'It’s a continuing and dedicated attempt to achieve the 'Holy Grail' of rocketry.'
as soon as next monthWhile his blog post's tone ranges from reserved enthusiasm to full-on SpaceX fanboyism, the NASA engineer makes an important point: NASA isn't ready for Starship.
"Starship matters," Handmer writes. "It’s not just a really big rocket, like any other rocket on steroids. It’s a continuing and dedicated attempt to achieve the 'Holy Grail' of rocketry, a fully and rapidly reusable orbital class rocket that can be mass manufactured." He was also somewhat excoriating toward his employer, predicting that Starship is going to render many of the agency's grand ambitions moot.
"Artemis will continue to limp awkwardly on with occasional half-hearted press releases, Eric Berger scoops, and middling budgets," he wrote. "At some point Starship will demonstrate an automated Lunar landing and return with a few tonnes of Moon rocks and either NASA will have branding rights, or they won’t."
The NASA employee argues that Starship operates on a completely different level than any rocket coming before it.For instance, he says, thanks to its tremendous capacity, a 1000-person base could be constructed on the surface of the Moon.He even goes on to argue that NASA's Artemis program, with the goal of returning astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo missions, isn't designed to fully take advantage of what Starship has to offer.
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