Technology

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[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works -3 points 4 months ago (8 children)

Dude, you realize the whole 'going to the moon' thing was just a way to convince the public to fund ballistic missile technology? And the whole reason for the shuttle was to steal Russias satellites? One of the biggest use cases for space is war. Space travel won't feed anyone.

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[–] robear@lemmy.zip 22 points 4 months ago (5 children)

We can already feed everyone. We just choose not to. Space travel has nothing to do with it, but we should do it anyway.

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[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I'm for space travel but I think the commercialization of space will benefit a very few.

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[–] dzsimbo@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Not if we have gay space-communism and anyone and their mother can use the skytrain (my colloquial name for a space elevator).

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[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If you like space elevators you'll love orbital rings. Literal train into the sky!

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[–] dzsimbo@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

Love 'em! I think one of Banks' Culture books even has a river running through one. I really believe it's more a matter of when and not if. We probably won't see one, unless longevity treatments become a thing.

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[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 2 points 4 months ago

Not Banks Orbitals, which are amazing and a fair way into the future, but orbital rings. They're another launch system like space elevators, but have some advantages and drawbacks.

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[–] cy888@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Ballistic missile tech already existed.

It was modified for use in the Mercury program.

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[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Dude, you realize the whole ‘going to the moon’ thing was just a way to convince the public to fund ballistic missile technology?

And this was true for both sides of the 1960s Space Race.

Sputnik 1 was carried into space by the Soviet Sputnik rocket (an adaptation of the R-7 Semyorka Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) on October 4, 1957 source
Yuri Gagarin was carried into space on April 12, 1961, by a Vostok 8K72K rocket. The Vostok 8K72K was a three-stage liquid-fueled launch vehicle derived directly from the Soviet Union's R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) source

There was fierce competition inside the USSR for which rocket technology would be best used for weapons. The whole "exploration" or "civilian use" thing on both sides (USA/USSR) was just window dressing for weapons programs in space.