That was really helpful, thanks! I will try bring up some of those points in the future. Makes sense that going to the moon is expensive especially given that NASA’s budget is so much smaller now.
Comment on How to I prove to someone that the U.S. moon landing wasn't staged?
DomeGuy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
a) Explain why the US hasn’t gone back in so long, and why with modern technology it seems so difficult?
Going to the moon is expensive and has essentially no direct revenue. There are no resources to be had on the moon that provide worthwhile efficiency over what we already have on earth, and most of the basic science was done by the Apollo missions.
How do you verify moon rocks without having actually been on the moon? How did scientists figure out what a moon rock looks like?
Getting moon rocks, which have a unique microscopic texture due to no water erosion, was one of those “basic science” bits I mentioned before. They don’t really prove the moon landing except that “they’re from the moon” is the simplest answer for why these rocks have that unique texture.
Why aren’t the old Apollo designs being reused for a moon landing? (by either the Americans or the Chinese)
Because thre 1960s were fifty years ago.
The industrial base to build an Apollo rocket isn’t there anymore than the industrial base to build a 1965 Buick skylark or an Atati 2600. You could throw money and rebuild all those factories, but it’d dramatically balloon the cost even before you start to recon with correcting the inevitable mismatch between the original spec and what your rebuilt factory can make.
(And even if we did just rebuild Apollo, we’d wind up with a rocket that didn’t have the advantage of 50 years of advancement.)
sbeak@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
ryathal@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
The Saturn V rocket was also massive overkill on power. It had about 50% more thrust than a falcon heavy that is currently being used for planned moon missions.