this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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Space

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Just repeating the past

Even non-MAGAs probably remember Trump as being heavily pro-NASA last time around, but all he wanted then was a splashy moon landing mission to recapture the PR magic of the 1960s space race. When it came to science that wouldn't dazzle his fans, he was the same as he is now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

This is really sad news, putting astro science on hold for 4 years straight.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

You see gene stealer cultist goal is to weaken a planet for the star gods. Also they don't want anyone to see them come. Cause if you see nids coming everyone is going to arm up.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Focussing on looking inwards perhaps?

Bahahahahahhaaaaa!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Gonna need microscopes for that

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 days ago

Ah man, NASA was pretty much the last thing cool thing about America.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago (17 children)

SpaceX was always a space scam. Now it's the only scam.

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[–] [email protected] 159 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I work on one of these telescopes. Got the news today thay they're trying to close Goddard, and the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, and basically all Earth observing satellite work. It would completely upend our ability to predict 7 day weather, extreme weather events like hurricanes, and make science basically inaccessible from space. I'm surprised they aren't moving the funding over to SpaceX entirely.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

less funding for you = more subsidies for Felon Musk.

[–] [email protected] 71 points 3 days ago (3 children)

It’s fucking heartbreaking to see, as an astronomy and astrophysics enthusiast.

At the same time, I hope that the loss in weather prediction capabilities leads to catastrophic damage to Mar a Lago and as many other of his properties as possible. And I admit that there’s a part of me that’s quite gleeful at the prospect of the maga-leaning parts of the country getting absolutely fucked by unexpected weather phenomena that will escalate in frequency and severity. Maybe it’ll render a bunch of those voters… unable to vote going forward, if you get my drift.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Some of them already think weather is a Democrat conspiracy .

It'd be both amazing and unsurprising to watch them not connect the cause-and-effect here.

It's truly incredible how many times that cult can blow off its own feet and refuse to take accountability for it.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (3 children)

It really sucks. I legit feel like I might get kicked out of the space industry bcz of the dumbass administration. I will end up in the private sector making rockets for space tourism, which isn't inspiring at all bcz, let's face it. Going into space and being a billionaire isn't all that special. But doing science for humankind, that's something to aspire too, and they're trying to take that away from us.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

There's so much more to the private sector than tourism rockets! Consider:

  • Cheap components that don't work

  • Cheap satellites that don't work

  • Cheap lunar landers that don't work

  • Pump-and-dump get-rich-quick schemes

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

For whatever it’s worth, I am quite sad that people like you are having their career motivations crushed by this idiocy. I wish I could help or move the needle in some way, because I think space exploration and pure science is fucking rad, but nobody gives a shit what engineers think anymore. They just plug us in to solve the problem just enough so that it’s an MVP and then don’t let us address any of the fucking tech debt. And I’m probably going off on a tangent here, but whatever. It’s Friday and I’m 4 beers deep.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

We’re aiming for the biggest protest in us history (yet) on the 19th.

Space can be part of it too.

https://www.fiftyfifty.one/

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

That's the whole point of SpaceX. Why have a space program when we can funnel endless money to a grifter?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This is awful. I’m so sorry.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago

Every weekend for the foreseeable future. A big event planned for April 19.

https://www.fiftyfifty.one/

(I know you surely knew all this, I’m just playing the part, for the benefit of the audience.)

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago (2 children)

If you're interested in space it's better to shift your gaze towards the ESA and CNSA. NASA isn't long for this world.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Don't forget ISRO.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago

Man, I just wanted to see humans on the moon in my life. NASA seemed like the best bet because they’re the only agency from the space race, with the recorded experience of doing long terms Spaceflight, still doing innovative things. Roscosmos hasn’t done much new since the soviets fell apart, even though we now know they had some wacky plans for things like Tri-propellant shuttles, and Energia was an amazing heavy lift vehicle that is basically just scrap metal at this point.

I thought Elon would be the reason we didn’t go to the moon because of starship being vaporware. Turns out Elon is the reason we’re not going to moon because he wants to cover up that starship is vaporware.

Shuttering NASA is a net loss not just for the USA but for the entire species. Everything from battery powered power tools, Velcro, the glass on our phones, the little safety grooves on highway off ramps, and a thousand other advancements not even including going to fucking space, can be traced back to NASA pushing human Spaceflight to its limit. Every dollar spent on Apollo generated something like 3 dollars in growth for the US economy because of all of the R&D that companies had to throw at the problem.

I only hope that either the ESA or CNSA can actually put humans on the moon. It was insane 50 years ago and it’s insane even today, but I still think that Armstrong’s first step onto the moon should go down as one of the most important moments in human history, the first time a human left earth and put his foot down on a different celestial body is just as important as the harnessing of fire or electricity. It should be the first step of many, not just a brief footnote that marks we were there.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The extra stupid thing is that they'll probably won't save anything in the next 4 years anyways with how long timelines are for space planning. They'll just waste an incredible amount of investment. This is just such petty and cruel retaliation against anything related to climate science.

They just enjoy smashing stuff others value for no reason.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Pressuring aerospace industry. Endless corruption & greed.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Oh right... Elon gets rid of all the competition and space startups that rely on NASA outsourcing their rockets, while he maintains his contracts they go bankrupt. Holy shit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yep, I do not understand how people cannot see how obvious this corruption and wealth theft is

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

So many terrible things are happening, people are overwhelmed and dazed and it's hard to see what is Kakistocracy and what is Kleptocracy / disaster capitalism. It's both and part of the strategy of course.

The only rational US news would be a call for revolution and overthrow of the regime. Any other news are therefor irrational and add to the confusion. Hence the confusion.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 3 days ago

Now we lost the space information and science race. Now, there won’t be sharing globally about scientific space breakthroughs. Now, those countries that do make those breakthroughs will sell us the information once it’s no longer relevant.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 3 days ago (4 children)

How did I have bad luck enough to end up in the stupidest timeline?

[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 days ago (4 children)

They shot that fucking gorilla. That is how.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 3 days ago

Of course they are

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