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> ITER is a shining example of how to do this maximally wrong. ITER is an example of what happens when you dither and drag things out for decades. If member st
by wahern 5y ago
> ITER is a shining example of how to do this maximally wrong.
ITER is an example of what happens when you dither and drag things out for decades. If member states had made a major commitment to not only fund ITER, but to have it built within 5-10 years and actually done so, it would have been money well spent.
If you wait long enough all designs for anything will become outdated. An operational ITER would have provided, and still can provide, crucial experience and data. But the cost-benefit ratio is now much poorer for the delays.
This is the lesson of SpaceX--not a lesson about financial frugality or simplicity of engineering. SpaceX has spent far more money than will be spent on ITER, and its designs are not known for their elegance. The world is awash in both cash and talent. The lesson is about process and pace and iteration--all that cash and talent is wasted if you don't apply it. Optimize for time. Emphasize process over product, as the former makes for the latter, not the other way around. When you have confidence something is worthwhile, as with ITER at the outset, don't hold back.
- spaetzleesser 5y agoI just don't think ITER is really that expensive compared to other stuff like defense, oil subsidies, returning to the moon and so on.
- tsimionescu 5y agoYou can't really compare ITER and SpaceX. SpaceX has worked on a breakthrough in engineering, one that had seen research in decades past as well (the DC-X rocket achieved vertical landing from a few kilometers in the 1990s before the project was shut down; they would have almost certainly reached orbit if they were allowed to continue a few more years). On the other hand, ITER is breaking entirely new ground on the engineering side, and it even requires fundamental research. It is not even known if what ITER is setting out to do is fundamentally possible given realistic engineering constraints instead of idealized models.
- inglor_cz 5y agoTo be fair to SpaceX, all (two) full flow staged combustion cycle engines prior to Raptor were test articles that literally never left the ground. The Raptor family is a major, major innovation.
- spaetzleesser 5y agoExactly. ITER is more like rocketry was in the 50s. You know it should be doable but there are a ton of details to figure out first. SpaceX could build on decades of experience built by others.