Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Rethinking SLS

17 Comments

In the course of working on my Kickstarter project over the past several months, I’ve been examining the arguments in favor of the SLS program. In the course of doing so, I’ve finally come to realize that they aren’t just compelling, but irrefutable, really.

Dumbacher, Griffin, Cooke, Cook and King are right. It does take a lot of mass in orbit to get to Mars, and bigger rockets are clearly better. Sure, each flight will cost billions, but how can we put a price on national pride, and jobs in Huntsville, Promontory, Michoud and Titusville? The more I think about the hazards and complications of launching a lot of dinky rockets, and all that orbital assembly, the more I realize how risky it is, not just for our precious astronauts’ lives, but for the mission itself. And really, NASA just wouldn’t be NASA if it’s not building and launching its own giant rocket.

So I want to go formally on record as being fully supportive of this program, and I can’t wait for President Trump to come in next January to make space great again, with a yuuuuuuuge rocket, not those little dummy loser rockets that are always exploding on barges. #MakeSpaceGreatAgain

17 thoughts on “Rethinking SLS”

  1. Too obvious Rand, you need to pick a position or claim something that’s slightly plausible at first blush.

  2. Trump’s success with American voters probably surprises many of his countrymen, it’s no surprise at all though to the rest of the world. His is the philosophy that made America what it is today, an angry country full of angry people looking for ways to hurt each other – or better still, find some excuse to hate some foreigner, or just someone different to white male Christian Trump and his white male Christian fans, and for Americans hating is never enough, they have to act on their hatred, you know, “send in the marines and kill a load of those rag heads”.

    It’s all a bit like something I read in mad magazine: “Saddened by the slander of his good name Ivan the Terrible ordered the killing of another 100,000 peasants to make them stop calling him Ivan the Terrible.”

    American’s think they can get the rest of the world to love them through slaughtering foreigners.

    2. Andrew, perhaps you ought to think about this. I doubt there has ever been a country or society, anywhere in the world at any time in history with a significant disaffected population, where Trump’s populist shtick wouldn’t work to some degree. “The rest of the world” (which I take to just mean you) doesn’t have a clue.

      American’s think they can get the rest of the world to love them through slaughtering foreigners.

      Name an American who has actually thought that.

    4. His is the philosophy that made America what it is today, an angry country full of angry people looking for ways to hurt each other

      That must be some other America than the one I actually live in.

  3. Yes! Finally someone who knows about spaceflight and understands the importance of the SLS. These fine engineers at NASA deserve to be able to make a living. With so many jobs lost, at least someone understands how important it is to keep them working, whatever it costs. Plus there are politicians, decent men, who rely on the SLS for their districts, and need it to be able to keep doing the good that they do.
    Thank you so much – you have restored my faith in humanity and immeasurably brightened up my April Fool’s Day. Keep up the good work!

  4. For immediate release: Clinton2016

    The Hillary Clinton campaign has announced the hiring of Michael Griffin as its Science and Technology Czar. Mr. Griffin brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the campaign and will immediately begin formulating the Clinton space strategy. When asked for his vision of America’s future in space, he summed up the strategy going forward as “Apollo on Bath Salts”.

  5. A president with big hands needs a yuuuuuge rocket. Ideally both the tallest AND the thickest around. With a big pair of solids hanging below. And orange like his skin. SLS really is the perfect Trump project.

  6. I know I shouldn’t take this seriously, but I would rather see this work done by a 5- or 7-core Falcon Superheavy.

    What the central core of a 7-core Falcon would look like, I have no idea. And remember, Sputnik and Vostok used a 5-core launcher.

  9. The answer to minimum wage: maximum wage! Since $15/hr is a living wage we can keep SLS costs down by capping wages for anybody working on SLS to $15/hr. It’s a livig wage, after all, and would make the SLS the success we all expect.

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