NASA Eyes Shuttle Replacements

jonerik writes "According to this article at Space.com, NASA yesterday released a status report on the first year of NASA's Space Launch Initiative; the search for a space shuttle replacement, currently planned to begin operating ten years from now. The competing contractors - Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and a team consisting of Northrop Grumman and Orbital Sciences Corp. - have their work cut out for them. NASA is looking for both a ten-fold improvement in per-pound launch costs (from $10,000 per pound to $1,000) and massive improvements in crew survivability." In related news, Rubyflame writes: "Aviation Now has a story about four new kerosene-fueled rocket engines being developed by Aerojet, Pratt & Whitney, Rocketdyne, and TRW. These are engines that will produce a million pounds of thrust, intended to outdo Russian designs in reliability and launch cost, and one of them may power a new reusable launch vehicle. Kerosene has the advantage that it's denser than hydrogen, so the fuel tanks can be smaller."

Comments

Haiku

[MrHat]

Nasa space shuttle
Takes off like a pile of bricks
Lighter craft required

Reminds me of this:

[SkyLeach]

"Rockhound: You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?"

hehe...

Fore more quotes from that movie go here

Re:You mean Tthey "had" a "shuttle-like" prototype

[scotch]

I don't know why people constantly bring up Buran.

Because we like to torment you. It obviously bothers you.

I also heard that France was working on a shuttle. Portugal has been flying their shuttle for years, though it's not widely publicized. Mexico scrapped their shuttle project in favor of their rail-gun / light-sail combination system with which they've manage to supply migrant workers for the asparagus farming on Venus.