Wow! I read the article and the reasons why the project got stuck. Not a problem with "Environmental Impact", more like "Spiritual Impact to small groups", or should that be "Imagined Spiritual Impact ..." Of course, you can't be too sensitive! That's what I'm told....

Simple question, watts is not a measure of force to move an object. F = ma or a = F/m (acceleration = Force / mass) How many pounds of thrust do they produce? I understand it supplies much less vs conventional rocket engines, but acts over a much longer time. Anyone know?

Folks, how could anyone expect a committee made up of the interests of different governments to accomplish anything significant? Except, perhaps, the consumption of tax funding. Got the following from the Google AI, so it must be factual!

Why they are joked about:

• Slow Decision Making: They often turn straightforward decisions into long, drawn-out processes.
  Lack of Accountability: Because responsibility is shared, no one feels directly accountable.
  Inefficiency: They are frequently seen as a way to avoid taking direct action.

Oh -- and of course, the .creme de le creme. example - The United Nations!

Glad to see that Science and Mother Nature point out the 'right handed' preference of our feline friends. Preferring the 'right' turn in large majority instead of the 'wrong' turn. Sorry, all you lefties out there! Long know to our ancestors who labelled 'left' as 'sinister' -- evil, unlucky, dishonest. Now, the only remaining step in removing these horrible traits is tracking down the genetic fault at work here. Sorry, it's the truth! Lefties, don't worry, we'll have a drug treatment for you soon!

Folks - I don't mind medical 'privacy' in our personal lives. But the possible effects of space travel on the human body should be shared with everyone, symptoms and treatments. Not buried in confidential files. Especially when the trip is direct taxpayer money. Solution - simply have them sign a waver before acceptance to the NASA astronaut corp.

Folks, It's not the outside that is expensive to engineer - it's the flight control software. Let me just hazard a guess. I'm sure Chinese espionage has worked overtime to get the technical drawings of ship internals, but also the software the runs Starship. Once their government got that, well, it just makes sense to have some competition among their companies. You guys build a similar rocket and we can get you started with a copy of the software.

A little more detail from the story. Not just a tourist taking pics..... "The investigative outlet The Insider reported that Oleg Artemyev, a veteran cosmonaut, allegedly photographed and removed restricted documents at SpaceX’s training facility in Hawthorne, California. ..... “It’s hard to imagine an experienced cosmonaut making such a serious mistake unintentionally,” Trishkin told The Insider.

Yes, SpaceX has every motivation to do this. It allows them to test some of the tech that will take them to Mars and back.

This is the problem with a lot of studies. Who funded it and what's their motivation. I just have to guess about the "Centre for Net Zero." I'm sure their hearts in the right place, not so sure about their wallets. This is perhaps why the free market works a little better than study ideas or government funded projects. Trust the people that are spending their money to build and power a data center to find the cheapest power source. Their wallets are usually at risk.

Scanned the comments - fascinating! It's just a matter of standards. Europe is winning in immigration, mRNA, Trump bashing, socialized medicine and gun control. We're in trouble if those are the standards and not economic production.

I think a lot of folks here want to protect Ukraine against a seriously evil Putin (hope we all see him the same). Hard to believe the UK, France, Germany, and Italy don't have the weapons, and perhaps the will? Perhaps, GDP and Industrial production are good measures....

Wow, people who aren't real smart make poor decisions. What a surprise! Just wondering if the authors of this study made tenure by publishing these results? Of course, we also must wonder about the editors at the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, did LOW IQ influence their decision to print this?

When were they ever a space power? Hard to understand what is going on in Europe. A lot of talk and plans, but not actions? The curse of planning by committee with a lot of vested interests.

Perhaps the folks that wrote the summary of the study could have chosen simpler words? But it does sound pretty impressive!