• TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    NASA’s leaders settled on a plan of baffling complexity: a single trip to the lunar surface could require 40-plus rocket launches

    Wat? Didn’t we do it in a single launch in the 1960s?

    • BanMeFromPosting [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      Yeah but how much money did that make 7000 different middlemanagers who we’ve hired through a public-private partnership to avoid government graft? And how did that launch aid local small businessowners? Now we’ve put the contract on the heatshielding up for bidding so that Lockheed Martin can charge $2000 per screw-part

    • ExotiqueMatter@lemmygrad.ml
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      2 months ago

      Unlike the Apollo program which had a purpose built launcher with every aspect of it made with the moon in mind, the current American manned lunar program will have to make do with at best the Frankenstein’s monster made out of recycled space shuttle parts known as the SLS, and at worst the napo-baby hubris meets engineering reality joke known as the Starship.

      Edit: Actually, Blue origin’s heavy launcher could potentially save this clown-show when and if it comes out. Though even if that’s the case I would still bet on China winning this second space race. The 21st century US just doesn’t have what it takes to establish a productive semi-permanent presence on the Moon.