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Originally Posted by DaFace
I get where he's coming from. Things were pretty stagnant for a long time. But what it comes down to is that cost is the barrier to doing crazier stuff, so reusability is as important as the general design.
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Exactly. It's commercial, so everything comes down to the financial. There's not really anything inspiring there, to me. Which is what I think's been missing since the mid-70's and the end of the Apollo program. Because while I enjoyed the spectacle of the launches and the missions, I didn't like that we wasted an entire generation on the space shuttle, and I'm not sure we're doing much new now. And I don't know what this business version of the space race is going to do for us in terms of space exploration moving forward. Although I think the advances of the Chinese and Indian space programs could spur the US as a nation to do more. Although maybe not with fiscal conservatives in change of the purse strings.
I realize I'm saying this the same week we see the first pictures of Ultima Thule.