Cocodapuf

Well, we have multiple launch vehicles, we have multiple crew capsules, multiple cargo vehicles, and just about all of them are cheaper than our previous options. The crew capsules we're using now are all several orders of magnitude safer than the space shuttle (even the Starliner in it's current state is an order of magnitude safer than the shuttle). And now we have options that don't require us to negotiate with Russia to use them.

Or maybe the advantage is not having to counter any sail movement with gyroscopes... which cost energy too.

I think you nailed it right there.

And they're doing a real bang up job of it... Dropping tanks of Nitrogen Tetroxide and hydrazine to explode near towns. Really killing it.

And you should know, China is not doing it themselves, there are about a dozen launch companies and aerospace manufacturers making rockets in China.

The Long March 2C that carelessly drops its booster all over the place (a poorly designed rocket) is government made, but they aren't all that way.

Private companies have always been a big part of space flight, except it used to be only large defense contractors (Aka, Boeing, Raytheon, lockheed, etc). Honestly the situation is better now than it has ever been. But we'll never get all private companies out of space flight, NASA can't do it all themselves.

You would think that, but that's probably not the case. This is what they train for, this is what they want to do. As a rule, astronauts don't tend to get bored of space, that's why they're astronauts.

Maybe we should just make those AI tools public and free and leave it at that. If you monsters want kiddie porn, have this AI generated stuff. It's sort of like having needle exchanges or safe using centers for addicts. It doesn't solve the problem, but it makes it safer for everyone.

Why isn't it targeted at the entire fanbase?

Is that a serious question? Because the answer is obvious...

Ok, let me start out by saying I have an 8 year old, and he fucking loves Minecraft. And hey, I played the game a bunch back when it was in beta and I was like 25. But I did not love the game the way that he loves the game... He's obsessive about Minecraft, some days it's all he talks about. How many adults do you know like that?

And here's the real question, when's the last time you bought Minecraft merch for yourself? Because my kid has a Minecraft lunchbox, a Minecraft hoody, a Minecraft Lego set, some Minecraft figurines, and of course the Minecraft sheets and PJs.

Faintly glowing?

Nice reference!

Pass....

Well that's a really interesting application though... 9 times less thrust may not actually be a very big deal. A solar sail probe would likely be a lot lighter than a fueled equivalent, so that means you have the payload mass to send more probes on the same launch. And asteroids don't have meaningful amounts of gravity, so you can take as long as you want to get from one to another (you don't need much thrust to overcome their gravity well). So yeah, I think more than likely you could make up for a lack of speed with sheer quantity.

That's such a badass design, I love it.

A variable thrust and thrust vectoring propulsion system with no moving parts. I doubt that's ever been done before...