NASA selects SpaceX Starship system to land on moon - Discussion of Preparations

[bkp_duke]

Google wins cloud deal from Elon Musk's SpaceX for Starlink internet connectivity

Google has been building a network to connect its data centers for two decades. Now it's coming in handy for a cloud deal with SpaceX.

www.cnbc.com

Google Cloud teams up with SpaceX's Starlink for enterprise connectivity at network's edge | TechCrunch

SpaceX's bourgeoning Starlink satellite-based broadband internet service just got a big boost from a significant new partner: Google Cloud. Thanks to a

techcrunch.com

ZERO surprise here. We knew AWS was not even in contention for this, given the animosity between Musk and Bezos. Not a lot of love between Musk and Gates either, so that left just one of the big 3 cloud providers. I would have still liked to have seen SpaceX go with a smaller provider than one of these 3.

 

[Matias]

Bezos might have an argument if they had a launch vehicle that was actively ferrying clients and cargo . . .

But he doesn't, so he can piss off.

When is Starships Super heavy first launch due?

 

[HVM]

"In March 2021, Elon Musk indicated he was hopeful that the first orbital flight could be made as early as July 2021"

Starship SN11 prepares to fly as SpaceX pushes for Orbital flight this summer - NASASpaceFlight.com

Starship SN11 will re-attempt a Static Fire test Thursday – following a scrub on Monday…

www.nasaspaceflight.com

 

[bxr140]

ZERO surprise here. We knew AWS was not even in contention for this, given the animosity between Musk and Bezos. Not a lot of love between Musk and Gates either, so that left just one of the big 3 cloud providers.

Barely related, SES is leveraging Azure and will be co-locating mPower gateways with Azure locations.

 

[bkp_duke]

"In March 2021, Elon Musk indicated he was hopeful that the first orbital flight could be made as early as July 2021"

Starship SN11 prepares to fly as SpaceX pushes for Orbital flight this summer - NASASpaceFlight.com

Starship SN11 will re-attempt a Static Fire test Thursday – following a scrub on Monday…

www.nasaspaceflight.com

Meanwhile Bezo's competitor to even the Falcon 9 has not ferried passengers or cargo . . . anywhere. Kudos to them demonstrating it can land, but they don't have the flight history of the Falcon 9, and the New Glenn is much further behind development than Starship.

 

[bxr140]

Meanwhile Bezo's competitor to even the Falcon 9 has not ferried passengers or cargo . . . anywhere. Kudos to them demonstrating it can land, but they don't have the flight history of the Falcon 9, and the New Glenn is much further behind development than Starship.

Incompatible timelines not withstanding (NS came before F9), NS is not and was never intended as a F9 competitor. It was always an up-and-down thing, never orbital.

NG is a ~competitor with F9 in so far as the mass-price, which will likely be comparable.

 

[mspohr]

Congress fires warning shot at NASA after SpaceX Moon lander award

"This bill, in the main, is not supposed to be about space."

arstechnica.com

 

[Nikxice]

Have to hand it to Ballast Bill. He's stepping right up to play politics with the Alabama contingent for a HLS jobs program (Dynetics). Give Bill his budget funding request and eventually they'll get a lander, Jeff gets a lander, whatever. With Options from A to Z, everyone deserves a piece of the pie.

Not mentioned in this article, Bill went on a rant about China and the Moon, even filled with 8 by 10 color glossy photos of their recent lander on the lunar surface. I get that he's hoping to generate a sense of urgency, but it's tough trying to sell to a crowd more interested in generating jobs and feeding corporate donors. Meanwhile, NASA's collaboration and funding for SpaceX's Starship HLS continues on hold pending the outcome of the GAO decision on the fate of the two outstanding HLS protests.

NASA seeking more than $10 billion in infrastructure bill

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told House members May 19 that the agency is requesting more than $11 billion in an upcoming infrastructure and jobs bill.

spacenews.com

 

[Nikxice]

Sometimes gotta hand it to Bernie. Famous for railing against Amazon for not paying federal taxes. Here he's not mincing words when it comes to describing how he feels about Jeff and his billions. This is a picture of Bernie's most recent amendment filing. Designed to squash the 10 billion dollar pork bill introduced on behalf of BO and Dynetics, which is intended to breathe life into their HLS protest.

 

[e-FTW]

Bezos offering to invest $2B to get the contract… Why did he not do that at the outset? This was not supposed to cost you nothing Jeff…

Bezos says he is now willing to invest in a Moon lander—here’s why

"I think they realized it's why they lost."

arstechnica.com

 

[Nikxice]

There's mostly scathing comments associated with that BO ARS article. It's amusing that Jeff wants a lunar program so badly he'll now pay to play. His lander's "National Team" spreads the job wealth, but adds more processes within the larger Artemis program. Similar to SpaceX's Dragon 2 and Boeing's Starliner, I don't have an issue with developing additional commercial landers. But initially, the quickest way back to the moon is for NASA to focus on integrating their first choice lander alongside their primary contractor. In the 60's Grumman and NASA succeeded with the LM. Additional contractor burdens won't help to accelerate NASA's goal of returning to the moon this decade.

BO's ongoing problems with New Glenn and their ULA contract for BE-4 engines raise doubts about their lunar lander. The Blue Moon lander will need either New Glenn or a Vulcan rocket to reach lunar orbit. Starship is basically one program. It's time to keep things moving.

 

[mongo]

GAO has denied the protests of BO and Dynetics. NASA sole award of HLS phase 1 to SpaceX is confirmed.
Statement on Blue Origin-Dynetics Decision

 

[HVM]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1421155803223011333

 

[Cosmacelf]

GAO has denied the protests of BO and Dynetics. NASA sole award of HLS phase 1 to SpaceX is confirmed.
Statement on Blue Origin-Dynetics Decision

Pretty straightforward denial. SpaceX for the win!

 

[Nikxice]

Even at Origin, Jeff was feeling a little Blue.

 

[e-FTW]

Sigh...

https://blueorigin.com/blue-moon/national-team…

They can't even attack right (if they had used the correct scale, they would have made a stronger point imho):

https://twitter.com/x/status/1422953331622825993

 

[e-FTW]

Also, I don't think hatch height is such a great differentiator. Apollo LM's was 11.5 feet up, so...

And I should get out of this rat-hole, but I could not help but enjoy my time down here (yes, they considered using a rope):

What other options to egress the Apollo Lunar Module were considered, given the height of the LM hatch above the ground?

The egress hatch of the LM is almost 3.5 meters above the Lunar surface. The astronauts descended using a ladder, which is actually quite high above the ground (see also this question). Were any ot...

space.stackexchange.com

 

[Matias]

Sigh...

https://blueorigin.com/blue-moon/national-team…

They can't even attack right (if they had used the correct scale, they would have made a stronger point imho):

https://twitter.com/x/status/1422953331622825993

What is BO’s point with that picture anyway?

 

[Cosmacelf]

What is BO’s point with that picture anyway?

You know, I doubt they were trying to mispresent. I think the marketing department just screwed up and made a mistake. Either way, bad look.

 

[scaesare]

You know, I doubt they were trying to mispresent. I think the marketing department just screwed up and made a mistake. Either way, bad look.

I agree this is a likely application for Hanlon's Razor.