this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
82 points (95.6% liked)

Space

1813 readers
129 users here now

A community to discuss space & astronomy through a STEM lens

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive. This means no harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  2. Engage in constructive discussions by discussing in good faith.
  3. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Also keep in mind, mander.xyz's rules on politics

Please keep politics to a minimum. When science is the focus, intersection with politics may be tolerated as long as the discussion is constructive and science remains the focus. As a general rule, political content posted directly to the instance’s local communities is discouraged and may be removed. You can of course engage in political discussions in non-local communities.


Related Communities

πŸ”­ Science

πŸš€ Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography


Other Cool Links


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Etterra@discuss.online 27 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh boy I can't wait for the SpaceX rocket carrying the uranium to explode on the launchpad.

[–] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Don't worry, the radiation will only be 3.6. No great, not terrible.

[–] itsathursday@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Please don’t fuck up the moon. It’s big and boring but it does a lot by just being there and doing β€œnothing”.

[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Literally how could we? It's a big rock, it has no ecosystem whatsoever, and any effort to live there someday would require environmentally sealed and radiation resistant structures. Degrading what it does to earth would require significantly altering it's mass or orbit, which would require an amount of energy that isn't in the cards for a long time to come even optimistically.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

someone could muck up the viewable side surface but it'd take forever to do that

it would be cool seeing a dot on it and knowing it's a human structure that's definitely doing energy in space wrong but still a cool endeavor

[–] burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 month ago

If a moon with city lights doesn't awaken the sci-fi nerd in everyone then I don't know what to say.

Let's just agree to keep the dark side dark for telescopes.

[–] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Trying to set the moon up as a military base or start an arms race to control the most of it, is kind of ruining it, but hey move fast and break things, is what led us to fuck things up here. Let's go and try it on the nearest celestial object too. That's the most logical thing to do.

And just because the technology and resource to manage it better isn't here yet, why not start early? That works out just as planned every time on earth. It would be a piece of cake on the moon.

President Donald Trump has prioritized U.S. dominance in what one senior NASA official described to Politico as "the second space race."

You guys never learn and it shows.

[–] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I expect the tides to cease and a lot of meteor showers in the future.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Lol, the US is currently contracting SpaceX, best known for making really cool, futuristic and expensive bombs.

By fast-track do they mean 500 years instead of 1000?

[–] Ptsf@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I feel that's not fair to some of the engineers at SpaceX. A prior head of NASA is quoted multiple times saying reusable first stages would be impossible, only 5-10 years before SpaceX landed 2 falcon heavy first stages simultaneously. Space is hard. A lot of test and production space vehicles do explode. Several of the challenger missions for example. Clearly Elon is a rube, but that doesn't imply everyone under him is... So maybe just try to make your point without disrespecting and disregarding the work of some of the brightest engineers on the planet?

[–] MTK@lemmy.world -2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is hard, yet the space shuttle program did just fine and didn't burn 3 billion dollars of tax payer money for spacex to say "well, it got off the launch pad before exploding, success!"

No hate to the engineers there, i'm sure any good they do is overshadowed by the nazi drug addict that employees them.

[–] remon@ani.social 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The space shuttle is literally the deadliest space vehicle to ever exist. And (adjusted for inflation) cost 1.5 billion dollar per launch ... what are you even talking about?

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

135 missions, only 3 failures with a total of 14 astronauts dead. Spacex had 9 launches and 5 failed.

[–] remon@ani.social 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

135 missions, only 3 failures with a total of 14 astronauts dead.

Yeah ... that is bad. In fact, the worst track record for any manned space vehicle.

Also the comparison to Starship is stupid as it's still in development. And Falcon 9 already beats the shuttle in everything but raw payload capacity. Hell, so did the Soyuz.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Falcon 9 is only partially reusable, it is not a reusable vehicle, only the booster. Can't really compare it to the space shuttle.

[–] remon@ani.social 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Neither was the space shuttle, so they are totally comparable

And even the reusable parts if the shuttle needed extensive and lengthy maintenance to fly again, something the falcon 9 has vastly improved upon.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

Oh come on, stop bashing SpaceX. They've been quite successful at roasting a banana over the Indian ocean, how many companies can make that claim?

[–] lostoncalantha@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

No honey the US is falling apart but it is nice to have dreams.

[–] simsalabim@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] jet@hackertalks.com 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Really expensive to get fuel there on a regular schedule

[–] winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ok but do we go to the moon on a regular schedule or have any reason to?

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 4 points 1 month ago

Science, research, observations, intelligence, etc.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Isn't it illegal to transport fissile material into space?

[–] cubism_pitta@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Illegal may be the incorrect way to say it

There are international treaties agreeing that countries will not do that

Voyager 1 used Nuclear power I believe

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

*used. it is still going. :)

[–] cubism_pitta@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

\m/ \m/

You are correct Voyager is metal

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I was a small child when it launched. Also, say the invention of heavy metal. Looks like both will outlast me.

[–] piccolo@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Many space probes and landers/rovers used RTGs. The treaty doesnt forbid nuclear fuel in space, only weapons of mass destruction.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Pretty much every inter planetary satellite has a reactor for power. Not all reactive material is considered fissile.

This is changing as solar panels get lighter and more efficient. Galileo studied Jupiter in the 90s and was powered by an RTG, but Juno and Europa Clipper are both using solar panels to study the same body.

[–] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 2 points 1 month ago

DJT: I am the law.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Don't even worry about it

[–] vane@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Blow the Moon.