Its starting to get too easy to rag on NASA.  How the mighty have fallen.

This is my review of Lead Dog Brewery Raspberries Are Red IPA:

In a testimony to a recent House committee, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin revealed the operational costs for the Artemis Program down to a single launch:

Martin revealed the operational costs of the big rocket and spacecraft for the first time. Moreover, he took aim at NASA and particularly its large aerospace contractors for their “very poor” performance in developing these vehicles.

Martin said that the operational costs alone for a single Artemis launch—for just the rocket, Orion spacecraft, and ground systems—will total $4.1 billion. This is, he said, “a price tag that strikes us as unsustainable.” With this comment, Martin essentially threw down his gauntlet and said NASA cannot have a meaningful exploration program based around SLS and Orion at this cost.

Keep going because it gets better.  The costs cited here do not include development costs already incurred and the usual government fuzzy math:

Martin also said NASA is obscuring costs that it is spending on the Artemis program and that, in aggregate, his office believes NASA will spend $93 billion from 2012 to 2025 on the Artemis program.

Which is a bit sad given NASA is usually one of the least hated government agencies due to the nostalgia from the Apollo moon landing program.  Incidentally, landing on the moon is what the Artemis program is supposed to do.

I know what you are thinking, what does a launch cost Elon Musk?  Unfortunately, there is a bit of an apples to oranges aspect of this since SpaceX is launching people into orbit but not necessarily to land on the moon.  With that caveat, a Dragon Capsule launch costs somewhere between $55 and $90 million.

Perhaps its uncharitable to compare a fully operational SpaceX rocket to the SLS rocket which NASA contracts.  Development of that rocket is estimated to be around $8.75 billion.  RocketLab, a SpaceX competitor, is currently underway with development of the smaller Neutron rocket and projects development costs at a mere $200 million.   Even if the Neutron has a smaller payload 15,000kg vs. 27,000kg, pound for pound these costs are not comparable at all.

Pound for pound is a turn of phrase, I realize I compared payloads in kilos.

So what happened?  I don’t know anymore, maybe it has something to do with fluoride in tap water.

 

What I also found a bit disappointing was this beer.  I thought it was going to be another one of those fruity, lactose infused monstrosities—not quite.  If you are into the sour ale scene, puckering your lips and still trying to figure out why your urine smells weird the next morning, this will probably disappoint you too, as this is technically an IPA.  So its just tart berries, hops, and a few floaters?  Yes, that’s exactly what it is.  I’m sure somebody hates themselves enough and/or has the palate for this, but its not one I will get again. Lead Dog Brewery Raspberries Are Red IPA: 2.1/5