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NASA's Shuttle Plans

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the men-go-on-top dept.

Gerhardius noted a NYT article (you know the obnoxious deal) about new "shuttle" designs coming out of NASA. The payloads are riding up top to avoid debris.

4 of 549 comments (clear)

  1. Whatever happened to single-stage-to-orbit? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 4, Interesting


    As long as we're no longer trying to send up cargo along with personnel, now might be a good time to revisit single-stage-to-orbit designs such as the Delta Clipper and the Roton.

    I don't recall any debris problems with either of these designs, although the leg design seriously needs to be rethought. If you have four legs, a failure of any leg results in disaster (witness the spectacular failure of the Delta Clipper). Six legs, on the other hand, would be far more stable...you could lose any three (provided they're not all adjacent) and still pull off a successful landing.

    --
    ____

    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  2. Kind of sad... by CrazyTalk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What they are effectively saying is, the 30 year experiment that was the space shuttle was a failure. Sure, a lot was learned - but now they are going back to the basic design concepts (upgraded with new tech, of course) of the 1960s. Live and learn.

  3. Delta Clipper by ek_adam · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It was originally an Air Force project. When video of the first test was shown at ConFrancisco in 1993, it was said that if it ever got transferred to NASA they'd kill it.

    NASA was threatened by the Delta Clipper. A ground crew of 3 instead of 15,000? We can't have that! A NASA employee failed to connect the landing gear hydraulic line for one of the tests shortly after NASA took over the project.

    These days NASA is more of a jobs program than a space program.

    1. Re:Delta Clipper by InfoVore · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here you go:

      Delta Clipper Experiment
      Wikipedia

      If you want to see what happened here's the video

      IMHO, I don't think the strut failure was due to malice. I think it was simply a mistake/stupidity.

      I got to watch several DC-X flights. I got to see it hover, move laterally, land, and the infamous 'dip & swoop' manuever.

      I'm still dumbfounded that DC-X lost NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle competition to the VentureStar design. Lockheed had an obviously bogus blue-sky design. McD had a working 1/3 scale proof-of-principle prototype.

      A lot more design and testing would have been required to get to the full Delta Clipper orbital vehicle, but it still remains one of the better SSTO design ideas out there.

      At least I got to see a rocket dance once. It was simply Incredible.

      -I.V.

      --
      "These laws they're passing won't even compile anymore, let alone execute." - anon