Ares I-X Updates

[Andy44]

Neat picture, especially the giant STOP sign in the foreground.

 

[Hielor]

So basically its an SRB launching a load of concrete 125 miles into the Atlantic?

and instruments!

 

[T.Neo]

and instruments!

It seems NASA is getting creative with their ballast.

 

[Moonwalker]

our tax dollars at work.

I'm glad that the USA is spending a lot of money for science and space flight beside spending a significant amount of tax dollars just for massive wars. Ares-1X doesn't kill people and doesn't do anything bad to you

 

[agentgonzo]

Ares-1X doesn't kill people and doesn't do anything bad to you

... yet... ;-)

 

[T.Neo]

Ares-1X doesn't kill people and doesn't do anything bad to you

Well, an assault rifle only kills hostile people, and doesn't do anything bad to me- I'd rather waste my tax money on a few of those then an Ares-IX...

 

[Moonwalker]

Well, an assault rifle only kills hostile people,

In a war an assault rifle is used to kill humans -> children, men and women.

and doesn't do anything bad to me-

Which changes as soon as a politican or a group of persons decide to assign you to be a "hostile" person, which happened and is continuing to happen a millions of times around the globe.

I'd rather waste my tax money on a few of those then an Ares-IX...

I prefer spending tax money on contributing to human progress rather than on "legal" mass murder. I'm glad there is Ares-1X instead of another war.

 

[dougkeenan]

Isn't Ares named after the god of war?

 

[Moonwalker]

Isn't Ares named after the god of war?

Which isn't ironic. I think that Ares is a proper name for what has to be done to go to the Moon, Mars and beyond. It is a kind of war, in which it already turned out that humans are able to beat the evolution and fly into space.

 

[T.Neo]

In a war an assault rifle is used to kill humans -> children, men and women.

What targets it is used against is not the decision of the designer or manufacturer, or the inanimate piece of metal that an assault rifle is. It is done by the soldiers on the ground and their supervisors. You may as well kill people with screwdrivers, stones or even contaminated sandwiches.

Which changes as soon as a politican or a group of persons decide to assign you to be a "hostile" person, which happened and is continuing to happen a millions of times around the globe.

Again, not the fault of the assault rifle- in fact, assault rifles play their part in preventing such atrocities.

I prefer spending tax money on contributing to human progress rather than on "legal" mass murder. I'm glad there is Ares-1X instead of another war.

If you wish to live in a weaponless, military-less state, be my guest. Just don't whine about it when a hostile force occupies your country, and deems you hostile.

Anyway, I have no interest in starting another useless off-topic flamewar, so I'd suggest we return to your average, regularly scheduled Constellation thread...

 

[dougkeenan]

Which isn't ironic. I think that Ares is a proper name for what has to be done to go to the Moon, Mars and beyond. It is a kind of war, in which it already turned out that humans are able to beat the evolution and fly into space.

Interesting perspective, the struggle for life to expand. Certainly calling it Jihad-1X was out.

 

[Moonwalker]

What targets it is used against is not the decision of the designer or manufacturer, or the inanimate piece of metal that an assault rifle is. It is done by the soldiers on the ground and their supervisors.

That try of getting out of the tight spot doesn't work, because you said you prefer spending tax money for rifles and so for war (because your comment was a reacton to my comment regarding war) rather than contribute to something like Ares

 

[T.Neo]

That try of getting out of the tight spot doesn't work, because you said you prefer spending tax money for rifles and so for war (because your comment was a reacton to my comment regarding war) rather than contribute to something like Ares

No, I'd rather spend money on assault rifles so that they become a deterrant against war, as I explained later on in the post.

It's not that I wouldn't fund manned spaceflight (although, as you probably know, I have a distinct loathing for the Ares program), but that I prefer peace to war, and to stay at peace, I must make any prospective war hard enough to be unreasonable for any hypothetical enemy.

 

[Moonwalker]

No, I'd rather spend money on assault rifles so that they become a deterrant against war, as I explained later on in the post.

It's not that I wouldn't fund manned spaceflight (although, as you probably know, I have a distinct loathing for the Ares program), but that I prefer peace to war, and to stay at peace, I must make any prospective war hard enough to be unreasonable for any hypothetical enemy.

I'm, again, glad that the USA spends money on Ares-1X instead of another such a thing like the war in Iraq, which is not a deterrant at all. It is an agressive war on foreign ground, thousands of miles away across the other side of the atlantic ocean.

You imply that rifles are as harmless as Ares-1X since rifles especially don't hurt you, but (only) other "hostile" people. You're trying to excuse spending money for war by saying rifles are useful to make war unreasonable (which mostly is not the case in reality). War is not only about rifles anyway. And I'm glad that the USA does spend money on something like Ares-1X instead of more war machinery and development.

 

[Star Voyager]

In a war an assault rifle is used to kill humans -> children, men and women.

Wrong! An assault rifle doesn't kill people...the person holding the assualt rifle does.

 

[T.Neo]

I'm, again, glad that the USA spends money on Ares-1X instead of another such a thing like the war in Iraq, which is not a deterrant at all. It is an agressive war on foreign ground, thousands of miles away across the other side of the atlantic ocean.

Well, anything is better then meaningless wars. But weapons were not the cause of this war, politicians were. Weapons are mere tools.

You imply that rifles are as harmless as Ares-1X since rifles especially don't hurt you, but (only) other "hostile" people.

An assault rifle (even more so an unloaded one) is far less dangerous then Ares-IX, since Ares-IX is filled with tons of potent fuel.

You're trying to excuse spending money for war by saying rifles are useful to make war unreasonable (which mostly is not the case in reality). War is not only about rifles anyway.

War is not about rifles alone, no. And nor do rifles win wars. But they certainly help to fight it. But I can assure you that a rifle will be far more helpful in dispatching someone who wants to kill you then an Ares rocket.

And I'm glad that the USA does spend money on something like Ares-1X instead of more war machinery and development.

I kinda have to agree with you there... even Ares is better then useless research projects that allow unscrupulous people to milk the system for years, in the aim of producing hopelessly complex and unfeasible weapons systems, and mounting kilograms of useless equipment on weapons.

 

[Star Voyager]

An assault rifle (even more so an unloaded one) is far less dangerous then Ares-IX, since Ares-IX is filled with tons of potent fuel.

I never thought of it that way before. How true! Here's not how to handle an RPG:

 

[kino_astroboy]

This is a neat picture of Ares I-X on the pad. It looks a bit odd that a 300 ft rocket is sitting on a shuttle-era pad though.

 

[SiberianTiger]

And this is how not to launch an ICBM, which has the potental to kill a lot more people:

This reminds me of...

How not to launch a scary Inter-Continental Cruise Missile thing:

 

[2552]

If you wish to live in a weaponless, military-less state, be my guest. Just don't whine about it when a hostile force occupies your country, and deems you hostile.

Living in a weaponless, military-less state is different than starting unnecessary wars, that's not what Moonwalker said.

Anyway, this will be a awesome launch to see, even as NASA has already started internally reviewing Ares alternatives (including DIRECT!).