In article ,
says...
Clearly, especially since the current NASA plan of record doesn't
include Starship in any meaningful way. It still relies heavily on
SLS/Orion, so we will be limited to one crewed mission per year. That's
pretty weak sauce considering how "close" the moon is.
Starship doesn't fit their desired architecture. Once they admit that
Starship is real, all their plans and hardware go into a cocked hat.
If you think the graphic Musk showed of Starship docked to ISS looked
a little silly, imagine the same thing with the much smaller Gateway.
This image is worth a thousand words:
https://i.redd.it/64h5zvj1gex21.jpg
It's part of this discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLoung...ex_vs_blue_ori
gin_2024_aspirations/
I think that the scale of Starship is something I think most people
won't be able to wrap their mind around. It's just so fracking huge
compared to anything planned by anyone to land crew on the moon or Mars
that it's not even funny.
SpaceX needs Starlink for the potential revenue to attract investors to
develop Starship/Super Heavy. But SpaceX also needs Starship/Super
Heavy to launch and maintain the Starlink constellation.
You're starting to make this sound like trying to fly by tugging on
your own bootstraps. SpaceX has gotten over a billion in investment
and it is ALL going to StarLink (and none to Starship/Falcon Super
Heavy).
Agreed. Starlink must come first. That's a huge potential revenue
stream that they'll need in order to fund a moon/Mars capable Starship.
Mars is still Musk's ultimate goal, but Starlink will need to come first
in order to provide the massive cash flow needed to turn Starship from a
cargo launcher into a true crewed spaceship capable of performing an
actual Mars mission. IMHO, of course.
While I think Musk is overly optimistic (as usual), I think you are
overly pessimistic. I'd bet on a manned Mars mission before 2030 with
the potential for lunar missions before that.
2030 for a first crewed Mars mission is certainly optimistic, IMHO. I'd
love to see that. And I think it might just be possible if enough
development money is spent in all the right areas.
But I also think it's safe to say that if this were any other online
forum, we'd both be called a SpaceX fanboys and our opinions would be
widely ridiculed. Until Starship/Super Booster start flying
"routinely", the nay-sayers will keep saying that all of Musk's Mars
aspirations are an Internet billionaire's fantasy.
I'm also sure they'd say the same of Jeff Bezos's aspiration to start
moving industry off earth and into space. That's what motivated him to
start Blue Origin.
05.09.19
Jeff Bezos wants to save Earth by moving industry to space
The billionaire owner of Blue Origin outlines plans for mining,
manufacturing, and colonies in space.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90347364...save-earth-by-
moving-industry-to-space
Jeff
--
All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone.
These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends,
employer, or any organization that I am a member of.