The rockets are fine. SpaceX has a team specifically designed to distract Musk and keep him away from the actual work on the rockets. Tesla didn't have that though. That's how we ended up with that lame presentation with the weird "S3XY" acromin. That was really the point I realized that he was just an idiot frat boy with too much money. He really is his own worst enemy.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 91 points 10 months ago (3 children)

the thing about spacex is everything they do is because of nasa and government.

the only thing spacex has going for it is the fact that they can spend a billion dollars exploding a rocket five times before it slightly works the sixth whereas the government can't do that.

[–] Bumblefumble@lemm.ee 78 points 10 months ago (2 children)

As someone who does know about this field, and absolute despise Musk, that's not quite true. SpaceX is very successful thanks to help from the US government, and despite the influence of Musk, but also because they are a team of very competent people who have actually innovated and pushed the boundaries of launch vehicles. To say they have nothing going for them and are being propped up by the government is not at all accurate, and they have been much more succesful than traditional government contractors.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 37 points 10 months ago (2 children)

To say they have nothing going for them and are being propped up by the government is not at all accurate

That isn't what they're saying though, is it? They're saying that SpaceX has the ability to fail more than NASA, because they're not a government organization funded solely by taxes.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Admittedly I think the biggest failures that hurt NASA were incidents when people, not rockets, blew up. It'll be interesting to see if things change if/when there is a death from a SpaceX rocket.

[–] jasondj@ttrpg.network 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

People die in work related incidents all the time. The only thing different about deaths from NASA incidents is that they are (usually) spectacular incidents (like massive explosions or cabin fires…not good things, just stunning) and high-profile.

SpaceX does well because they basically ignore Elon.

[–] Bumblefumble@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's definitely true. That should still not take away from the accomplishments of the SpaceX engineers. ULA had the same exact opportunities but completely wasted them.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Oh sorry yeah that was poorly worded. I don't mean to say that SpaceX engineers are failures, what they've accomplished is nothing short of incredible. But failure is an inevitable part of the engineering process of iterating and improving your solution. NASA doesn't have the luxury of quick iteration cycles like SpaceX does (comparatively), because each iteration means more money out of the taxpayers' pockets.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

very successful thanks to help from the US government

[–] Bumblefumble@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

Yes, it's a help, not the only thing they have going for them.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

At first, I was like, "now that the governments haven't pursued space for 20-30 years, I think it's great that the private sector can finally push for space exploration and inventions and space stuff."

But now...I don't really like the idea of Space X sending up and downing thousands of satellites including heavy metals through our atmosphere every year, just to keep a shitty proprietary network online.

It's my atmosphere, but it's not my network. Space X can fuck off my night sky for all I care.

Also in the next couple of years, they're expecting so many "retirements" of satellites that they can't guarantee safety for the people on the ground. They're literally expecting an "acceptable" number of people to die from this.

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/falling-spacex-satellites-faa-report-space-junk/

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/space-news/2023/10/19/faa-warning-falling-spacex-satellites-will-soon-pose-fatal-risk-for-earthlings/

Etc.

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 6 points 10 months ago

"‘The problem isn’t the Starlink satellites surviving, reentering, hitting somebody,’ says Moriba Jah, an associate professor at UT Austin. ‘The problem is other older objects.’"

[–] MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago

Boeing and Lockheed Martin also spent billions of government dollars blowing up rockets, but SpaceX is still cheaper and delivering faster.

Do not downplay their engineering accomplishments.

[–] Pringles@lemm.ee 19 points 10 months ago (2 children)

What's your source on the spacex team distracting him? I can't find anything supporting that. I do find some interviews from anonymous employees saying it's calmer now that he's so focused on twitter.

[–] winterayars@sh.itjust.works 29 points 10 months ago

Here's someone talking about it.

[–] sdoorex@slrpnk.net 17 points 10 months ago

There may some breaks in that armor if you look at their recent actions that sound a lot like Musk speaking through them.

[–] LillyPip@lemmy.ca 8 points 10 months ago

And yet they managed to obliterate a poorly-specced launchpad, causing massive damage to a nearby town and wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem.

I can’t remember NASA ever doing that.