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SpaceX launched its giant new rocket but explosions end the second test flight (apnews.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Looks like the ship got farther this time. Still, not a complete success

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

I think we may be measuring success very differently here. I'm not measuring it by how much money a billionaire can save, I'm measuring it via practical positive results for humanity. A billionaire vanity project is hardly going to benefit the rest of us, especially when all their progress is patented and others are prevented from using the same designs. Flights to the ISS still use old surplus Soviet rockets. Rockets designed decades ago. If SpaceX is at the forefront of humanity's space exploration, why are they lagging behind things we've already managed to achieve decades ago?

Don't fall for the techbro hype and spin around Musk. SpaceX is not doing anything other than privatising space travel and ensuring it is only accessible to the wealthiest of the wealthy. And it is doing it on the taxpayer's dime, but with none of the benefits to the taxpayer that programs like NASA provide.

EDIT: Oh shit, I challenged the word of our Lord and Saviour Elon Musk, and in my folly have summoned the techbros.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Playing devil's advocate - it looks like the main advancement made by SpaceX is the reusable rockets. Do you think this has a material benefit to space travel going forward?

In terms of the real economy, I would think this is beneficial.

Devil advocacy aside, I'm skeptical that reusable rockets should take priority over other possible areas of advancement; and of course, the inefficiencies and waste of the private sector should go without saying.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

It certainly has potential, but again, reusable rockets aren't an entirely new concept either (look at the space shuttle for example). My main problem is that they patent their designs, so any successes they have don't benefit humanity, they only benefit SpaceX's stockholders.