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Topic: Money dumped in vast amounts for space? (Read 29309 times)
  • rjhowie
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Money dumped in vast amounts for space?
Makes me wonder why so much is spent in vast massive sums to send rockets all into the Universe and even some would-be experts musing on getting us to places like Mars. What a load of cobblers and not much real point to the general people who live on Earth.
"Quit you like men:be strong"

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #51 –
Imagine preparing for all 344 and then it fails because of something dumb like log4j running on the release mechanism for some reason.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #52 –
According to NASA, China is starting a war in space.

Quote from: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/07/china-possibly-planning-takeover-of-moon-nasa-chief-says/
“What do you think is happening on the Chinese space station?” Nelson said, referring to China’s Tiangong space station. “They learn there how to destroy other people’s satellites.”

The first pieces of the Tiangong space station were launched into orbit in April of last year, and the rest of the station remains under construction, with the next component section scheduled to launch on July 23, according to Space News.

Nelson is not the first U.S. official to warn of Chinese plans to develop weapons to destroy the satellites of other nations. In April, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) described various potential Chinese space-based weapons including the Shijian-17 satellite, which is equipped with a robotic arm the agency believes could be used to grab and damage other satellites.

China has claimed systems like the Shijian-17 satellite are to be used to help clean up space debris and denied the systems will be weaponized.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #53 –
Russia's Luna-25 has smashed into the moon

Quote from: https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-space-idUSS8N38G01B
MOSCOW, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Russia’s Luna-25 space craft has crashed into the moon after it spun into uncontrolled orbit, Russia’s space corporation Roskosmos said on Sunday.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #54 –
It could happen to anyone, though in context one would suspect too much pressure, too little time and too little budget.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #55 –
Yes, they were in a hurry. Russians were competing with India. India's probe launched earlier, but is on a longer trajectory. India's probe is now lowering itself towards the moon and in a few days we'll see whether it lands or lands to pieces.

Quote from: https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/headlines/2564316-chandrayaan-3-landing-date-and-time-officially-announced-check-details
ISRO is bidding to make a successful soft landing on the moon, which will make India the fourth country in the world to achieve the feat after the United States, Russia and China.

"Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023, around 18:04 Hrs. IST. Thanks for the wishes and positivity! Let's continue experiencing the journey together," ISRO announced on X (formerly Twitter).

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #58 –
If they make a successful sun landing, that would be the first.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #60 –
This time Elon Musk organised probably the biggest rocket explosion ever. I don't see him get enough credit for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=081a5Thjl5g

Footnote: "Rapid unscheduled disassembly" is a euphemism for explosion Spacex invented at an earlier occasion. The euphemism seems to have caught on.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #61 –
There's some urge to celebrate 25 years of ISS just before it will be relegated into space junk. In some people's minds, the space station has served as an indication that cooperation with Russia is possible. I'd say it is more of an indication that Russians can restrain themselves in landmark situations of cosmic proportions. However, they still interpret those situations their own way, different from what anyone else might think.

Not too long ago Russians also managed to put out a real space movie, the world's first feature film shot in space, to go along with their other space successes, such as first satellite in space and first man in space. I have not seen it.

Instead I have seen the very anti-space space movie Gravity with Sandra Bullock. The main message: Space is deadly dangerous. You're lucky if you get back alive. Excellent 3D effects though, worth seeing in 3D.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #62 –
Ironically, the Russians are the only ones who are welcome everywhere in space.

The US vetoed having the Chinese on the ISS, so they built their own treehouse in space, Tiangong 天宫 (Sky/Heaven Palace), where the Russians are welcome, and nobody else. Wikipedia has nice schematics.


Bit different from the Space Station 5 of 2001.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKBYB7qG4X0

Anyway, the Russians have talked about having a treehouse of their own, as has India. Neither seem likely to get off the ground soon, but my money would be on India. So when the Space Cow ends about 2030, there will be no obvious successor. There would be a mini-ISS around the Moon, and possibly some commercial moneybag tourist refreshing station. But nothing ISS+ size this side of 2050. 

Payload costs go down, so it is certainly feasible if someone has enough billions burning in their pockets.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #64 –
Tech billionaire pulls off first private spacewalk high above Earth
Quote from: https://apnews.com/article/spacex-spacewalk-private-polaris-dawn-87d4c78853f0249baf29631bedfac749
Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman teamed up with SpaceX to test the company’s brand new spacesuits on his chartered flight. The daring feat also saw SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis going out once Isaacman was safely back inside.

This spacewalk was simple and quick — the hatch was open barely a half hour...
Okay, it's tested now. Next stop is Mars, right?

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #65 –
If you come up with a GPS for the moon, you can win a bit of money.
Quote from: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/prizes-challenges-crowdsourcing-program/center-of-excellence-for-collaborative-innovation-coeci/find-me-on-the-moon-nasa-lunar-navigation-challenge/
For Challenge 1, NASA is seeking an orienteering aid that will help the astronauts navigate on traverses away from the lunar lander and return back. While there were similar devices available to the Apollo astronauts, NASA is looking for new and unique solutions. Among other considerations, devices must be accurate, easy to use, able to be used on the moon’s surface by an astronaut wearing pressurized gloves. If your solution is one of the best, you could be eligible for a share of the $15,000 prize purse.

Re: Money dumped in vast amounts for space?

Reply #68 –
Rocket goes boom.

Worse, the Trump administration is cancelling NASA's useful science missions in favour of meaningless political vanity projects.

New NASA budget would shut down 41 space missions