Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Sign in to follow this  
Super Jamie

Growing non-government interest in spaceflight

Recommended Posts

John Carmack and team have won the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 2.

http://spacefellowship.com/2009/09/13/armadillo-aerospace-claim-level-2-ngllc-prize/comment-page-1/

Level 2 requires the rocket to fly for 180 seconds before landing precisely on a simulated lunar surface constructed with craters and boulders. The minimum flight times are calculated so that the Level 2 mission closely simulates the power needed to perform a real descent from lunar orbit down to the surface of the Moon. First place is a prize of $1 million while second is $500,000.

I think it's pretty rad that a private company can potentially land a craft on the moon. Admittedly, it takes a person with Carmack's wealth to get to that stage, but every step takes us further away from space travel being something only governments can afford.

There's been alot of interest in private/corporate space exploration recently, Richard Branson reckons his Virgin Galactic line of flights will be the first to offer commercial sub-orbital flights, eventually making a journey to space as common as any other flight you'd catch at the airport.

There have even been a couple of cases of people strapping cameras to weather balloons and taking earth photos from space, the most recent case was two MIT students with $148 of materials.

What are your thoughts on this? Where do you think it will go? How far do you think it will go? Will we see budget carriers jostling for our ticket to Mars to escape the replicants within our lifetime?

Share this post


Link to post

Nope, since everyone will be too poor by then to do anything other than survive.

If there'd been as much time, effort and money put into conquering space after the space race as there was during it, then yes we probably would have been colonising the moon and other planets during our lifetime. As it stands now, only the elites will get access to it in x decades once Earth is depleted enough for them to do something about leaving.

Share this post


Link to post

Is this done by the same people who did the X-prize? I was a little disappointed when Armadillo Aerospace didn't win the first one. You know, I think they might get more done if these independent companies pooled their resources. You know, if they were to unite into some sort of aerospace corporation.

Share this post


Link to post
Danarchy said:

You know, if they were to unite into some sort of aerospace corporation.

I see what you did there.

myk said:

sorry champ. If this were a football thread I may pay attention, but spaceflight is overrated as fuck.

Growing non-government interest in football?

Share this post


Link to post
The Ultimate DooMer said:

As it stands now, only the elites will get access to it in x decades once Earth is depleted enough for them to do something about leaving.

I know you meant this pessimistically, but that's pretty much how every modern form of transportation started out: as a convenience for the rich. Given that space flight is much less safe than air travel, it's going to take longer to iron out problems inherent with it.

Frankly, I'd rather see a few rich individuals burn up than many more middle class and poor people. At least in the case of rich people, they chose to travel into space and had the money and balls to do so. When space travel finally becomes safe enough to be a legitimate form of travel, poor people will almost have no choice but to use it, much like air travel. Even then, you'll see a distinction between the poor and rich as you do on airlines.

I'm glad there are people willing to go into space. We need people to test this out, even on a small, elite scale for this to be of any practical worth.

Share this post


Link to post
Snarboo said:

I'm glad there are people willing to go into space. We need people to test this out, even on a small, elite scale for this to be of any practical worth.

There's even talk of sending older astronauts on a one-way manned mission to Mars. Early informal surveys of NASA veterans has shown they would have no shortage of volunteers.

Share this post


Link to post

Carmack's approach to the problem reminds me of a lot of modern software development. I think he has the right idea. The only other companies making worthwhile progress on this are burning a lot more money than him. That's not necessarily bad, but only a few have tens of millions to burn.

Agencies like NASA will get nowhere as long as they're so risk averse. Half the things the shuttle was built for haven't been tried again since the mid-80s because some bunch of losers decided they're too dangerous (satellite repairs, untethered spacewalks, etc.). It's depressing.

Share this post


Link to post

I don't understand why we can (allegedly) get man to the moon with 1960s technology and less computing power than a pocket calculator, but haven't been able to get back there for ~40 years.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
×