Are Some Companies Pushing Safety too Far in the Space Race?

[R-T-B]

There is a world where Elon didn't open his mouth, promise magic, and delivered solid tech. If this were the case, then I'd say regulation was unreasonable and we should review the restrictions. The thing is, because this came from Elon's mouth, I think it's some flavor of crap. Elon has made a career out of pretending to be Nikola Tesla, practicing the business of governmental grift to pay for his excesses, developed the cult following of Apple, and been perpetually late to underdeliver like your local governmental run road construction project. That requires he be watched, so he doesn't go full snake oil salesman on our money.

It's ironic he thinks he's Tesla because he fits the Edison stereotype to a tee.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

It’s not regulations, it’s just fairly normal teetering problems for any new endeavor. We haven’t built any reusable super-heavy space vehicles before. So far SpaceX has what, a 50/50 success rate over 8 launches? It’s not terrible all things considered.

0 success rate. Yes I know and this explanation for that IFT contain stages, and when we have 3 Super Heavy landings in last 3 IFTs with interception with the launch tower manipulators that means 50% success rate. 50% from what? The crew and passengers are dead.

 

[mb194dc]

A vanity project that gave us better engines and (hopefully) an actual reusable spacecraft. It's a win overall. Aerospikes are still under development and aren't mature enough for commercial use and nuclear propulsion is a no-no.

As for the "never" part... Ha. The only way that's true is if humanity dies. Which is definitely possible.

It's not that difficult. Just not financially feasible. Sending stuff to the moon requires a lot more money than sending stuff to LEO, and for no immediate financial benefit.

Yes, rocket propulsion has advanced. The engines are much better nowadays, have a reduced part count, and are actually reusable.

Yes SpaceX rockets keep exploding where as Apollo did multiple manned missions without such problems.

Maybe better from an environmental perspective. It's essentially the same technology as the 1960s.

But seemingly less reliable now.

 

[Onasi]

Maybe better from an environmental perspective. It's essentially the same technology as the 1960s.

Well sure, in the same way as a modern Formula 1 hybrid V6 is the same as the engine on a Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Same technology. Technically. Doesn’t say much.