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posted by martyb on Friday March 09 2018, @03:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the pork-is-expensive dept.

Trump on Falcon Heavy: "I'm so used to hearing different numbers with NASA"

During a cabinet meeting on Thursday inside the White House, President Donald Trump called attention to several model rockets on the table before him. They included an Atlas V, a Falcon 9, a Space Launch System, and more. The president seemed enthused to see the launch vehicles. "Before me are some rocket ships," the president said. "You haven't seen that for this country in a long time."

Then, in remarks probably best characterized as spur of the moment, the president proceeded to absolutely demolish the government's own effort to build rockets by noting the recent launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket. He cited the cost as $80 million. (The list price on SpaceX's website is $90 million.)

"I noticed the prices of the last one they say cost $80 million," Trump said. "If the government did it, the same thing would have cost probably 40 or 50 times that amount of money. I mean literally. When I heard $80 million, I'm so used to hearing different numbers with NASA.''

NASA has not, in fact, set a price for flying the SLS rocket. But Ars has previously estimated that, including the billions of dollars in development cost, the per-flight fees for the SLS rocket will probably be close to $3 billion. Indeed, the development costs of SLS and its ground systems between now and its first flight could purchase 86 launches of the privately developed Falcon Heavy rocket. So President Trump's estimate of NASA's costs compared to private industry does not appear to be wildly off the mark.

[*] SLS: Space Launch System

Related: Maiden Flight of the Space Launch System Delayed to 2019
WFIRST Space Observatory Could be Scaled Back Due to Costs
Safety Panel Raises Concerns Over SpaceX and Boeing Commercial Crew Plans
After the Falcon Heavy Launch, Time to Defund the Space Launch System?
Trump Administration Budget Proposal Would Cancel WFIRST
Leaning Tower of NASA
NASA Moving to Scale Back the Space Technology Mission Directorate


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  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by aristarchus on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:55AM (8 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:55AM (#650412) Journal

    Maybe, just maybe, they are saying, "khallow, you are being a dick, and the first rule is, 'don't be a dick'." Or, maybe they are saying, you have your ideologically based opinion that is completely false, and you are only generating noise, so we are preventing you from doing that. Or, maybe, they were saying, as often we do here on SoylentNews as well, "khallow, you are a shill. How much does Exxon pay you to post here?" Censorship? Hardly. Not a matter of a different opinion, a matter of being a dick, spewing disonance, or shilling for corporations. These exclude one from good faith debate of the issues.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:21AM (4 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:21AM (#650443) Homepage Journal

    The first rule of global warming conspiracy is, don't talk about global warming conspiracy.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:43AM (3 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:43AM (#650456) Journal

      You have broke character. It is now apparent to all and sundry that you are not, in fact, the realDonaldTrump. You must be a fake real Donald Trump, which is strangely apropos. The President is Virtue Signaling! He is a covert cuckservative SJW New York Real Estate Developer, and Slum Lord. But we knew that, already.

      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 10 2018, @10:31AM (1 child)

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday March 10 2018, @10:31AM (#650486) Homepage Journal

        I'm playing myself. I'm playing a WINNER. I'm always myself. And I always win. So I'm always in character.

      • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:17AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:17AM (#650792)

        So, Donald has a broke character, and you have a broke dick. You have something in common!

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:59AM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:59AM (#650461) Journal

    Censorship? Hardly.

    Words have meaning. Censorship [oxforddictionaries.com]:

    The suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

    Banning someone suppresses their speech. Thus it is censorship.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday March 10 2018, @11:35AM (1 child)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday March 10 2018, @11:35AM (#650494) Journal

      No, it is not, since the obvious rebuttal is that you still are spouting your mothership's madness here on SoylentNews! Those fine folks over at ArsTechnica, on the other hand, do not owe you a platform from which to broadcast your dark master's propaganda, khallow, as well you know. You need to pay for that kind of platform, or you end up down here with the trolls, who will rip you a new one seven ways to Sunday. Not to mention that what you're selling has no traction in a place like this. Or did you think that your very special opinion has some right to be expressed? Who's the snowflake now, huh?

      • (Score: 1, Troll) by khallow on Saturday March 10 2018, @03:06PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @03:06PM (#650522) Journal
        The obvious rebuttal is that's two straw men arguments.