House bill seeks to gut NASA’s Artemis plan, resurrect Journey to Mars
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Some people will call it The Boeing Bill, but others will call it "The SpaceX/Blue Origin/Mattell Get to the Moon Before SLS Gets Out of LEO Bill."
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This is absolutely insane. I smell Senator Shelby all over this trying to pull strings.
Edit to add: Yes, I'm aware this is a House bill, not a Senate bill. That doesn't mean, however, that Shelby can't be involved in the behind-the-scenes discussions with the Alabama delegation and others.
I do agree, though, as one of the responses stated, that this is also Congress indirectly lining its own pockets by propping up a firm that millions of Americans (themselves especially included) are heavily invested in.
Edit to add: Yes, I'm aware this is a House bill, not a Senate bill. That doesn't mean, however, that Shelby can't be involved in the behind-the-scenes discussions with the Alabama delegation and others.
I do agree, though, as one of the responses stated, that this is also Congress indirectly lining its own pockets by propping up a firm that millions of Americans (themselves especially included) are heavily invested in.
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One might persuasively argue that it is "developing" the "meaningful activities" that is the core problem, be that on the Moon or on Mars.
It's very hard to convince the American taxpayer that the cart isn't being put before the horse when the program rationale keeps changing.
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What is there on the moon that is so valuable for there to be a land rush? I've always been under the impression that the moon's most useful feature is its gravity.
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This is your space program run by bureaucrats and politicians with advice from lobbyists. Any questions?
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2004: We're going back to the Moon!
2015: No, fuck that, we're going to Mars!
2017: No, shit, the Moon we meant we're going to the Moon!
2018: Sorry, that was supposed to be Mars.
2019: Moon, we meant to say the Moon.
2020: MARS, GODDAMMIT!! ON A BILLION-PLUS-DOLLAR ROCKET THAT CAN'T LAUNCH MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2015: No, fuck that, we're going to Mars!
2017: No, shit, the Moon we meant we're going to the Moon!
2018: Sorry, that was supposed to be Mars.
2019: Moon, we meant to say the Moon.
2020: MARS, GODDAMMIT!! ON A BILLION-PLUS-DOLLAR ROCKET THAT CAN'T LAUNCH MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Water ice, which would be much easier to haul to LEO than it is from Earth. Too bad there's no methane.
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Only thing good about this is getting rid of the Lunar Gateway. THAT would have been a colossal waste of money.
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I detest Shelby as much as the next space fan, but this is the House, not the Senate.
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There really isn't a need. The whole scheme is to feed pork to the Usual Suspects. We should leave the moon to commercial/private efforts and concentrate on Mars. This just kicks the can down the road. Save us Elon Musk you're our only hope!
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Can't they at least pretend a bit that this isn't about corruption and party lines?
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Just a sec, I am about to facepalm myself into low earth orbit and coincidentally beat both Boeing and SpaceX to the human spaceflight milestone.
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Unqualified, Ignorant, Guilty, and Too Big To Fail. That's how I would describe Boeing. They need less Gov contracts, not more.
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Back in the day we had a phenomenon called shame.
I remember it fondly as it prevented shitty behavior to a certain extent.
Go ahead, say "ok, Boomer".
I remember it fondly as it prevented shitty behavior to a certain extent.
Go ahead, say "ok, Boomer".
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Boeing: "Hey, financially we're going to be rather fucked for the next few years."
House: "No worries, we've got your back!"
House: "No worries, we've got your back!"
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that doesn't mean he doesn't have any influence. I mean, we've got basically over half of the Senate already subservient to the president, so it's not like commingling is beneath them.
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Honestly I see the Moon as a great proving ground. Sure, the amount of delta v necessary to get there vs Mars is pretty similar, but it gives us an opportunity to iron out any lingering inefficiencies *before* a multi month journey to the red planet.
Plus, we'd likely learn a thing or two incidentally by hanging out on the moon for more than a minute. That could include finding something, who knows.
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Nope. Whatever you can find on an asteroid or the moon, it's going to be cheaper to mine it on Earth than to bring it back here. The only exception is reaction mass, like water ice.
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Looking at the bill, it is sponsored by a Democrat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendra_Horn
And the committee it seems to have come out of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... eronautics
Just so who you know exactly Boeing has bought and paid for.
And the committee it seems to have come out of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... eronautics
Just so who you know exactly Boeing has bought and paid for.
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Aside from the previously-mentioned water ice, there's also helium-3, which might be useful in more advanced fusion reactors. (This presumes that we can get currently-planned reactors to work right.)
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Can someone please explain this to me?
How does the US retaining full ownership = cost-plus?
How does the US retaining full ownership = cost-plus?
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Hold your horses...PLENTY of methane. Just send a few of these committee politicians to the moon and use them to produce it with all the BS they seem to create at will from their mouthholes. They are a primary driving force in our climate change issue, so moving them to the moon would have countless benefits.
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Thick as thieves. Gentle reminder that 99% of these Congress Critters don't give a crap about space exploration.
Not only are there ZERO plans for humans landing on Mars, NASA doesn't have a spacecraft to get there either. It would be an order of magnitude more difficult and expensive compared to the moon. This bill is pork and the Mars lipstick is utter fantasy.
Not only are there ZERO plans for humans landing on Mars, NASA doesn't have a spacecraft to get there either. It would be an order of magnitude more difficult and expensive compared to the moon. This bill is pork and the Mars lipstick is utter fantasy.
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Yep I've said it before but it bears repeating, our long term space program goal has been going back and forth like Daffy and Bugs arguing if it's rabbit season or duck season for decades now.
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FFS just pick one and get it done! I don't even care which at this point. SpaceX is literally going to spool up an entire Mars colony on it's own dime while these chucklefucks keep doing flip flops.
Edit: auto correct gets me again
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ColdWetDog
Ars Legatus Legionis
The wonderful flavor of barbecue floats throughout Washington.
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It looks like Bezos didn't buy enough politicians.
I can only hope that Dear Moon will be such an embarrassment to Congress that they will reverse their course yet again and decide they need to do more than just an obligatory flags and bootprints mission. Heck, at this point, I don't trust Boeing to get me from point A to point B on Earth without a significant risk of killing me. Would I trust them to send astronauts 34 million miles to Mars? They can't even get to the ISS, can't get all the parachutes to deploy on Starliner, and god knows their software is total crap.
I can only hope that Dear Moon will be such an embarrassment to Congress that they will reverse their course yet again and decide they need to do more than just an obligatory flags and bootprints mission. Heck, at this point, I don't trust Boeing to get me from point A to point B on Earth without a significant risk of killing me. Would I trust them to send astronauts 34 million miles to Mars? They can't even get to the ISS, can't get all the parachutes to deploy on Starliner, and god knows their software is total crap.
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