| Mnementh said: Yeah. It was pretty exciting as the chinese entered. It got a bit more calmed, but I'm aware that the chinese program is constantly improving and getting things done. I hope Chang'e is a success, this will be another step. And while so far with the renewed energy for space travel in the last 20 years mostly we recaptured successes of the past (even the Falcon Heavy now only reestablishes heavy transporters, as the Saturn V and Energija did back then), we have some new achievements recently (with we I address humanity as a whole): the two mars rovers, the saturn probe Cassini and Philae achieving the first landing on a comet. Chang'e if successful will be another new achievement, with the dark side of the moon. By the way, Chang'e 3 with the successful moon landing and deployment of Yutu is the first time we got on the moon surface since Luna-24 in 1976. The Indian space program is another cool story, as they achieve a lot with a really tiny budget. We should also watch out for these Proton-rockets from Rocket Lab and Blue Origin. I meant all that with space travel is fun again, we have movement and for the first times since decades we can achieve new goals. This Falcon Heavy launch is another stepstone, such a transporter offers new opportunities. I hope a lot will happen in the near future. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_(rover) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_(rover) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Lunar_Exploration_Program |
Extremely exciting to see what the FH could be used for. Although I doubt many if any commercial satellite companies would use it since most LEO and GEO satellites are under 20 tonnes. Perhaps it could get some government missions though. Military satellites can get pretty big and heavy (up to 25 Tonnes) and I think SpaceX has done a DOD mission before so it wouldn't be odd.
