Brits in spaaaaaaccceeeee

[Valmy]

In general, though, it's conspicuous super wealth that makes me uneasy in general. And the billionaire space race is super conspicuous.

And my suspicion is it's all a plot for them to shoot off in a luxury chryogenic space yacht while we roam a climate-ravaged hellscape

Well we have one less Billionaire and we leap ahead in our space tech. Seems like a win-win!

[Valmy]

It is unfortunate we must now rely on billionaires for aerospace advancements.

It is. But if we wait around for the political will to surface again, we may not reach Mars before the Earth is swallowed up by the Sun.

[Tamas]

Uhm, if you look around you'll see NASA reactivating itself, Europe being more active, India doing stuff, China building a bloody space station and sending probes.

Plenty of things are happening. Yes, it may be a century or more before industrialisation of the solar system will reach a significant degree, but it has to start sometime, and it is starting now. 200 years from now people will look back at these coming decades like we now look at the Mayflower and the times of the first North American colonies.

[The Brain]

Space flight taking place that isn't paid from the public purse it truly horrible.

[Valmy]

Uhm, if you look around you'll see NASA reactivating itself, Europe being more active, India doing stuff, China building a bloody space station and sending probes.

Plenty of things are happening. Yes, it may be a century or more before industrialisation of the solar system will reach a significant degree, but it has to start sometime, and it is starting now. 200 years from now people will look back at these coming decades like we now look at the Mayflower and the times of the first North American colonies.

I think NASA is being empowered by the billionaires though. They now have significant private sector partners to work with.

[Valmy]

Space flight taking place that isn't paid from the public purse it truly horrible.

TEH HORRAH!!

[Tamas]

Uhm, if you look around you'll see NASA reactivating itself, Europe being more active, India doing stuff, China building a bloody space station and sending probes.

Plenty of things are happening. Yes, it may be a century or more before industrialisation of the solar system will reach a significant degree, but it has to start sometime, and it is starting now. 200 years from now people will look back at these coming decades like we now look at the Mayflower and the times of the first North American colonies.

I think NASA is being empowered by the billionaires though. They now have significant private sector partners to work with.

The point is, it goes way beyond bored billionaires finding new ways to piss away money.

[grumbler]

It is unfortunate we must now rely on billionaires for aerospace advancements.

It is. But if we wait around for the political will to surface again, we may not reach Mars before the Earth is swallowed up by the Sun.

We don't rely on billionaires for aerospace advancements; the billionaires are just the guys who run the companies collecting billions in tax dollars for R&D, with the exception of Branson, whose contributions to space flight are just PR.

There's something to be said about the superior visionary power of the individual over the bureaucrat, but that's nothing new.

[grumbler]

I think NASA is being empowered by the billionaires though. They now have significant private sector partners to work with.

You don't think that Boeing, Lockheed, Grumman, etc were significant private sector partners for NASA during the race to the moon?

[Valmy]

I think NASA is being empowered by the billionaires though. They now have significant private sector partners to work with.

You don't think that Boeing, Lockheed, Grumman, etc were significant private sector partners for NASA during the race to the moon?

Oh they were but in a different way. Those guys are assisting in government projects and are contractors. The SpaceX type guys are doing their own thing, but since they share common goals and a common area of interest.

But I am not some expert. It just seems like with this interest by private capital NASA is getting traction again. My perceptions and the reality could be substantially different.

[grumbler]

Oh they were but in a different way. Those guys are assisting in government projects and are contractors. The SpaceX type guys are doing their own thing, but since they share common goals and a common area of interest.

But I am not some expert. It just seems like with this interest by private capital NASA is getting traction again. My perceptions and the reality could be substantially different. 

Grumman built the entire lunar module, and North American the command and service modules, but you are correct that NASA has turned over all the systems integration to the prime contractor.  Blue Origin and SpaceX were bidding on the entire mission, not just pieces of it.

I think that the Space Shuttle demonstrated to NASA that it no longer had the visionary types to oversee large programs, and it is confining itself to funding and mission specifications.

[Jacob]

Space flight taking place that isn't paid from the public purse it truly horrible.

I thought a good amount of the billionaire spaceflight developments are being funded by contracts with NASA, the ESA and other agencies with public funding?

[Barrister]

Space flight taking place that isn't paid from the public purse it truly horrible.

I thought a good amount of the billionaire spaceflight developments are being funded by contracts with NASA, the ESA and other agencies with public funding?

I don't think Branson has gotten a dime (since his whole business model is for sub-orbital flight, which NASA has no interest in).

Bezos has spent billions of his own money (about $1 billion per year).  His company, Blue Origin, has partnered with ULA (United Launch Alliance, which itself is a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed-Martin) wherein Blue Origin is to provide engines to ULA's Vulcan rocket, so indirectly I guess it is getting some USAF money (rather than NASA), but indirectly, and still not enough to make up for the billions Bezos is pouring into it.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2001-2002, and again self-funded (or at least privately funded) for years.  He got $278 mil to help develop the Falcon 9 from NASA in 2006.  They now launch commercially for NASA but at much cheaper prices than any other launch provider.  Musk also self-funded the development of the Starship Mars spaceship until he recently got funding to turn it into a moon lander.

[Jacob]

Thanks for the details Beeb

I guess we could get into a semantic argument whether that's "a good amount" or not, but personally I'm okay with not doing that.

[Barrister]

Thanks for the details Beeb

I guess we could get into a semantic argument whether that's "a good amount" or not, but personally I'm okay with not doing that.

SpaceX has by far gotten the most government money - but they're also the ones providing valuable services to NASA in exchange for that money.  It's hard to argue that NASA hasn't gotten good value for their money.