maybe a landmark in terms of human achievement, it mostly would be a stunt and a landmark.

Science for science's sake is going the way of alchemy. Researching ion drives for Mars and beyond is the new lead-into-gold. Good work while it lasts.

Ion drives have enabled successful missions to fly and explore in places we simply could not have otherwise. It's not a fiction, it has happened, and it has furthered the basis of human knowledge. In some sense, it can't be taken away. But if we can't push further, it feels like we've peaked.

How do you make people care about that when they're struggling to make ends meet, and their thoughts are funneled from all angles to focus on the modern equivalents of "bread and circus"?

It has always been a problem. One way to do it is to honestly address the problem of people struggling to make ends meet. Then maybe they can be more easily inspired to get behind the progress we can make as a species.