NASA expects humans to live on the Moon very soon.

[Lilith7]

Within the next decade in fact. Mainly because a base there could be needed for further scientific missions. 

I suppose its possible, but when the expense is considered there are far more important things we could use that funding for. Ending world poverty would be a good start, & once our world has become a better & fairer place then we could look again at space exploration.


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-63688229

[king1]

a lot of technological advances have come from the space race though, so putting the brakes on it could stifle that

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Lots of benefits... for some. At a cost to the lunar environment and to ours, in the lost opportunities left by the space race...

[Lilith7]

a lot of technological advances have come from the space race though, so putting the brakes on it could stifle that

Well, yes we have had advantages from the space race. 

But when we still have people dying of hunger in some places while in other places some dine on caviar & gold leaf (yep, really) then I'd say that we'd do better to clean up our planet & fix the inequality, & then we can see what other benefits may come from the space race - preferably, things which can benefit us all rather than just the fortunate few.

[nzoomed]

Well with the SLS rocket successfully launching it is a good sign for the space program as far as NASA goes anyway, its an expensive rocket and likely wont see much future use if starship is successful, but at least we have the ability to put heavy payloads into lunar orbit for the time being until Elon gets his rocket up and running which if we are lucky, we will see the first starship launch by Xmas!

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Well with the SLS rocket successfully launching it is a good sign for the space program as far as NASA goes anyway, its an expensive rocket and likely wont see much future use if starship is successful, but at least we have the ability to put heavy payloads into lunar orbit for the time being until Elon gets his rocket up and running which if we are lucky, we will see the first starship launch by Xmas!

Bit of a misnomer, seeing the only star we can reach is our own.

[nzoomed]

a lot of technological advances have come from the space race though, so putting the brakes on it could stifle that

Well, yes we have had advantages from the space race. 

But when we still have people dying of hunger in some places while in other places some dine on caviar & gold leaf (yep, really) then I'd say that we'd do better to clean up our planet & fix the inequality, & then we can see what other benefits may come from the space race - preferably, things which can benefit us all rather than just the fortunate few.

Maybe so, but we have had huge advances in medicine due to research that is happening on the ISS and studies to the human body.
Its unfortunate that poorer countries dont see much of the benefits, but things are slowly improving.
We have had technology developed for recycling wastewater on the ISS that can give benefits back on earth in developing countries where they need water sanitization, etc.

The most important thing is that the days of governments wasting money on expendable rockets and other schemes designed to put money in the pockets of a few who run these rocket companies is going to be short lived once private enterprise manages to dominate the market.
SpaceX is already saving the US govt money every time they are used to put a payload into space.
The billion dollar SLS rocket will be retired once starship proves itself useful. Its reusable and its launch costs is a tiny fraction of an SLS launch.

[nzoomed]

Well with the SLS rocket successfully launching it is a good sign for the space program as far as NASA goes anyway, its an expensive rocket and likely wont see much future use if starship is successful, but at least we have the ability to put heavy payloads into lunar orbit for the time being until Elon gets his rocket up and running which if we are lucky, we will see the first starship launch by Xmas!

Bit of a misnomer, seeing the only star we can reach is our own.

Likely inspired by star trek with a catchy name akin to starship enterprise or something.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

PR to convince a predominantly disinterested world?

[Lilith7]

Well, yes we have had advantages from the space race. 

But when we still have people dying of hunger in some places while in other places some dine on caviar & gold leaf (yep, really) then I'd say that we'd do better to clean up our planet & fix the inequality, & then we can see what other benefits may come from the space race - preferably, things which can benefit us all rather than just the fortunate few.

Maybe so, but we have had huge advances in medicine due to research that is happening on the ISS and studies to the human body.
Its unfortunate that poorer countries dont see much of the benefits, but things are slowly improving.
We have had technology developed for recycling wastewater on the ISS that can give benefits back on earth in developing countries where they need water sanitization, etc.

The most important thing is that the days of governments wasting money on expendable rockets and other schemes designed to put money in the pockets of a few who run these rocket companies is going to be short lived once private enterprise manages to dominate the market.
SpaceX is already saving the US govt money every time they are used to put a payload into space.
The billion dollar SLS rocket will be retired once starship proves itself useful. Its reusable and its launch costs is a tiny fraction of an SLS launch.

I hope that you're right about govts wasting money, & I'd like to think that they won't just find something else to waste funding on when it should be used to help fix inequality, & cleaning up the planet. But given the history of govts wasting money, I won't hold my breath waiting.

[Zurdo]

You don't need old fashioned expensive rockets - you need Spin Launch !!!

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I wonder how much each launch contributes to climate change?

[king1]

I wonder how much each launch contributes to climate change?

hopefully NASA are offsetting their carbon emissions

[Oldfellah]

So many negative comments, imagine if by being there the answer to ending world hunger came about or the answer to our environment was answered the end to old age , shit ill be dead by then, scratch that one lol but so many advantages by being there than not being there in my opinion.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I wonder how much each launch contributes to climate change?

hopefully NASA are offsetting their carbon emissions

Ha! Another PR scam designed to make money for the few while hoodwinking the rest...

Political humbuggery...

[Oldfellah]

Ill have the Humbug but Im not too keen on the Buggery 

[nzoomed]

I wonder how much each launch contributes to climate change?

Well the SLS rocket uses hydrogen as its propellant in the first and upper stage, so it only produces water.
The SRBs use largely aluminium and ammonium perchlorate with a synthetic rubber like material as a binder.
The SRBs likely produce some CO2, but its probably insignificant.