Background_Daikon992
Background_Daikon992 t1_j257tzc wrote
Reply to comment by 404_Gordon_Not_Found in Lunar Gateway for Dummies? by Significant_Youth_73
Only if you've invented a space elevator.
It takes 8 pounds of rocket fuel to get 1 pound of payload into LEO. Cutting gravity by 5/6ths has the potential for exponentially smaller fuel costs.
Background_Daikon992 t1_ir047ts wrote
Reply to comment by Bensemus in After DART: Using the first full-scale test of a kinetic impactor to inform a future planetary defense mission by EricFromOuterSpace
Yes, and they picked a binary pair that didn't cross Earth's orbit.
Background_Daikon992 t1_iqy5cox wrote
Reply to comment by Lorjack in After DART: Using the first full-scale test of a kinetic impactor to inform a future planetary defense mission by EricFromOuterSpace
The one they impacted wasn't a near-earth asteroid, for that very reason.
Background_Daikon992 t1_j25k9k9 wrote
Reply to comment by 404_Gordon_Not_Found in Lunar Gateway for Dummies? by Significant_Youth_73
Those "reusable rockets" have to be so large and complex because they contain ridiculous amounts of fuel.
It takes "a similar amount of fuel" getting to the moon as getting to Mars because in both cases, you burn the overwhelming majority of your fuel just getting out of Earth's gravity well.