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Title: 'Space Is Hard. There Is No Excuse For Pretending It's Easy'

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/30/2...

"For-profit companies are pushing the narrative that they can do space
inexpensively," writes Slashdot reader RUs1729 in response to an opinion
piece from SpaceNews. "Their track record reveals otherwise: cutting corners
won't do it for the foreseeable future." Here's an excerpt from the article,
written by Robert N. Eberhart: The headlines in the space industry over the
past month have delivered a sobering reminder: space is not forgiving, and
certainly not friendly to overpromising entrepreneurs. From iSpace's second
failed lunar landing attempt (making them 0 for 2) to SpaceX's ongoing
Starship test flight setbacks -- amid a backdrop of exploding prototypes and
shifting goalposts -- the evidence is mounting that the commercialization of
space is not progressing in the triumphant arc that press releases might
suggest. This isn't just a series of flukes. It points to a structural,
strategic and cultural problem in how we talk about innovation, cost and
success in space today. Let's be blunt: 50 years ago, we did this. We sent
humans to the moon, not once but repeatedly, and brought them back. With less
computational power than your phone, using analog systems and slide rules, we
achieved feats of incredible precision, reliability and coordination. Today's
failures, even when dressed up as "learning opportunities," raises the
obvious question: Why are we struggling to do now what we once achieved
decades ago with far more complexity and far less technology? Until very
recently, the failure rate of private lunar exploration efforts underscored
this reality. Over the past two decades, not a single private mission had
fully succeeded -- until last March when Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost
lander touched down on the moon. It marked the first fully successful soft
landing by a private company. That mission deserves real credit. But that
credit comes with important context: It took two decades of false starts,
crashes and incomplete landings -- from Space IL's Beresheet to iSpace's
Hakuto-R and Astrobotic's Peregrine -- before even one private firm delivered
on the promise of lunar access. The prevailing industry answer -- "we need to
innovate for lower cost" -- rings hollow. What's happening now isn't
innovation; it's aspiration masquerading as disruption... "This is not a call
for a retreat to Cold War models or Apollo-era budgets," writes Eberhart, in
closing. "It's a call for seriousness. If we're truly entering a new space
age, then it needs to be built on sound engineering, transparent economics
and meaningful technical leadership -- not PR strategy. Let's stop pretending
that burning money in orbit is a business model." "The dream of a
sustainable, entrepreneurial space ecosystem is still alive. But it won't
happen unless we stop celebrating hype and start demanding results. Until
then, the real innovation we need is not in spacecraft -- it's in
accountability." Robert N. Eberhart, PhD, is an associate professor of
management and the faculty director of the Ahlers Center for International
Business at the Knauss School of Business of University of San Diego. He is
the author of several academic publications and books. He is also part of
Oxford University's Smart Space Initiative and contributed to Berkeley's
Space Sciences Laboratory. Before his academic career, Prof. Eberhart founded
and ran a successful company in Japan.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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