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That's a spicy take, but I fully agree with you, and it's a shame you're getting reflexively downvoted instead argued against. SLS is a hugely expensive pork-b
by rippercushions 4y ago
That's a spicy take, but I fully agree with you, and it's a shame you're getting reflexively downvoted instead argued against. SLS is a hugely expensive pork-barrel project that's basically the same as Atlas in the 1960s, and Artemis is an equally pointless rehash of the Apollo program. Neither will meaningfully advance the state of anything.
- nightski 4y agoIf I have learned anything from my time in technology, it's that nothing is ever optimal. As much as we fight it, the world is run on big balls of mud. I for one will always celebrate any success from NASA no matter how contrived the path to get there was. Sometimes it just takes compromise to accomplish something.
- rippercushions 4y agoAccomplish something, sure, but what is NASA accomplishing here?
- cormacrelf 4y agoThey launched a rocket perfectly first time, with no spectacular imagery of failed launches to scare off human passengers.
- andsoitis 4y agoFrom the article: “The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown.”
- rippercushions 4y agoIn other words, Apollo 6, 1968. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_6
- andsoitis 4y agoArtemis I is a step in the Artemis Program, which has the stated purpose of building a sustainable human presence on and around the moon. https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html Elsewhere in this discussion thread there's also cynicism as to why NASA isn't using cheaper / more efficient SpaceX hardware. I won't go into arguing all the criticism that's thrown at the edges, but instead simply point out that NASA has awarded SpaceX a $1.15b contract for second Artemis mission. https://spacenews.com/nasa-awards-spacex-1-15-billion-contract-for-second-artemis-lander-mission/ https://spacenews.com/nasa-awards-spacex-1-15-billion-contra...
- unethical_ban 4y agoI'm downvoting because they're naive about long-term planning and political momentum, they're stating as fact potential alternate futures that would be far from certain, and they're wishing catastrophic failure to a complex program that would also represent a failure of engineering and safety standards, leading to its own set of negative conclusions. They pretend that NASA/Congress would just say "whee, full tilt SpaceX" right away if SLS failed, and I don't see the evidence.