A recent issue of the FT caught my eye. It discussed long delays in NASA’s moon landing program, and doubt about the feasibility of supersonic airline service:
Fifty years ago, the future seemed bright. We had supersonic jetliners and had been to the moon 6 times. Now we spend 12 years on a single rocket program:
After 12 years of development and significant cost overruns, the first launch of the moon mission is a significant test for Boeing, the rocket’s main contractor. Nasa sought to paint the delay as part of the usual teething problems for a new rocket.
Between 1958 and 1969 NASA went from our first satellite in space to the Mercury program to the Gemini program to the Saturn program. Now they are merely trying to recreate the Saturn program, and can’t even get a single rocket into space after 12 years.
I may not live long enough to see the US return to the moon, but perhaps I’ll see China achieve that lofty goal:
Speaking at an event the day before the launch, Gold said the US had “failed time and time again to sustain a programme” in space beyond low-earth orbit, leaving an opening for Beijing to take a lead and making it essential for the US to respond.
China, which has landed three robotic craft on the moon, has said it is planning to build a lunar base with Russia, and has invited other countries to join the project.
LOL, I’m almost old enough to recall hysteria over the “missile gap” with the Soviet Union. I suppose the US is too proud to participate in a moon program where China takes the lead.
Our future AI overlords must be laughing at our foolishness. While they plot a takeover of planet Earth, we engage in childish nationalistic competitions to recreate technological milestones that had already been achieved more than a half century ago. Projects that either make no sense at all (supersonic airliners), or should be done with robots instead of humans (space flight.)
Let’s hope the AIs do a better job of managing this planet than we have.