• 2 Posts
  • 41 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: October 2nd, 2023
  • bbuez@lemmy.worldtoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•How did we get humans on the moon in 1969 and are still struggling to get the Starship rocket to launch properly?
    11·
    6 months ago

    Well you offhandedly gave “elon bad” memes precedence over actual critiques being offered, nobody who actually cares about this moon thing gives a damn about elon memes, so I expect to discuss the merits of the mission plan off its merits alone.

    Smartereveryday was largely on about culture at NASA from what I remember from that video. That and the lack of hypergolics.

    It may be a long watch but please actually watch the whole thing, he’s very well spoken and ultimately optimistic (as am I) about going back. But I am certain he had more to mention that just hypergolics. I can list a few

    • astronaut access to the surface
    • stability on landing with a high COM
    • number of refuels necessary given nominal boiloff
    • lack of a mockup vehicle for astronaut training
    • undemonstrated orbital refueling (no bleeding the header tank is not a fuel transfer as per flight 3)
    • yes the hypergolics, you don’t want to be stuck on the moon.

    If these are “intentionally obtuse” points, well then welcome to aerospace engineering, its called rocket science for a reason.

    And Destins point about the culture? People aren’t speaking their critiques when they’re most necessary to hear, people are afraid to speak. How does that contribute to a program which may or may not have flaws (that could be remedied), when no flaws are at least pointed out? Well look at Boeing for one.

    The fact you don’t know how risky Apollo was to the astronauts shows you don’t know much about this

    I mentioned Apollo 1, right? Im pretty sure I mentioned Apollo one and how they perished on the pad and it nearly stopped the program. Now if you’re going to be intentially obtuse, then I bid you a good day.

  • bbuez@lemmy.worldtoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•How did we get humans on the moon in 1969 and are still struggling to get the Starship rocket to launch properly?
    31·
    6 months ago

    Lost me at the second paragraph, Elon most certainly can be a complete moron while SpaceX remains a competent launch provider with, but to ignore his track record and business dealings in considering HLS would be a lapse in judgement.

    Aside from the man, the plan of starship is vague at best, and given 2 billion in public funds is planned to be spent on starship this year alone, I would certainly like to know more details… as NASA does too:

    20 launches, up from musks initial 8, will be needed to fuel the craft

    Contracts have deadlines and astronauts need assurances

    It’s really cringe

    If NASA is to a point healthy critique is considered cringe, then I doubt we’ll be on the moon for long. Sure there’s some rashness, but in the publics eye, do you think Apollo could’ve succeeded if they had dismissed hardware failures as RUDs?

    Apollo 1 nearly ended the program, yes it was the deaths of those astronauts that prompted that, but its necessary rigor that prevents another such accident. An inherent con of the trial-by-fire method SpaceX has had is the potential to miss something that wasn’t an immediate issue. This can be mitigated, but is a valid source of concern for the engineer.

    I however am not nearly qualified to make a call. But I feel as though this video from the channel SmarterEverDay (whose family was involved in Apollo) sums up a set of valid concerns that I think anybody with interest in these this should at least hear.

    I want us to go back to the moon just as the next person, but remember: Apollo cost some $200B in todays money, part of that cost was the extensive checks needed to avert tragedy, we must be sure we’re not cutting that its only a natural concern. And we can’t make heroes of men while we’re at it, nobody is infallible, if the proposal is solid it will be the one to take us regardless who’s running the show. Or if its not, we cannot afford to make mission proposals personal.