View Poll Results: Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

Voters
147. You may not vote on this poll
  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    70 47.62%
  • Complete waste of money

    19 12.93%
  • We need to explore, but not at the current cost

    19 12.93%
  • We haven't spent enough

    39 26.53%
Page 10 of 18 FirstFirst ... 89101112 ... LastLast
Results 91 to 100 of 175

Thread: Space Exploration

  1. #91
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    4,665
    Feedback Score
    18 (100%)
    Quote Originally Posted by SteyrAUG View Post
    I just hope I get to see a manned mission to Mars in my lifetime. I was born in the Space Age and grew up with dramatic expectations such as moon colonies by 1999 and things like that. As a kid I followed the Viking and Mariner missions to Mars closely and with great fascination. And of course the Voyager probes and data completely blew us away. And of course Galileo would make all of that look like childs play.

    We've done amazing things, but we've also failed to live up to many expectations. I know things had the change, it became obvious the Space Shuttle was not going to be the interplanetary vehicle some might have imagined it to be. We know going to Mars rather than the moon is a lot like going to Japan rather than Canada only with a Cessna.

    Really wish we didn't have to fight several wars in Iraq and one in Afghanistan because some backward ass arab death cult doesn't think Israel should be allowed to exist or have friends. I could almost accept that drain on resources if we truly annihilated our enemies in the way that Germany and Japan were made to understand that they had lost there war and their asses had been kicked so hard they were afraid of making us come back. We didn't quite get that result, but we still flushed billions of dollars making sure we didn't accidentally scratch a mosque only to have ISIS roll up on it when we pulled our troops.

    Frustrating all the things that hampered our space program over the last 5 decades. I watched the Challenger disaster live on TV and just couldn't believe it. And when I learned of the cause I couldn't believe that we contributed so heavily to the failure.

    In 2003 I watched the Columbia disaster first on tv, then in the sky from my front yard. It ties with 9-11 for the most sickening thing I've watched.
    I will not be shocked if SpaceX gets to Mars before NASA. It's a huge financial undertaking, obviously, but even if they do a Mars flyby they'll still be decades ahead of NASA.

    The problem comes from shifting priorities with different Administrations all the way back to the Apollo. Plus the public support for such a thing so to speak as interest wanes as costs rise and projects are delayed. Nixon started it off with the cancellation of the remaining Apollo landings that had been planned and determined a Mars program would be financially unfeasible with the final costs of the Vietnam War and decided our "space taxi" was more economical in the long run. Ford more or less followed that path though he's partially to blame along with Carter for the loss of a $2.2 billion dollar space station that couldn't be rescued because we didn't have any spacecraft capable of saving Skylab and putting it into a higher orbit. Because we used up the last Apollo craft on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the Shuttle was delayed. (this wasn't the first time we had a lack of capabilities for US launches from US soil) So, we watched helplessly as Skylab burned up and there was nothing we could do about it.

    Of course the Shuttle grew into a financial monster well away from the "cheap launch every week trip space truck" vehicle they intended. Reagan had some aspirations, mainly a more permanent space station (Skylab might have made a decent start for that) but concentrated more on rebuilding the military and working against the Soviets. Bush 41 had some plans and ideas to include a new space station and return to the moon, but four years in office isn't a lot to see them through. Clinton went international with the ISS and saw that one have it's birth and development and passed on the moon goal. Bush 43 started up the Constellation program and, again, a return to the moon with the eventual goal of Mars. Well, that program was a disaster with massive cost overruns and a significant lack of innovation.

    Obama cancelled the Constellation Program (probably a good thing) and the return to the moon and implemented the SLS program along with the COTS with the goal of a asteroid mission and eventual Mars mission decades later. Again, we see massive cost overruns and lack of progress on the SLS program because Congress had to put in their pet projects in their districts by mandating the use of Shuttle technology in a brand new craft. And at close to a billion a pop every time it launches, it's not going to be much better than the Shuttle.

    Enter Trump with the Artemis program and will likely be cancelled if he doesn't win reelection because, well, Trump started it and we can't have a GOP President (especially him) getting any credit for such a thing. Hell, even one of the Congressional Committee admitted that during a hearing. "This would be seen as a win for your boss."

    Overall, NASA suffers more from cost overruns in planned programs, partisan politics rearing their head as well as shitty contractors like Boeing that inflate their prices that just don't perform for the money spent on them. I'm sure when the COTS program came along, Boeing chuckled at the half priced bid that SpaceX put in for their six flights and how dare an upstart think they are going to outperform our 50 years of rocket and spaceship building.

    Yeah, your $4.6 billion piece of shit is still sitting on the ground and couldn't even make it to the ISS in an unmanned configuration nine months after SpaceX already docked and returned with their test vehicle. Who's laughing now?

    Anyway, long winded rant to say that unless we have a clear cut, definitive and unifying national goal as well as bipartisan support without putting pet projects into certain Congressional districts, NASA will never reach Mars because each new Administration will change the priorities as soon as they get into office.
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

  2. #92
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Permian Basin
    Posts
    3,036
    Feedback Score
    3 (100%)
    ^^^ THIS. These old school, been-around-forever contractors better open their eyes. Companies like SpaceX will be the next Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Collins etc..

  3. #93
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    4,665
    Feedback Score
    18 (100%)
    Quote Originally Posted by SilverBullet432 View Post
    ^^^ THIS. These old school, been-around-forever contractors better open their eyes. Companies like SpaceX will be the next Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Collins etc..
    I'll give Northrop-Grumman somewhat of a pass since they are just getting back into the space game after acquiring ATK Orbital. But I do remember they are a subsidiary (or working with) Blue Origin on the new lunar lander. Grumman has just a bit of experience in that area. They also have a new rocket coming on board, but I haven't seen a price tag yet.

    SpaceX with this latest launch is a game changer though. I have this feeling with what they are doing and now launching manned systems, anyone looking to launch anything into orbit is going to be going to start asking ULA, Northrop-Grumman, Arianespace, etc "can you match the price of SpaceX?" I think we know the answer and the "old guard" can't sit there and stand on a legacy forever. 87 flights of the Falcon system with 85 successes and counting. SpaceX is building their own legacy and everyone's taken notice over the past five years.

    Now, I'm not talking about the small payload launches which Rocketlab, Pegasus and (eventually) Virgin Orbit will be able to provide at reasonable prices without SpaceX getting involved. However, with the rideshare opportunities SpaceX offers, they could break further into that market as well. Drop your cubesat in with another commercial launch at a fraction of the price of a dedicated rocket? Not many people would pass if that's an option.

    I feel like the only ones that may be able to compete in the long run price wise will be the Chinese. Always the damn Chinese...
    Last edited by Grand58742; 06-03-20 at 11:51.
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

  4. #94
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    9,532
    Feedback Score
    45 (100%)
    Can the creation of a U.S. military space force boost the economy, maintain American sovereignty, and preserve world peace? General Steve Kwast joins Candace Owens this week for a discussion on how a national space force will impact global relations.

    Pretty interesting...

    Gettin' down innagrass.
    Let's Go Brandon!

  5. #95
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    4,665
    Feedback Score
    18 (100%)
    Nearly twice the budget and SpaceX will likely fly their first operational mission (this one in progress is technically a test flight) and maybe even another crewed mission in early 2021 before Boeing gets their first manned test mission off the ground.

    I'm not sure how long it will take to fix those 80 recommendations to get it back into space by October, but I'd start weighing their current performance heavily against any future contracts for the crewed taxi service. However, it seems like NASA is in a "damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" moment in regards to Boeing.

    https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/0...liner-flights/

    NASA has completed an exhaustive review of software problems and procedural oversights that prevented an unpiloted Boeing Starliner capsule from docking with the space station last year. The agency is implementing 80 recommendations to clear the way for a second test flight later this year and, if all goes well, Boeing’s first piloted flight next spring, officials said Tuesday.

    Altogether, some 80 recommendations are being implemented to improve testing and simulations (21); process and operational improvements (35); software (7); requirements (10); and “knowledge capture” and hardware modifications (7).

    Asked if NASA could opt to abandon the Starliner program if Boeing runs into more problems during the upcoming unpiloted flight, Stich said the space agency is committed to having two spacecraft providers as a hedge against downstream problems that could ground either company in the midst of operational crew rotation flights.

    “We need both Boeing and SpaceX to be there for us to support crew transportation,” he said. “From what I’ve seen of Boeing’s implementation of the corrective actions, I really don’t anticipate that we would be in a position to go fly, we would not get through a flight readiness review if we saw problems, systemic problems.

    “We’re going to methodically work through every single change in the software, every single change to the hardware. … I really wouldn’t anticipate getting to flight in a situation where we would repeat the kinds of close calls that we had on the (first) mission.”
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

  6. #96
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    4,665
    Feedback Score
    18 (100%)
    Crew Dragon Endeavor coming home today:



    ETA: Splashdown near Pensacola. Never had a landing there before.
    Last edited by Grand58742; 08-02-20 at 12:26.
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

  7. #97
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    4,665
    Feedback Score
    18 (100%)
    I find it funny that SpaceX is answering Twitter questions and a bunch of them have been about Tremor the zero-G dinosaur.

    That thing has been sold out since the launch back in May.
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

  8. #98
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Durham, NC
    Posts
    6,917
    Feedback Score
    23 (100%)
    This is great. So few times all of my kids glued to the TV/same "show" like this.

  9. #99
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    4,665
    Feedback Score
    18 (100%)
    Splashdown!
    Experience is a cruel teacher, gives the exam first and then the lesson.

  10. #100
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    21,836
    Feedback Score
    5 (100%)
    Splashdown! Way cool to watch.
    - Will

    General Performance/Fitness Advice for all

    www.BrinkZone.com

    LE/Mil specific info:

    https://brinkzone.com/category/swatleomilitary/

    “Those who do not view armed self defense as a basic human right, ignore the mass graves of those who died on their knees at the hands of tyrants.”

Page 10 of 18 FirstFirst ... 89101112 ... LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •