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NASA still does great stuff but SLS specifically is not exactly a pioneering program. It's a disposable rocket using Space Shuttle engines, attempting to go to
by DennisP 2y ago
NASA still does great stuff but SLS specifically is not exactly a pioneering program. It's a disposable rocket using Space Shuttle engines, attempting to go to the Moon again.
Meanwhile SpaceX got reusable first stages into production, and recently got the world's largest-ever rocket to orbit and attempted to land the second stage. And it's all powered by newly designed engines that significantly advance the state of the art.
- deepsun 2y agoThere are _a ton_ of innovations in SLS, especially in the space ship (payload). Engines is just a small piece of the program, not really important one. Over the years a lot of theory improved, a lot of new technologies developed (e.g. materials, IT) and SLS tests them for space. Kinda "deploy in production".
- DennisP 2y agoCould you be more specific? Because as a launch rocket, it's so absurdly expensive that it will never be useful other than for low-volume national vanity projects. What technologies has it developed that might be usable on other platforms?