Futurology @futurology.today Lugh @futurology.today 2 mo. ago

NASA is scaling back its Moon plans, and saying a 2026 human landing on the Moon is unfeasible.

arstechnica.com NASA may alter Artemis III to have Starship and Orion dock in low-Earth orbit

If it were to happen, a revised Artemis III mission could echo Apollo 9.

35 comments

NASA really is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to its lunar plans. Its SLS system is a disaster, but pork barrel politics means it can't ditch it. So it lives on, zombie-like, to suck the life and money out of better options.

Meanwhile, it's placed all its eggs in a SpaceX basket. That company is run by someone who routinely exaggerates timelines for delivery and fails to meet them. Guess what? It's happening again. A commenter on the OP article sums up what SpaceX has to do before humans can go back to the Moon.

Re-light Starship engines

Achieve stable orbit

Dock with another Starship

Transfer propellant

Use transferred propellant

Dock with Orion and/or Dragon

Design a life support system for a volume much larger than Dragon

Build life support system

Test life support

Achieve escape velocity for TLI

Demo propulsive landing on Luna

Demo takeoff from Luna after sitting idle

Dock with Gateway (?) up and down
- That list is out of date, several of those items have already been accomplished.
  
  Which ones?
  
  The first two have been dine. But yeah, still a big list.
Is anybody surprised this is falling through? Did anybody actually think we were going to fucking land on the moon again that soon?
- Only took 8 years the first time, which was pioneering everything. (I don't recall when the new announcement was made and the timeline.)
  
  But also most of us have absolutely no concept about such things.
  
  Yes, most of us have a concept of those things. We also have a concept of how many times since then the government has said 'totally doing it again for reals this time you gusy! Just a few years1!'
- Drumpf did.
  
  Only because he demanded it. Those of us actually working on it just had a bunch of extra work to do indulging his fantasy while simultaneously doing the actual work of reality.
That's not all that surprising but it is still sad
- not to me. I would like us to work on robotics to build stuff that could be used when we send people out again or mining and such. would love to have them work on a lunar space elevator to work out the tech.
  
  I have to suspect a lunar orbiter would be more practical for lunar base building and fueling further missions than a lunar space elevator, wouldn't you need angular momentum from rotation to keep it rigid?
Weren't they talking about building a space station orbiting the moon? We've been to the moon. If we're not building a station there, let's move on to next steps. If we are building a station there, why not send equipment and robots down first to prep it while we figure out the logistics of doing something we did 55 years ago.
- Weren't they talking about building a space station orbiting the moon?
  
  Yep, Lunar Gateway!
My moon landing is still set for 2026. Already scheduled the Uber. Anyone want me to bring them back a T-shirt
- Ah, the Uber space Tesla option. Classy!
  
  I'll take a whalers on the moon shirt if you make it to Luna Park
- Is that the "moon landing" organized by NASSA?
Uh guys, I would totally go. Just launch me up there, I'll figure it out on the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoJsPvmFixU
Hopefully by 2030

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