To the Moon and Beyond

SpaceX ^ | October 30, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

To return Americans to the Moon, SpaceX aligned Starship development along two paths: development of the core Starship system and supporting infrastructure, including production facilities, test facilities, and launch sites -- which SpaceX is self-funding representing over 90% of system costs -- and development of the HLS-specific Starship configuration, which leverages and modifies the core vehicle capability to support NASA's requirements for landing crew on and returning them from the Moon. SpaceX is working under a fixed-price contract with NASA, ensuring that the company is only paid after the successful completion of progress milestones, and American taxpayers are not on the hook for increased SpaceX costs. SpaceX provides significant insight to NASA at every stage of the development process along both paths, including access to flight data from missions not funded under the HLS contract.

Both pathways are necessary and made possible by SpaceX's substantial self-investments to enable the high-rate production, launch, and test of Starship for missions to the Moon and other purposes. Starship will bring the United States back to the Moon before any other nation and it will enable sustainable lunar operations by being fully and rapidly reusable, cost-effective, and capable of high frequency lunar missions with more than 100 tons of cargo capacity.

[PIF]

and the jokers responsible for NASA’s fiasco will be getting called to Congress

—
Who are all members of Congress - House & Senate currently.

[GingisK]

It is the same thing for the Moon or Mars. The relays will not improve the round trip delay time of radio communications.

I added the Mars thing as extra information, not replacement. You will see that I did provide delays for both.

[cgbg]

“Denier” #2 reporting for duty, sir.

How can I help?

Lol.

Hint: I used to tell folks that if they want a great career become a graphic artist for NASA. Now I tell them FakeX is a good alternative.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, it’s called breach of contract.

[PIF]

How son will you be working at SpaceX as a planner and engineer? They desperately need people with your vast knowledge to avoid all the wasteful projects and spending they are currently doing. Will Elon personally welcome you to the company? How big will your hiring bonus be?

[GingisK]

How son will you be working at SpaceX as a planner and engineer?

OK, brainchild, in 1973 I went to work with Sperry Rand Space Support Services in Huntsville Alabama. I worked on-site at the George C. Marshal Space Flight Center, Astrionics Laboratory. My job was to process data messages from Skylab scientific instrumentation.

In 1975 Skylab was terminated, so I moved to Marietta Georgia to take employment with a telecommunications company that made PBX equipment for deployment in office parks. I worked in electronics communications for many years. Later in my career I began designing electronics apparatus that is used to collect data and exercise controls. These communicate by wire, radio, and lately cellular data radios. I have developed both hardware and software for moving data over an assortment of media. I know well how to collect data into packets, send that data through a radio transmitter. I also have worked the other end where the radio receiver's messages are received, de-packetized, and then streamed through an audio or video channel. (TV set-top cable modems).

I retired years ago, but still provide electronic designs and software to three industrial clients.

This is my domain. Learn from it.

[SunkenCiv]

All of ‘em are? That’s just a lie.

[GingisK]

Consider the following, see if it means anything to you:

The Apollo S-band spacecraft transmitters produced 20 watts of power for communication, while the uplink transmitters on the ground produced significantly more, at 10 kilowatts. This power ratio was crucial for effective communication over the vast distances involved in space missions.

Now, factor in a ground station for receiving that 20 Watt signal:

Your cell phone averages only 1 Watt in the S-Band, but can peak at 5 Watts. Do you think they are trying to shorten the round-trip time of radio communications, or ditch that ground station?

[discostu]

Not with that attitude.

Once upon a time it was impossible for a man to run a mile in under 4 minutes, our hearts simply take it.

Once upon a time it was impossible for a man to control a vehicle going 100 MPH, our brains aren’t that fast.

Once upon a time the sound barrier could not be broken in controlled flight, it was too violent.

The only thing that ever makes things impossible is toxic cowardice. Humans try. That’s what we’re supposed to do.

[PIF]

Who do you imagine funds NASA? The tooth fairy?

[one guy in new jersey]

Earth’s magnetic field protects us against being cooked by cosmic radiation.

Anyone being sent out from within that cocoon must be shielded another way, or, in short order, they will either be irremediable injured, or die.

It’s the Achilles Heel of any and all plans to put a human on Mars. Not only has nobody solved this problem, nobody has been able, with a straight face, to present a potentially workable plan to begin to try to solve it.

This is not an attitude problem. It’s a basic problem of physics and biology.

[PIF]

OK so you say you know stuff. Still best to apply to SpaceX because they seem to think differently and would welcome someone who last worked in the space industry 50 years ago.

[GingisK]

...because they seem to think differently...

No, they don't. YOU misunderstand what they published and what they are trying to do. Perhaps you consider a career in journalism. They don't understand what they mis-publish either.

[GingisK]

OK so you say you know stuff

I do indeed. You can too:

NASA Lunar Link
Intuitive Machines
Gateway

Now, in the spirit of debate, post links to your sources which state that Space-X intends to shorten the round-trip delay of radio communications.

[SunkenCiv]

Your arguments aren't really arguments, you're just flitting from one falsehood or nonsequitur to another.

[GingisK]

Earth’s magnetic field protects us against being cooked by cosmic radiation.

That isn't true at all. The magnetic field traps particles, not gamma radiation.

[one guy in new jersey]

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/cosmic-radiation-why-we-should-not-be-worried

Your sanguine attitude about cosmic radiation may stem from the protection you receive from them from the Earth’s magnetosphere.

Put yourself on the list to be shipped out to Mars and see how long it takes before you become keenly interested in what the program manager is planning to do to protect you from cosmic radiation.

Pro tip: He or she is ignoring that issue, cynically hoping they can pay off their mortgage and their kids’ college expenses before FedGov turns off the funding spigot.

[GingisK]

Protection from cosmic radiation is provided by the atmosphere, not the magnetic field. Cosmic radiation is gamma, which is a very high frequency version of light. Light is not affected by magnetic fields. Particles like Alpha and Beta are charged particles; and, they do indeed get captured by the magnetic field and become part of the Van Allen belts. Alpha and Beta are not counted as cosmic radiation.

Physics major here.

[GingisK]

Oh, slight correction: Cosmic radiation does include the particles, cosmic rays do not.

[one guy in new jersey]

You should go to Mars, GK.

Send us a postcard?