Isn't there anything better to do with them than flirting with Kessler syndrome?
It's been really hard to send probes to the outer solar system, and they can't orbit or land when they get there.
Scientific missions generally produce neat photographs, but as far as I'm concerned not enough. Like with Pluto, they were unable to get closeups of one side.
If SpaceX could figure out in-orbit refueling, wouldn't it be possible to do things never done before? Maybe as a publicity stunt like the launching of the Tesla? Just send a lander someplace new with a good visible light camera.
The famous Apollo 17 picture of the earth is beautiful, but over the years, I got to almost hate it, because it was the only picture I saw reproduced, and a perennial reminder of the unfulfilled promise of spaceflight.
Al Gore had the idea of putting a satellite way out to just take pretty pictures and I think it's commendable even if NASA is not a fan of that sort of thing:
There's fixed costs for every launch. Even if you're reusing a rocket, you still gotta pay full price for fuel, personnel, etc. That said, launch costs are almost an order of magnitude lower than they were 20 years ago.
It's been really hard to send probes to the outer solar system, and they can't orbit or land when they get there.
Scientific missions generally produce neat photographs, but as far as I'm concerned not enough. Like with Pluto, they were unable to get closeups of one side.
If SpaceX could figure out in-orbit refueling, wouldn't it be possible to do things never done before? Maybe as a publicity stunt like the launching of the Tesla? Just send a lander someplace new with a good visible light camera.
The famous Apollo 17 picture of the earth is beautiful, but over the years, I got to almost hate it, because it was the only picture I saw reproduced, and a perennial reminder of the unfulfilled promise of spaceflight.
Al Gore had the idea of putting a satellite way out to just take pretty pictures and I think it's commendable even if NASA is not a fan of that sort of thing:
https://www.npr.org/2015/02/06/383618359/satellite-set-to-st...
Science is important, but taxpayers deserve something that captures the imagination.