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RIP Ingenuity: The Little Mars Helicopter Has Flown its Final Flight


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3 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

And not a single private company has yet to land anything on even the moon. Like...it's pretty obvious that if we want actual results we should be doubling or tripling NASA's budget.

 

I think you can root for both increased public spending on space stuff, and private ventures.  America would still be stuck hitching a ride to the ISS with Russia's Soyuz if NASA hadn't bitten the bullet and signed commercial contracts with Boeing and SpaceX.

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Just now, mclumber1 said:

 

I think you can root for both increased public spending on space stuff, and private ventures.  America would still be stuck hitching a ride to the ISS with Russia's Soyuz if NASA hadn't bitten the bullet and signed commercial contracts with Boeing and SpaceX.

 

Well...the only reason they had to "bite the bullet" is because they didn't have the funding to develop a successor to the Space Shuttle in a timely manner. It's like saying a local town had to bite the bullet and call on the military to fight a wildfire after the state and local country reduced their funding and manpower by 80%.

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7 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Well...the only reason they had to "bite the bullet" is because they didn't have the funding to develop a successor to the Space Shuttle in a timely manner. It's like saying a local town had to bite the bullet and call on the military to fight a wildfire after the state and local country reduced their funding and manpower by 80%.

 

Could NASA have developed a new rocket and capsule for a comparable amount of money that they spent on their contracts with Boeing and SpaceX?

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6 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

 

Could NASA have developed a new rocket and capsule for a comparable amount of money that they spent on their contracts with Boeing and SpaceX?

 

Likely a bit more money, but they would have likely used these companies (or others) anyway, that's what NASA has always done. But NASA would have had more direct control and involvement. There are some things better left to the good of society, and those things can cost more than if left to private venture—but the profits will be the public good, rather than money flowing into already-rich-people's pockets.

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