During a hearing of the House space subcommittee on Wednesday, the outlines of a battle over the future of NASA's Artemis Moon program emerged. Yet it was not a partisan fight over whether the Republican White House plan to land humans on the Moon by 2024 should or shouldn't happen. Instead, some members of both political parties questioned how the space agency planned to conduct the Artemis program.
These members, including Oklahoma Democratic representative and committee chair Kendra Horn, as well as Alabama Republican representative Mo Brooks, were particularly skeptical of private rockets in their comments and questions during the hearing. They also pressed NASA on why the agency is not moving more quickly with development of a powerful second stage upgrade for the agency's Space Launch System rocket. This "Exploration Upper Stage" would increase the amount of mass the rocket could send to the Moon from 26 tons to 37 tons.
Wednesday's hearing was notable because it appears to mark an escalation in an intense lobbying battle going on behind the scenes by some contractors—most likely led by Boeing—to kill NASA's proposed Lunar Gateway and instead accelerate funding for the Exploration Upper Stage.
...
What was surprising is that Horn and others at the hearing also appeared to be swayed by Doug Cooke's view that bypassing commercial rockets and the Gateway would lead to a simpler and faster lunar mission. "I believe there is value in developing commercial capabilities," she said toward the end of the hearing. However, she added, "I am concerned that the decisions are not being driven by what is most efficient or effective and what is most cost efficient."This is an interesting viewpoint given that commercial rockets cost $100 to $200 million, at most, versus the $1 billion to $2 billion cost of a single SLS rocket—not including the hundreds of millions of dollars, at a minimum, the agency would have to invest in Exploration Upper Stage development contracts with Boeing. Moreover, one of the commercial rockets—the Falcon Heavy—already exists and has flown three successful missions. Other boosters, including Blue Origin's powerful New Glenn rocket, should be ready to fly in two or three years. An SLS rocket with the better upper stage almost certainly wouldn't be ready by 2024, and NASA knows this.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 21 2019, @02:17PM (2 children)
You don't even scratch the surface with that accusation. General/President Eisenhower warned us not to trust the military industrial complex. Did we listen to the man?
(Score: 3, Informative) by khallow on Sunday September 22 2019, @03:30AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday September 23 2019, @04:17PM
Wow, he hit the nail on the head over 60 years ago. Too bad we never listened. His statements are merely a logical conclusion to what was going on and has continued.
From a gaming perspective. Sure, the loot boxes may only be cosmetic or in the case of Diablo 3, the people get a cut in the auction as well. The issue isn't that it can't work. The issue is that the developers are incentivized to "rig the game" / gear it towards making them more money. As opposed to gearing the game towards making it more fun, so that more people want to buy said game. Sure, they have to make it fun enough to attract people, but the pursuit of the almighty dollar really detracts from the experience.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"