On Jul/18/2020 at 16:35, David Spain wrote :
On 2020-07-18 11:56 AM, Alain Fournier wrote:
Personally, I don't see the point. I'm waiting for Starship and New
Armstrong to fly. Once those rockets are flying (at least one of
them), making plans for Lunar missions will be much easier. If those
rockets work as expected, it seems to me that someone somewhere will
obviously decide to plan a mission, if not to the moon, then to Mars,
probably both.

While I largely agree, I credit Dr. Zubrin for often pointing out the
path not taken. (Mars Direct, Moon Direct, etc.). I used to be a critic
of the Zubrin approach, esp. one-way crewed missions to Mars. Still not
a particular fan of that idea, but I have to give credit to Dr. Zubrin
for making a whole lot more from a whole lot less.

I very much like Mars Direct and Dr Zubrin (I'm not sure of the details
of Moon Direct). It is only this Artemis 8 that I am complaining about.
Mars Direct is a bold plan to do great things. Artemis 8 is a hastily
elaborated plan to redo something that was done more than 50 years ago.

We actually have largely in hand the infrastructure needed to go back to
the Moon. In Falcon and Dragon. Modifications would be needed but not
necessarily massive changes. Instead we wait for better solutions,
whether it be SLS/Orion/EUS/Artemis-lander or Starship or New Armstrong.

SLS/Orion/... being the worst examples in my opinion.

I am convinced we could be back on the Moon within a few years time had
the money spent on SLS/Orion etc. instead been used to evolve Falcon and
Crew Dragon. I don't see the compelling reason to wait for Starship.
It'll be grand once it is there, but NASA didn't need to wait for it but
could have invested in what SpaceX already has at hand today. If only.

Yes but I don't see the point in going in lunar orbit using rockets that
most likely won't be used to put people on the moon. If I thought that
Artemis 8 would help prepare future lunar missions using Starship it
might make sense to do this. But I really don't think that an Artemis 8
mission would help in anyway. The astronauts flying Artemis 8 would
probably enjoy the ride very much, but I don't see what the mission
would give other than that pleasure for its crew.


Alain Fournier