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NASA heading back to Moon soon, and this time to stay

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  • #31
    Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
    They potentially could, but there's two issues with that. The first is practical. Sending bigger, heavier stuff up is better when you're building something like this that requires multiple modules. When you go big, you waste less of the weight and size on the structures that form junctions between modules, since there are fewer junctions. The junctions are complex because they have to transfer power, coolant, data, etc., and yet be simple enough to be put together by space-walking astronauts, so more of them are not a trivial addition. While it is possible to redesign, it'd take a lot of doing and may require sacrificing some capabilities or using more modules.
    I'd add a second observation. Going smaller generally increases the cost. If for no other reason, it increases the total weight being lifted into space. Remember that each flight not only lifts the module in question, but also has to lift the entire transport vehicle. The amounts involved are not trivial.

    Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
    The second is political. The SLS picked up the nickname "Senate's Launch System", because Congress is basically treating NASA as a jobs program. NASA contractors have made sure to distribute the work they're doing across multiple states, so cutting the SLS means that you're costing jobs in the home districts of multiple congresspeople. NASA's kind of bowed to the reality that the SLS is going to be funded no matter how bad an idea it is, and so they keep designing programs that justify having an enormous rocket like that. This moon outpost is just the latest iteration (and 3rd or 4th justification overall, depending on how you want to count). And it's a bipartisan thing, so you can't expect the next president to stroll in and knock some sense into things.
    Now THAT I didn't know. Thanks!
    The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

    I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

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    • #32
      Purely by chance, a good description of the SLS/deep space history was published today:
      https://arstechnica.com/science/2019...still-distant/
      "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

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      • #33
        Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
        Purely by chance, a good description of the SLS/deep space history was published today:
        https://arstechnica.com/science/2019...still-distant/
        Aw, come on, admit it! You put them up to this!

        (good article, thanks)
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

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        • #34
          Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
          Purely by chance, a good description of the SLS/deep space history was published today:
          https://arstechnica.com/science/2019...still-distant/
          Cool! Thanks!
          The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy...returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King

          I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong. Frederick Douglas

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          • #35
            Isn't Orion supposed to be nuclear based? How's that going?

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            • #36
              Originally posted by Sparko View Post
              Isn't Orion supposed to be nuclear based? How's that going?
              Different Orion. Nuclear one was cancelled decades ago; current one may see a test flight next year.
              "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

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