←back to thread

NASA chief suggests SpaceX may be booted from moon mission

(www.cnn.com)
404 points voxleone | 1 comments | 21 Oct 25 12:58 UTC | HN request time: 0.221s | source
Show context
namlem ◴[21 Oct 25 15:28 UTC] No.45657019[source]▶
This would be such a dumb move on the government's part. "Lose the new space race" is ridiculous PR-brain. We are not racing to the same goal! China is trying to land on the moon, we are trying to establish a permanent presence. There is no value to merely returning to the moon to say we did it, and Starship is the only vehicle that can plausibly deliver huge quantities of cargo to the lunar surface.
replies(2): >>45657163 #>>45658738 #
random3 ◴[21 Oct 25 15:40 UTC] No.45657163[source]▶
What’s the main motivation for the moon? Is it a better location than the international space station? What’s the reasoning there?
replies(8): >>45657327 #>>45657333 #>>45657338 #>>45657672 #>>45658451 #>>45660453 #>>45663096 #>>45663887 #
1. ls612 ◴[21 Oct 25 16:19 UTC] No.45657672[source]▶
It's Mars but with training wheels, since if there are problems stuff can be sent to/from the earth at any time as opposed to waiting for a transit window to open. With water ice in Shackleton Crater at the South Pole a permanent base should be very feasible with today's technology plus an operational Starship.