I am being allowed to post comments again on a censored space forum. Many of my comments are, however, being removed. I will see them posted here if not there:
O’Neillian
Robert G. Oler
2 days ago
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It is much like the Trumpist delusion; they will never admit their chosen one has completely messed up this design. (Regarding Musk’s Starship)
O’Neillian
4 days ago
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“I am concerned that Musks Starship has to make substantial progress this year.”
I am concerned that it will continue to be the worst thing that has ever happened to space exploration.
“As far as the comment that we ‘need’ a cislunar space station…for what?”
What do we need 43,000 satellites in orbit for? To make someone a trillionaire? To start a nuclear war? To let you place bets from anywhere on Earth on anything on Earth minute by minute? Actually, the reason for these true Space Stations, Lunar Cyclers, and Spaceships is to establish a permanent human presence Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) and enable technicians to establish and maintain an industrial infrastructure off-world. There is only one industry worth pursuing; Space Solar Power by way of lunar resources as the solution to climate change.
“The big deal is that human spaceflight has never really established, if things are normal, a massive “anchor” in the public heart.”
Sports betting is currently the “massive anchor.” And saying “if things are normal” is not a very cogent argument. When were things “normal?” Was it in the late 50’s and through the 60’s into the early 70’s when America had the largest and richest middle class in the history of the world? When I was a boy my father, a mechanic, owned a house and two cars on a single income and he went on to live out his retirement very comfortably. He was in that sweet spot well after World War 2 and before the Reagan Revolution.
Was that normal? If we want normal we need to tax top earners at the same rate as the year I was born; 91% on those making over 400,000 dollars ( $4,380,027.03 today).
O’Neillian
4 days ago
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Waiting days to see comments published has killed this forum. Not censoring the vicious bullying has emboldened those that excoriate anyone criticizing a certain company. About a half a dozen out of the dozens that squatted here formerly are still on patrol and as malicious as ever. SpaceNews put up a paywall and that forum is dead like the dozen or so others that 10 years ago had hundreds of comments. The only forums with thousands of comments are simply infomercials for that company and the present administration with just enough critical comments allowed to fake that other views are allowed. The bullies won.
O’Neillian
5 days ago
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A certain company whose founder has done incredible damage to this country should move that company and founder to Kazakhstan permanently…and there would be great rejoicing among the decent and sane. (Talking about SpaceX and Musk of course).
O’Neillian
12 days ago
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Dangerous moneymakers for greedy fools. (Regarding European private space rocket startups)
O’Neillian
Robert G. Oler
17 days ago
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I cannot even comment about that creature anymore. Not that my comments would be allowed. What has happened since DOGE cut USAID funding…..is so monstrous it is not allowed to be discussed anywhere. Eventually it will be written about and the horror and shame future generations will experience and the blame laid on us, all of us, is too sad to contemplate. That is all I can say. (Regarding Musk of course)
O’Neillian
Robert G. Oler
20 days ago
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It was all a scam to get money for their starlink truck project. They would almost certainly have a prototype hopper taking off once a week and practicing landing by now if they were actually serious and going to build it. Gwynne stated years ago they are not Moon people. They are money people and invent ways to make money with satellites, not land on the Moon. (Regarding the SpaceX lunar lander)
O’Neillian
19 days ago
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I never considered the Shuttle famous or a national treasure. An infamously bad design that trapped America in LEO for half a century and counting. I personally don’t care what happens to it.
I can tease out only one scenario where it might have been a qualified success; with extra life support pallets it could have stayed in orbit for months at a time and eventually returned by remote control or sending up a non-debilitated pilot to bring it back down. That would have done the same thing as the ISS and saved the taxpayer close to a quarter of a trillion dollars spent so far on the space station to nowhere. Of course, this would be with liquid boosters instead of the SRB’s which killed the Challenger crew and some kind of pre-reentry inspection that would have saved the Columbia crew. Or, even better, a returnable engine module on the bottom so the orbiter was stacked on top with no SSME’s, thus greatly increasing it’s payload. In fact, the SLS configuration, with a reusable escape tower and capsule, is what the Shuttle should have been except….it is all expendable. Hindsight is 20/20.
There is no cheap.
O’Neillian
8 months ago
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1st stage does not get that hot. Only reason to use stainless is if you build the second stage almost the same it reduces costs. Second stage of course does get hot. But the Space Shuttle was made out of aluminum so it is not like heat shield tiles do not work. So why? It reduces the money spent on a thermal protection system. Cheaper. All about cheap. Except….there is no cheap. It is heavy and cuts into payload. It can only be shaved down so much and then you have to do things like the chopsticks to remove weight. Very similar to the Spruce Goose. The Goose was actually about submarines…U-boats. Starship is about satellite megaconstellations.
In my view bringing back the second stage tankage is a fundamental error. It is returning the engine module that should be the goal and leaving the tank material in space to be recycled/repurposed.
O’Neillian
10 months ago
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Forget Mars. Like LEO, it is a complete dead end. Space Solar Power by way of lunar resources as the solution to Climate Change is the only path to expanding humankind off-world.