SpaceX announces first human mission to ever fly over the planet’s poles - eviltoast
  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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    3 months ago

    I read the article and its low on why? Whats the point of this exactly? What makes it news? I mean is a different path to be different?

    • llamacoffee@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 months ago

      Good point! Truth is, it is basically space tourism. Now, because of the demand for science by humans in orbit, there will be science done and data gathered on the trip, but that isn’t really its purpose. That being said, this kind of orbit brings some very interesting challenges re launch, radiation, and recovery, but I’m sure SpaceX can easily manage that.

      On the tourism side, the orbit is actually quite noteworthy. We’ll have to see what the actual figures are, but even at 450km, you’re really quite close to the planet. As such, the sights they will see due to high inclination especially over the poles will be unlike anything any human has seen before, and that’s exciting to me :)