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Marmilo and 4KidsOneCamera. This one is for you.
Hmmm. I wanted to say I don't "hate" SLS, but I was sitting here thinking of how to word it so.
And realised I couldn't.
So yeah. I do hate SLS.
I hate its lack of imagination and ambition. I hate the stolen parts, the delays, the budget over-run, the design. I hate the fact that it is less capable than the rocket it is replacing and the system it is stealing from.
But what I hate most about the Space Launch System, the thing that tears my soul above all other things about it is this.
It is necessary.
Because without it, NASA has less invested in rocketry than Scotland.
Let that sink in.
NASA, the pioneers who turned small steps into giant leaps and outright winners of the Space Race, would be behind Scotland in terms of rocket capability if it wasn't for its back catalogue of old parts and SLS. Running that by myself in my head whilst typing this, I couldn't believe it. Surely not?
Well, if you know of one that I (and google) don't, then by all means tell me.
But, what has this got to do with Starship?
Everything.
Now I can't comment on the launch system itself in absolute technical terms, purely because even SpaceX aren't sure how it will perform yet. They've got ideas, predictions and design requirements, but nothing hard, set in stone yet. So to compare it in terms of mass to orbit or launch weight is ultimately futile.
However, to compare it in terms of why I despise SLS is easy. (All points made below assume SpaceXs current claims become true)
There is no lack of imagination or ambition. As a design, it looks like every rocket every 6yr old boy has ever drawn crossed with a DeLorean. I thought it was a fictional fan-art when I first seen it. It's not just gonna be practical, it's gonna look fucking cool doing it. As a project, it doesn't get more ambitious than changing the world.
Well, actually it does. Starship isn't designed to change this world. It's designed to allow us to change another world.
The entire system is completely bespoke. The engines are unique, the launch booster, Starship itself carries nothing in from another launch system. It's not a copied hash of anything other than being a flying pop culture reference.
Yeah, it's been delayed some, but they are building it new, from scratch. And very little of what they are doing has been done before.
Then we come onto capabilities. In terms of payload to orbit, 100t+ (according to the SpaceX website I checked an hour ago) isn't gonna set the world on fire. But that's cos you're thinking about it wrong. Starship isn't just a rocket, it's a rocket / spaceplane / station / lander all in one package.
As a rocket, total delivery mass to orbit (including itself) obliterates the current payload record held by Saturn V.
As a spaceplane, it's capable of delivering at least 5 times more mass than the Space Shuttle could to LEO.
As a space station, a fully fueled Starship sat in LEO post re-fuel will weigh more than and be more self sufficient with crew for longer than the International fucking Space Station.
As a lander, it combines a go anywhere, take whatever you need, land on anything, live for as long as it needs to and come back again ability that nothing else is even contemplating doing.
Want to talk ambition? Imagine making a thing that can simultaneously replace Saturn V, the International Space Station, the Space Transport System, Space Launch System, Gateway and the Artemis lander, be better than all of these at what they do, do it fully re-useable and make it cheaper per kilo than shipping things by air freight on Earth.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a SpaceX fan boy. I'm sick and bloody tired of the thousand Starship clones people make/copy (make your own rockets you swines) (I say this as 4kids posts a revamped Starship on the forum, ooops), nothing is for certain yet of what it can actually do and regardless of if it does, for me the Saturn V will always be king.
Don't @ me, it just fucking is. And any comments to the negative of this is punishable by decree exterminatus.
But in my unbiased, objective opinion, Starship is gonna sit up there with Concorde, Saturn V and the Hadron Collider as examples of engineering brilliance for generations to come.
Hmmm. I wanted to say I don't "hate" SLS, but I was sitting here thinking of how to word it so.
And realised I couldn't.
So yeah. I do hate SLS.
I hate its lack of imagination and ambition. I hate the stolen parts, the delays, the budget over-run, the design. I hate the fact that it is less capable than the rocket it is replacing and the system it is stealing from.
But what I hate most about the Space Launch System, the thing that tears my soul above all other things about it is this.
It is necessary.
Because without it, NASA has less invested in rocketry than Scotland.
Let that sink in.
NASA, the pioneers who turned small steps into giant leaps and outright winners of the Space Race, would be behind Scotland in terms of rocket capability if it wasn't for its back catalogue of old parts and SLS. Running that by myself in my head whilst typing this, I couldn't believe it. Surely not?
Well, if you know of one that I (and google) don't, then by all means tell me.
But, what has this got to do with Starship?
Everything.
Now I can't comment on the launch system itself in absolute technical terms, purely because even SpaceX aren't sure how it will perform yet. They've got ideas, predictions and design requirements, but nothing hard, set in stone yet. So to compare it in terms of mass to orbit or launch weight is ultimately futile.
However, to compare it in terms of why I despise SLS is easy. (All points made below assume SpaceXs current claims become true)
There is no lack of imagination or ambition. As a design, it looks like every rocket every 6yr old boy has ever drawn crossed with a DeLorean. I thought it was a fictional fan-art when I first seen it. It's not just gonna be practical, it's gonna look fucking cool doing it. As a project, it doesn't get more ambitious than changing the world.
Well, actually it does. Starship isn't designed to change this world. It's designed to allow us to change another world.
The entire system is completely bespoke. The engines are unique, the launch booster, Starship itself carries nothing in from another launch system. It's not a copied hash of anything other than being a flying pop culture reference.
Yeah, it's been delayed some, but they are building it new, from scratch. And very little of what they are doing has been done before.
Then we come onto capabilities. In terms of payload to orbit, 100t+ (according to the SpaceX website I checked an hour ago) isn't gonna set the world on fire. But that's cos you're thinking about it wrong. Starship isn't just a rocket, it's a rocket / spaceplane / station / lander all in one package.
As a rocket, total delivery mass to orbit (including itself) obliterates the current payload record held by Saturn V.
As a spaceplane, it's capable of delivering at least 5 times more mass than the Space Shuttle could to LEO.
As a space station, a fully fueled Starship sat in LEO post re-fuel will weigh more than and be more self sufficient with crew for longer than the International fucking Space Station.
As a lander, it combines a go anywhere, take whatever you need, land on anything, live for as long as it needs to and come back again ability that nothing else is even contemplating doing.
Want to talk ambition? Imagine making a thing that can simultaneously replace Saturn V, the International Space Station, the Space Transport System, Space Launch System, Gateway and the Artemis lander, be better than all of these at what they do, do it fully re-useable and make it cheaper per kilo than shipping things by air freight on Earth.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a SpaceX fan boy. I'm sick and bloody tired of the thousand Starship clones people make/copy (make your own rockets you swines) (I say this as 4kids posts a revamped Starship on the forum, ooops), nothing is for certain yet of what it can actually do and regardless of if it does, for me the Saturn V will always be king.
Don't @ me, it just fucking is. And any comments to the negative of this is punishable by decree exterminatus.
But in my unbiased, objective opinion, Starship is gonna sit up there with Concorde, Saturn V and the Hadron Collider as examples of engineering brilliance for generations to come.
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