This adds some fuel to something thats been banging about my head for a while, it's entirely possible I'm talking out of my arse here but it would at least be worth thinking about.
Using the specs from hubblesite.org, the falcon 9-S5 could lift a hubble sized telescope into orbit for $51, rather then sending another shuttle up to fix hubble, why not see what telescope they could build for say $100m, assuming a 5 year life rather then hubbles 20 should help cut the cost, and 15 years of technical development will make it cheaper, add in economies of scale you get when you build 5 of them and you should be able to put together something with say 80% of the capability of hubble if not more, and put 5 of them in orbit for the cost of one shuttle mission to service hubble.
Of course I could be completely wrong about what it would cost, but it would be something to think about.
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This adds some fuel to something thats been banging about my head for a while, it's entirely possible I'm talking out of my arse here but it would at least be worth thinking about.
Using the specs from hubblesite.org, the falcon 9-S5 could lift a hubble sized telescope into orbit for $51, rather then sending another shuttle up to fix hubble, why not see what telescope they could build for say $100m, assuming a 5 year life rather then hubbles 20 should help cut the cost, and 15 years of technical development will make it cheaper, add in economies of scale you get when you build 5 of them and you should be able to put together something with say 80% of the capability of hubble if not more, and put 5 of them in orbit for the cost of one shuttle mission to service hubble.
Of course I could be completely wrong about what it would cost, but it would be something to think about.
but how does this differ from the heat (and noise) put out by current engines, most of which output their exhaust underwater. Hok