World News

1957 readers

312 users here now

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

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]

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [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.