7 ms·
A new Moon race has begun
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoThe projected dates of 2023 and 2024 for a gateway station and landing are completely unachievable. I assume it's tied into boosterism for the reelection campaign: "Look at what we're going to do in our second term." It's sad that nobody in the media is calling them out on this.
- headcanon 7y agoHuman-rated probably not, but with SpaceX's rapid iteration strategy, if they leveraged what they're already doing with BFR they could probably get something that size on the moon by then. The fact that they have working rockets going to orbit, as well as a process that iteratively improves on their methods, its not totally unreasonable. Especially when compared to Blue Origin, who has yet to put a single rocket in orbit.
- martythemaniak 7y agoI agree that there's a strong bit of re-electionism, but an Apollo 8-10 style mission is quite feasible in that timeline.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- bryanlarsen 7y agoLanding on the moon in 2024 is far less ridiculous a statement than Kennedy's moon announcement in 1961 was. We can do it, we just don't want to badly enough.
- 0x8BADF00D 7y agoManned spaceflight and stations are unnecessary in the near term. Autonomous drones and machines can bootstrap colonization. A mining refinery can be bootstrapped easily, all remotely. Then asteroid mining droids will drop their payloads there for refinement and processing.
- ceejayoz 7y agoHow near is your "near term" here? We still pay hefty amounts of money to oil rig workers and underwater welders, even here on Earth. Robot telepresence has a long way to go before we can build an entire refinery in zero-G.
- derekp7 7y agoAgreed. The benchmark I use is I'll believe that robotic missions make human missions irrelevant, when the day comes that I can get a roomba that works across multiple floors, climbing stairs (and cleaning stairs), empties itself in the trash can, and avoids pet messes instead of dragging poop all over the floor. Or a laundry system that grabs the basket of dirty laundry (or better yet, picks the close off the floor), washes, then transfers to the dryer, then irons and hangs up the clothes. If machines can do all that effectively, then they can probably explore other planetary bodies as good as people.
- prewett 7y agoIf you were going to make a 100% robotic factory/refinery/etc. you would design it for robots. The problem with the Roomba is that houses are designed for people, not robots. A robotic factory could avoid a lot of problems by not needing to design for people. While I disagree with your benchmark, I don't think we're going to be putting robotic factories in space in 3-4 years. Have we even built a 100% robotic factory on earth yet? Plus, I don't think that anyone has built an autonomous robot for zero-g yet (I'm not counting satellites and Canada-arm).
- avmich 7y ago> Plus, I don't think that anyone has built an autonomous robot for zero-g yet (I'm not counting satellites and Canada-arm). https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/17/15981250/japan-space-camera-drone-iss-int-ball https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/17/15981250/japan-space-came... "Japan’s space agency has for the first time released photos and videos taken on the International Space Station by its resident robot drone..."
- Rerarom 7y agoThere was way more funding in the 1960s than there is now.
- rowanG077 7y agoHis comment literally states that it's possible but that we just don't want it enough. Not enough funding is the most direct manifestation of that.
- Rerarom 7y agoYes but funding in the 1960s was ridiculously large, because they wanted so hard to beat the Russians. (Maybe if this wasn't so, they would have built a much more robust architecture and slower, and we would have the first man on the Moon in the 80s and Moon cities by now.)
- Rebelgecko 7y agoI'm not able to RTFA due to paywall, but I believe that the Lunar Gateway has already gone by the wayside for the first planned mission in 2024. I wouldn't be surprised if the completion date got pushed back a few more times and then it was canceled.
- ceejayoz 7y agoNo, they moved it up, to 2023. https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/05/nasa-planning-to-launch-an-integrated-lunar-gateway-in-2023/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/05/nasa-planning-to-lau...
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoBoeing wants gateway gone because that reduces the threat of competition for SLS and its impending scope reduction or cancellation. Having a flexible platform outside a deep gravity well is more valuable than an expensive lunar landing system and promises of a permanent surface base.
- gerland 7y agoI'm not an expert, but it seems to me than other than a PR some of those dates are also set to provoke higher efficience and appease taxpayers. Once the project is underway and billions were spent it's much ahrder to back out.
- aug_aug 7y agoYes, it's called Space Force and it's on Netflix. Can't wait.
- neonate 7y agohttps://archive.md/ElkSG https://archive.md/ElkSG
- RachelF 7y agoThanks for that. The Economist's paywall seems to be on every article now.
- blackrock 7y agoWho is racing? And why? This just sounds like a lot of waste of money, when they won’t even bother to help people pay their rents.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- dwaltrip 7y agoTechnology developed for space will benefit those living on Earth. This happened with the Apollo program and will continue with other programs. We can and should do multiple things at once.
- blegit 7y agoWhen ever there is talk of mining The Moon, I think of the Moon mining scene in the movie Time Machine and it makes me mad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSs6eKmTCDY&feature=youtu.be&t=62 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSs6eKmTCDY&feature=youtu.be...