obsesivegamer t1_je8doy2 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 3:46 AM

Reply to comment by JungleJones4124 in NASA delays flight of Boeing’s Starliner again, this time for parachutes by thawingSumTendies

SLS is still an embaressment old technology being pushed for political reasons.

JungleJones4124 t1_je8fvqp wrote on March 30, 2023 at 4:07 AM

I'm well aware of this fact. However, if they just scrapped it there would be no going to the moon for quite some time. You work with what you have, not what you want.

w0mbatina t1_je96742 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 9:49 AM

>However, if they just scrapped it there would be no going to the moon for quite some time.

That's quite a bold statement. Especially isnce scrapping SLS would have freed up a lot of resources to design and build something, you know, better.

JungleJones4124 t1_je9trsj wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:43 PM

Do you know how long it takes government to build something that goes to the moon with the budget NASA has? We'd be waiting for another 15 years. Quick case study: The Shuttle took a decade and it was only going to LEO and back.

Private space companies are definitely shaking things up, but they aren't the main driving force behind anything related the Moon at this time. They're not even in the ballpark for science only missions. NASA, still has a huge role to play. Unfortunately, that means the monstrosity that is SLS in here to stay for at least another decade - hopefully that can get phased out and the money redistributed accordingly.

Layer_4_Solutions t1_jeawef8 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 6:04 PM

Sending humans to the moon on old, expensive technology is not valuable.

Moon launches should be a way to innovate and get costs down to move us towards a more sustainable(eventually self-sustaining) space program.

obsesivegamer t1_je8jcfa wrote on March 30, 2023 at 4:42 AM

That I agree with, Its better than nothing but still makes me sad that after all this time we basically got a delta 4 heavy + with worse capabilities than the Saturn V and laughable economics.

NASA needs to get in gear

seanflyon t1_je8y4qk wrote on March 30, 2023 at 7:50 AM

They could go to the Moon without SLS. Here is a video describe some of the obvious options. Basically, it would be a lot cheaper to go to the Moon without SLS and it would take nearly zero development beyond what is already needed for the planed lunar landings.

Spddin t1_je9oqjy wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:04 PM

Old technology is also often practical. James Webb was delayed because of all the new technology that had to be worked out and same often happens with advanced military hardware like the F35 or the Zumwalt class destroyers.

wgp3 t1_jea29ga wrote on March 30, 2023 at 2:46 PM

But SLS also took twice as long as planned to reach first launch and twice as much money as planned. So we get no cutting edge technology and all of the same cost issues that come with new technology.