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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • There were a lot of skeptics that the Falcon would fly, and be reusable, and it has dramatically reduced cost per kg to orbit.

    Also, I’m not sure where you got your Econ degree, and I’m not sure I care. Competitive contracts aren’t the same as subsidies. If the government says they’re going to do something, say build a tunnel, is it a subsidy to the construction company who wins the contract, or is it payment for services rendered? And actual subsidies, such as growing food that can’t be sold on the open market at the price the government is paying, can have benefits to the country, such as national security or funding soft power with other nations. So, is your big problem that the government shouldn’t be supporting space development, or should instead be doing it internally for more tax payer money? Are you against EVs being promoted by the government making the technology more feasible for car companies? If so, why are you pissed at Musk for taking advantage of these subsidies that one could argue help the country and the world, and not at least as pissed at the other car companies for not getting on board and doing what they could to also access those subsidies?


  • You keep proving that you have passion, but no facts to back it up. I’d be perfectly fine with SpaceX being nationalized, but Americans believe that’s communism. SLS is not only old tech, it’s old tech that isn’t being produced any more. Using existing supplies, they have at best 5 launches, at slightly less than has been spent by SpaceX on the entrie Starship program, for each one. If you want six, well, you have to reopen plants in over half of the states, as well as train staff, etc. Even if the next 5 cost as much as the 5 they can build now, and you’d be a fool to make that bet, it would still cost 10 times what SpaceX has spent so far.

    And no, I don’t consider competitive contracts to be subsidizing companies. And the reason SpaceX is doing as well as it is is likely because of people actively working to keep his hands off of it. This may be the only good thing Twitter has accomplished. As for the Dragon capsule ending, I’m pretty sure that technological cat was let out of the bag.


  • Only if the government keeps subsidizing them to do so by taxing the hell out of us

    If Starship cost $3 billion over its lifetime and was entirely funded by US taxes, it would cost, on average $10 per citizen. Note that that is over the lifetime of the project and not by year. Is this the taxing to hell you’re talking about? Not NASA’s $25 billion this year alone (and that’s one of the cheaper budget items)? Do you need to start a GoFundMe to help you out with that?

    Now how am I supposed to take you seriously when the easiest statement for you to fact check is so hyperbolically incorrect?