I see a lot of negativity about #NASA's #Artemis2 mission, being it about how expensive SLS is, or about how "bad" their live coverage of the launch was.
A reminder: despite all the hype about "the industry" replacing the SLS with cheaper pipe dream concepts, it is the #SLS that delivers the Moon today, and possibly in the future too. Yes, #space is hard and EXPENSIVE, who knew? 🙄
Some people also whined endlessly about the #JWST, arguing that their beloved billionaire could do it better,
1/
faster, and cheaper. That's wishful thinking by useful idiots, at best. Space is hard, and EXPENSIVE. Who knew?
The Mars Sample Return is shelved because the existing proposal was "too expensive"; yet, no other proposal by the (subsidized) space industry seems to be feasible; and because your favorite billionaire cannot do it at present, there will be no #MSR in the foreseeable future.
So, back to the #Artemis2 mission. I find NASA's coverage very good. Public outreach was extensive,
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with detailed explanations about the different phases of the mission and the hardware, and lots of children and the public involved. The microphones where open for the world to listen in, live coverage flow was continuous, serious, and with zero hype, except for Jared Isaacman's live interview, where he sounded like a Las Vegas showman.
The live coverage brought back memories of good ol' #NASA. Those people are serious professionals, and when allowed to do their job unhindered, it shows.
3/3
@65dBnoise it is definitely shame, that Mars Sample Return was canceled. This means, that China will beat NASA+ESA in this respect. Perhaps ESA can do sample return alone, but so far, European Mars landers were rather unsuccessful.
As for reusable boosters/first stages: they are not pipe dream, they work and China will have entire fleet of them, both "privately" and government operated. The hard part are reusable second stages. And operations beyond low Earth orbit require high-Isp third stages, at least small.
If ULA upper stages could be used together with SpaceX or Blue Origin first stages, it would be relatively cheap deep space exporation rocket. Without need of ridiculously high number of refueling launches...
@xChaos
I don't care so much about America's pride on who's going to do it first, as I do for the excellent work NASA's people have done with both Curiosity and Perseverance/Ingenuity. The samples are already collected and stashed, are very interesting scientifically, and need to be brought back.
CNSA's and ESA's plans are still to be realized in the future. NASA has already executed the painstaking part of *proper* sample collection.
I mentioned and *meant* pipe dream *concepts*, not
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@xChaos
rocket technologies. Rockets, especially those used in LEO, are just cargo ships; it's good that the reusable ones offer better opportunities for LEO flights (and more space junk/debris?), but extrapolating specific technologies to fit long term and hugely more complex missions is naive.
An example: refueling in LEO with tanker reusable-rocket flights. Just because reusable rockets are cheap doesn't mean refueling in space is solved. But that's what the hypesters want us to believe
2/2
65dBnoise
Krystian Majewski
Chao-c'