On the one hand, I can’t help but feel a degree of respect towards engineers behind those reusable rockets. It is a complex system that works, so that’s good.
On the other hand, it is teeming with issues stemming from the very model of it. Privatisation of space exploration is a horrible idea, although I probably shouldn’t explain why in a Marxist space. Then there’s the cult of Musk, the silly stunts like “launching a convertible into space, with a space suit inside that is playing Space Oddity”. It’s extremely yank, and it buys the online lemmings, but from the purely practical standpoint - surely there are better ways to do it!
Likewise with the tests they’ve been running. How many of those rockets have failed? Sure they peddle it as some kinda "success story, “stubbornly refusing to quit” and all that feel-good junk media loves to feed. But surely at some point someone had to say “it’s not working right, back to modeling”. People removed all the time about “failures” of the Soviet space program, especially the lunar program, so by Jove I will give space X the same treatment.
So yeah. Kudos to the proletariat making it happen, much booing to the capitalists profiting off of it and slapping their names on it.
much booing to the capitalists profiting off of it and slapping their names on it.
This is the best part though, massive wastage and corruption ensures that US stays behind in the space race, and when the funding wanes, entire thing will come crashing down.
I guess. Perhaps it’s idealist in me speaking, but it pains me to see such waste. And it pains me to see this waste paraded around, infecting the minds of people into thinking “that’s how you do it”. That somehow this is awesome, but Roskosmos having reliable and stable launch schedule using tried and tested methods is “lame”, “retrograde” and ugh.
And that’s even before accounting for the limited resources we have on Earth and the impact these vanity projects have
On the one hand, I can’t help but feel a degree of respect towards engineers behind those reusable rockets. It is a complex system that works, so that’s good.
On the other hand, it is teeming with issues stemming from the very model of it. Privatisation of space exploration is a horrible idea, although I probably shouldn’t explain why in a Marxist space. Then there’s the cult of Musk, the silly stunts like “launching a convertible into space, with a space suit inside that is playing Space Oddity”. It’s extremely yank, and it buys the online lemmings, but from the purely practical standpoint - surely there are better ways to do it!
Likewise with the tests they’ve been running. How many of those rockets have failed? Sure they peddle it as some kinda "success story, “stubbornly refusing to quit” and all that feel-good junk media loves to feed. But surely at some point someone had to say “it’s not working right, back to modeling”. People removed all the time about “failures” of the Soviet space program, especially the lunar program, so by Jove I will give space X the same treatment.
So yeah. Kudos to the proletariat making it happen, much booing to the capitalists profiting off of it and slapping their names on it.
This is the best part though, massive wastage and corruption ensures that US stays behind in the space race, and when the funding wanes, entire thing will come crashing down.
I guess. Perhaps it’s idealist in me speaking, but it pains me to see such waste. And it pains me to see this waste paraded around, infecting the minds of people into thinking “that’s how you do it”. That somehow this is awesome, but Roskosmos having reliable and stable launch schedule using tried and tested methods is “lame”, “retrograde” and ugh.
And that’s even before accounting for the limited resources we have on Earth and the impact these vanity projects have
Of course i also want to see humanity reaching to the stars. But not that part of humanity, not USA and especially not USA private corpos.
Yeah, the Starship program bothered me a lot that they still claim they’re making progress despite 30-40 failure already.
Most space projects by others institutions would be lucky to get 5 attempts before return to drawing board.