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Yeah, I 100 percent hear what you’re saying. And I agree too - Ars threads when it comes to SpaceX and Musk have turned into literal hate fests, where it’s unacceptable and basically considered ‘a personal attack’ to be supportive of SpaceX, Musk, or to push back against asinine statements made...

Everywhere the adversary goes is simultaneously a new front for defense. Letting other nations have the moon creates a weak point and would be a strategic mistake. The moon may "cost the same" but there is no economic interest in Mars right now or imminently. The moon is meanwhile a lot more...

Destroying USAID is an act of unspeakable cruelty?!? Seriously? You clearly wouldn’t function in the real world. I am so close to embracing the SpaceNews paywall if only for the sake of sane commentary in the comments section.

Honestly, beyond the obviously good reasons at this point to adjust focus, I would bet a lot on the idea that SpaceX is being heavily pressured to prioritize the moon. They may also be receiving significant incentives from the federal government at this point to prioritize the moon first (like...

Build near the poles and construct four solar plants that are ringed around the pole and at a slightly lower latitude and on the side of a mountain - then construct insulated transmission lines (not unlike undersea cables) to follow that ring and connect the base to those plants. Ta da -...

It does make sense actually. The startup cost for a mars colony is incredibly high and takes a long time to reach a point of being self sustaining. A moon colony takes a lot less time and becomes self sustaining more quickly. In the meantime, SpaceX can build its infrastructure up and be in a...

I agree - and I’m wondering if SpaceX is considering it at all (seriously). I suppose return trajectories for Ship would be more problematic at Vandenberg probably, but maybe if they entered into an appropriate orbital plane they could reenter over the ocean and then steer inland for tower catch...

Yeah… Where exactly? There are so very few possibilities that are at all viable, and that doesn’t even take into account what direction you can even launch from those locations. Virtually no location on the west coast is useful for anything at all, except Vandenberg for polar launches. I...

I see a lot of these launches living out in the Mojave Desert. From here they’re almost directly to the west, and often quite spectacular to witness. It’s also almost always clear out here in the evenings, so it’s very unlikely that they are ever obstructed by clouds/marine layer/etc here. It...

How about the Tesla drive..?

I am fairly sure that the maneuvering is only about changing where their ballistic touchdown point would be. I think you’re right that they will aim for a crash into the ocean, probably just offshore, and they will use their aerodynamic flight maneuvers to ensure that. That way, if the engines...

Transpiration cooling would work. But the “cost” of doing that entirely would be hard to swallow. Perhaps a hybrid approach could do it though, and I think that is where they’re going to ultimately go too.

I think it has more to do with the deceleration curve and the amount of thrust each engine is having to provide. And then secondarily it give you more time to select/know about alternatives if one of the favored final three is not good. It’s a very critical phase of flight for more than just the...

I’m not going to go there with you. I think people should be respectful of each other, forgiving, kind, and graceful. I get being upset and saying something unkind in the heat of a moment (I’m not guiltless of that either), but I don’t think carrying hatred for anyone, alive or dead - even Adolf...

Thanks for that - I had not seen that change yet. So slipping about a week from a week ago.

Well, downloading files that they weren’t “authorized” to have… But yeah, a completely different meaning and level of wrong, and similarly also having modern examples of the former type of piracy in other parts of the world. A lot of words have been re-defined in the modern age while still...

I guess that’s half of the point I’m making - but I think people today either don’t know what a real Nazi is or they have dehumanized themselves so much that they don’t care how hurtful and wrong it is to say that sort of thing about anyone they disagree with.

I think they’ve been saying the 6th for awhile now. I haven’t heard anything contrary to that yet. Probably in the afternoon again too.

I think I can appreciate the technology separately from the people involved regardless of who those people are. The Horton brothers built an amazing airplane for its time, and they were both Nazis. The V2, and all the rockets inspired by it were phenomenal pieces of technology, and their design...

The haters would bash just as hard if not harder if SpaceX made starship fly perfectly, introduced forever game changing propulsion technology like in The Expanse, and started working on a real world hyperdrive. Heck, SpaceX could fix all the inadequacies in the world, and the haters would still...