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threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works

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ULA employee "critiques" Starship architecture (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 4 days ago by threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works to c/spaceflightmemes@sh.itjust.works

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Solid points, the whole in-flight refueling process is still completely untested. Many people are probably still under the impression that Starship could fly around the moon, return and land on just its original fuel load. The rant doesn't elaborate on why rocket reusability in general is a bad idea though - Falcon is a proven reusable vehicle that has reduced launch costs by an order of magnitude. Maybe a better system design for Starship (I hate that name, it's not a fucking "star"ship) would have been as a launch vehicle for something like a VASIMR or other more advanced low-fuel engine for the interplanetary portion of a mission.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Starship (I hate that name, it’s not a fucking "star"ship)

Same. Mars Colonial Transporter, Interplanetary Transport System, and Big F****n Rocket were more appropriate names.

something like a VASIMR or other more advanced low-fuel engine

I'd love to see some more advanced engines, but I think that the capability to reset the rocket equation in LEO has merit.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

LEO reset does have merit, it just never gets away from the fundamental problem of lifting fuel into orbit.

I would really prefer a space travel dev approach that doesn't prioritize getting humans somewhere as the immediate goal. We already know we can shoot people to the moon and land them. We can use LEO to study problems of interplanetary travel such as prolonged weightlessness and confinement. I think we should be sending robots to the moon and Mars to mine and refine local material, print permanent structures, pressurize them and grow food in them. Then send people once they can just show up and live in them. Mere survival shouldn't be their main task.