Comments by "Archangel17" (@MDP1702) on "neo"
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+Nexus
There are differences between NASA and space x that makes comparing them stupid.
1) Nasa's goals are set by the government (president) and might change every 4-8 years, this might not sound like much, but just as in the energy sector, ..., this is fast. This while companies of space x don't need to change their visions/goals, unless they want to. And if they change visions/goals it's probably an extension rather than a complete overhaul.
2) Nasa is funding much more with this 18-19 billion a year than just the development of a rocket (what spacex basically does with around 1 billion). They also need to fund satellites, space station, other projects, ...
3) Nasa is government funded to do thingd that don't make money, basically to turn money into scientific advancement, spacex's goal is to eventually make profit (if they don't already)
probably some other reasons why a comparison is bad, but I can't directly think of them. So yes it's ineffective, but it's not necessarily nasa's fault, but also the government. If they would allow NASA to set it's own goals/visions (with oversight ofcourse) they might be much more effective.
Nasa doesn't make money from launches, every launch they do, they pay for. That's one of the reasons why private companies catch up and seem to do much better than nasa (altough spacex seems to be doing great ofcourse in what they do).
Nasa's mission parameters shouldn't be focused on designing and building rockets, because others can do that cheaper (demand for it by many more people than just nasa, so unless nasa is also going to go for this market and not just for themselves, they'll always be lagging behind), but should focus on things that at this moment don't directly seem profitable (exploration, ...). Going to the moon didn't make them money, nevertheless that was an important milestone, getting into space for the first time didn't make money (or anything else), but was essential for how we live our lives now. That's what government agencies like this do, seek the boundary, push them further, even if there is no direct apparent profit (in terms of money).
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