Space X was founded in june of 2002. Just six years later, starting from a clean sheet of paper and producing most all of the rocket themselves; structures, engines, avionics, falcon 1 successfully reached orbit. The falcon 9 is being prepared to fly next year, as is the dragon seven crew/cargo spacecraft. Could NASA or any of it's contractors do the same in as short a time? Look how long the Orion spacecraft is taking. Can't beat their prices either, at around 7 million, a ride on a falcon 1 is an excellent bargain! Don't deny their props, Space X is accomplishing astounding feats for such a young company.
Space shuttle is a problem
on
NASA Turns 50
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· Score: 2, Insightful
NASA's problem; The @$#%#^%* space shuttle
Gee. they said space travel sure is expensive! what can we do?
Hey, let's build a re-usable space ship! We can operate it like an airliner and launch it every two weeks! (cough!) It will be cheap and economical! (cough!) We can get rid of all our expendable launchers! (cough!) And it will be safe, we can even take school teachers up for rides! (CHOKE!)
Inefficient, bad compromise between a cargo ship and crew launcher, Inherent design flaws that make it vulnerable to catastrophic failure, huge operating costs that make it more expensive to launch than a saturn V, and has completely put an end to all manned exploration. Sorry, dicking around in orbit doing science experiments is NOT exploration!
I will be glad to see them sitting in museums.
If you want to leave earth orbit you need a capsule. It is the only technology we have to survive re-entry at lunar return speeds. The shuttle would burn to a crisp coming back from the moon, if it could go. What does the shape matter anyway? You should'nt love a spaceship. you should love the going and exploring and adventure.
9:29 am/// Waterlogged/// During a preflight check, the pilot notices three air data sensors are malfunctioning. Unknown to the crew, water in the sensors is skewing the air-pressure readings too high.
9:34 am/// Recalibration/// A ground crewman, using a cockpit keyboard, recalibrates the three waterlogged sensors. The preflight checks continue, and the B-2 taxis to runway Zero-Six-Right (above, top left).
10:29 am/// Boiling Sensors/// Before takeoff, the pilot turns on the sensorsâ(TM) heaters. Water in the sensors evaporates; the readings are now normal, but the earlier fix skews air-pressure data too low.
10:30:12 am/// Slow Start/// The B-2 starts takeoff. The on-board flight computer displays the wrong airspeed, causing the pilot to lift off at 133 knots (153 mph) rather than the required 145 knots.
10:30:50 am/// Auto Override/// The flight computer, relying on bad air-pressure readings, concludes the aircraft is in a nose-low altitude and automatically raises the nose to 30 degrees (top right).
10:31:06 am/// Fiery Ending/// The B-2, going too slowly, with its nose angled too high, stalls. As the airplaneâ(TM)s wing scrapes the runway (bottom left), the pilot and commander safely eject. The B-2 crashes (bottom right).
Hey man, I WAS MAKING A JOKE! Besides, It's a natural human reaction. We all like boxes and getting and opening boxes. And when you see an anonymous box sitting around you wonder what's in it. It's why christmas is so popular. They may be using them for weights, but that does not necessarily mean they are empty, does it?
Driving around town, I'm pretty relaxed, not in a hurry. But on an interstate road trip, I always encounter this BOZO. I set my cruise control for 65-70 mph crank up the stereo and soon enough I catch up to someone going about 5 mph slower and I pass them. For reasons I can only assume are "F#@%ing with me" The sphincter then speeds up and passes me back then parks his ass right in front of me again and slows down forcing me to brake! This may happen several times unless I speed past him at 80+ until he is out of sight. I am sure some of you may also have encountered these jerks. Makes you wish you had a rocket launcher in your grille.
I beg to disagree! The potential usefulness of novel vacuum cast alloys is incalculable. I just can't stand the attitude that we should not do a thing because of expense or difficulty. A REAL engineer rolls up his sleeves and figures it out! Who knows? Some material(s) yet to be invented, only possible to make in a vacuum may be the key to making a spacecraft efficient enough to bring down launch costs! Developing new technologies is always difficult and expensive, but you never learn how to do anything until you overcome the obstacles and DO it!!
We are in a race against time against catastrophe. This planet is a death trap that history (as attested in the fossil record) has shown time and again in mass extinctions, supervolcanoes, tsunamis, asteroid impacts, ect. The only way we are going to survive long term is to establish manned colonies and spread out in the universe, and we are behind schedule! Our manned space program is not a frivolous waste of time and rescources. What better science can be done by a rover that cannot be done better by a trained geologist on site? No rover or probe sent to the moon ever did a better job than the apollo astronauts, whose scientific accomplishments are often glossed over or ignored. Plans are afoot to construct a huge array of antennas on the lunar farside making the most awesome radio telescope ever concieved, but It WILL NOT get built without MANNED spaceflight! It is hyperbol to suggest that science funding is being permanently cut. The manned program needs more rescources NOW to re-establish capability to leave earth orbit (that we foolishly discarded 35 years ago after spending billions to develop it! At the same time They must finish the space station to meet international obligations and only the shuttle can do the job. This is only a temporary situation. The Shuttle WILL be retired in 2010, and after the CEV and associated boosters are developed their operating costs will be far lower than the shuttle. More of NASA's budget will then be available for a more robust science program. And as I have said, you will not be able to beat the science that can be done by astronauts, on site. But the most important thing is, in the wake of NASA's scientific explorations establishing infrastructure, private concerns for mining, construction, tourism, what have you, will follow, and the first space colonies will get started.
I am 45, and grew up during Apollo missions. I closely followed every mission. I KNOW it happened. It could not be faked. If you disagree, consider, If it were a hoax the Soviet Union and any other country with a radio telescope could tell it was. On launch mornings, the television coverage would include a shot of the Soviet "trawler" hanging off the coast observing the proceedings. In fact, the soviets were very interested in observing our spaceflights. They tracked them in orbit, they tracked them going , decending, acending, and returning from the moon, and then at the splashdown theres another "trawler" hangin around. It was easy to do! you did'nt need a powerful radar as the spacecraft was constantly beaming back telemetry data and radio transmissions in the clear. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world at the time because of their absolute secrecy, the Soviets manned lunar programwas having a little trouble with their N1 boosters blowing up. In light of their own failure, and the general hostile attitude toward the United States, you cannot convince me that they would just stand by and let us evil capitalist pigs get away such a fakery! WE WENT!
Ahem! I meant EXISTING landing sites! Apollo? I dont recall the names of the soviet rovers and probes, but the soviets put them there so therefore they are SOVIET landing sites! capiche?
Nice try, but if you would reference article 1, sec. 8 of your constitution, you will see it is Congress who has control of the nations purse strings. The president will submit a budget, but congress can alter it or circular file it. Every budget Reagan ever submitted was declared DOA by Tip O'neill, Democratic speaker of the house. They gave him his defense increases, but cut nothing, in fact spent exponentially more every year, ballooned the deficit, and blamed the republicans for it. If he were to veto it the solidly democrat congress would override him.
The move to Intel is to appease hollywood. The new Intel chip will have BUILT IN copy protection which apple must adopt in order to offer an imovie service
Uh, you do realize don't you that the Hubble is a lifeless hunk of hardware? Oh, and Apollo 13 was a MANNED mission, and the rescue was about saving mens lives? We can always build another telscope.
New technologies and PR aside, the Apollo program accomplished very little except getting some footprints on the moon.
HOGWASH!
Please read this article aboutLunar Rock Science.We learned a great deal about the moon including the presently accepted theory about it's origins.
The real mystery is why it took NASA only 7 years after jfk's speach in 62 to make it to the moon.
Let me spell it out for you;
Money, Moolah, greenbacks, bread, dough, dead presidents, cash, lettuce. The spigot was open, the blank check was written, all that was needed was allocated, and then some. And then we did it. and then the bank was closed. During the 1960's, NASA's budget was 5% of the American Federal Budget. In 2003, it had fallen to less than 0.7% - nearly a factor of 10 times smaller!!! Throw enough money at an mere engineering challenge and you can do just about anything!
1) Send shuttle on risky repair mission. Estimated cost- 1.7 to 2.4 Billion dollars and potentially up to seven lives.
2) Develop and build complicated robot gizmotron that might or might not be able to do the job. Estimated cost- 1.6 Billion
3) The hell with it, just build a new one. Use the same basic design updated with latest technology and these replacement parts we developed for the old one and shoot it up on an expendable booster. Estimated cost under a billion.
Slashdot Mirror
This is NOT a PUBLICLY FUNDED project so the Obamessiah cannot defund it. You are OFF TOPIC!
Space X was founded in june of 2002. Just six years later, starting from a clean sheet of paper and producing most all of the rocket themselves; structures, engines, avionics, falcon 1 successfully reached orbit. The falcon 9 is being prepared to fly next year, as is the dragon seven crew/cargo spacecraft. Could NASA or any of it's contractors do the same in as short a time? Look how long the Orion spacecraft is taking. Can't beat their prices either, at around 7 million, a ride on a falcon 1 is an excellent bargain! Don't deny their props, Space X is accomplishing astounding feats for such a young company.
NASA's problem; The @$#%#^%* space shuttle Gee. they said space travel sure is expensive! what can we do? Hey, let's build a re-usable space ship! We can operate it like an airliner and launch it every two weeks! (cough!) It will be cheap and economical! (cough!) We can get rid of all our expendable launchers! (cough!) And it will be safe, we can even take school teachers up for rides! (CHOKE!) Inefficient, bad compromise between a cargo ship and crew launcher, Inherent design flaws that make it vulnerable to catastrophic failure, huge operating costs that make it more expensive to launch than a saturn V, and has completely put an end to all manned exploration. Sorry, dicking around in orbit doing science experiments is NOT exploration! I will be glad to see them sitting in museums.
If you want to leave earth orbit you need a capsule. It is the only technology we have to survive re-entry at lunar return speeds. The shuttle would burn to a crisp coming back from the moon, if it could go. What does the shape matter anyway? You should'nt love a spaceship. you should love the going and exploring and adventure.
Today the Air Force released the first photos of the B-2 that crashed in Guam a couple months back. B-2 Stealth Bomber Crash Scene Photos: Exclusive First Look
Excellent article! Look at the timeline;
9:29 am /// Waterlogged /// During a preflight check, the pilot notices three air data sensors are malfunctioning. Unknown to the crew, water in the sensors is skewing the air-pressure readings too high.
9:34 am /// Recalibration /// A ground crewman, using a cockpit keyboard, recalibrates the three waterlogged sensors. The preflight checks continue, and the B-2 taxis to runway Zero-Six-Right (above, top left).
10:29 am /// Boiling Sensors /// Before takeoff, the pilot turns on the sensorsâ(TM) heaters. Water in the sensors evaporates; the readings are now normal, but the earlier fix skews air-pressure data too low.
10:30:12 am /// Slow Start /// The B-2 starts takeoff. The on-board flight computer displays the wrong airspeed, causing the pilot to lift off at 133 knots (153 mph) rather than the required 145 knots.
10:30:50 am /// Auto Override /// The flight computer, relying on bad air-pressure readings, concludes the aircraft is in a nose-low altitude and automatically raises the nose to 30 degrees (top right).
10:31:06 am /// Fiery Ending /// The B-2, going too slowly, with its nose angled too high, stalls. As the airplaneâ(TM)s wing scrapes the runway (bottom left), the pilot and commander safely eject. The B-2 crashes (bottom right).
There you go, HUMAN ERROR!!
Hey man, I WAS MAKING A JOKE! Besides, It's a natural human reaction. We all like boxes and getting and opening boxes. And when you see an anonymous box sitting around you wonder what's in it. It's why christmas is so popular. They may be using them for weights, but that does not necessarily mean they are empty, does it?
Lunar soil contains; Oxygen 40% Silicon 20% Iron 12% Calcium 8.5% Aluminum 7.3% Magnesium 4.8% Titanium 4.5% Sodium 0.33% Chromium 0.2% Manganese 0.16% Potassium 0.11% Sulfur 540 ppm Carbon 200 ppm Nitrogen 100 ppm Hydrogen 40 ppm Helium 4 28ppm Helium 3 0.01 ppm Don't you think all that stuff would be useful?
Driving around town, I'm pretty relaxed, not in a hurry. But on an interstate road trip, I always encounter this BOZO. I set my cruise control for 65-70 mph crank up the stereo and soon enough I catch up to someone going about 5 mph slower and I pass them. For reasons I can only assume are "F#@%ing with me" The sphincter then speeds up and passes me back then parks his ass right in front of me again and slows down forcing me to brake! This may happen several times unless I speed past him at 80+ until he is out of sight. I am sure some of you may also have encountered these jerks. Makes you wish you had a rocket launcher in your grille.
AHEM! When I say 'VACUUM" above of course I meant "ZERO GEE" Yeah, I know!
I beg to disagree! The potential usefulness of novel vacuum cast alloys is incalculable. I just can't stand the attitude that we should not do a thing because of expense or difficulty. A REAL engineer rolls up his sleeves and figures it out! Who knows? Some material(s) yet to be invented, only possible to make in a vacuum may be the key to making a spacecraft efficient enough to bring down launch costs! Developing new technologies is always difficult and expensive, but you never learn how to do anything until you overcome the obstacles and DO it!!
We are in a race against time against catastrophe. This planet is a death trap that history (as attested in the fossil record) has shown time and again in mass extinctions, supervolcanoes, tsunamis, asteroid impacts, ect. The only way we are going to survive long term is to establish manned colonies and spread out in the universe, and we are behind schedule! Our manned space program is not a frivolous waste of time and rescources. What better science can be done by a rover that cannot be done better by a trained geologist on site? No rover or probe sent to the moon ever did a better job than the apollo astronauts, whose scientific accomplishments are often glossed over or ignored. Plans are afoot to construct a huge array of antennas on the lunar farside making the most awesome radio telescope ever concieved, but It WILL NOT get built without MANNED spaceflight! It is hyperbol to suggest that science funding is being permanently cut. The manned program needs more rescources NOW to re-establish capability to leave earth orbit (that we foolishly discarded 35 years ago after spending billions to develop it! At the same time They must finish the space station to meet international obligations and only the shuttle can do the job. This is only a temporary situation. The Shuttle WILL be retired in 2010, and after the CEV and associated boosters are developed their operating costs will be far lower than the shuttle. More of NASA's budget will then be available for a more robust science program. And as I have said, you will not be able to beat the science that can be done by astronauts, on site. But the most important thing is, in the wake of NASA's scientific explorations establishing infrastructure, private concerns for mining, construction, tourism, what have you, will follow, and the first space colonies will get started.
I am 45, and grew up during Apollo missions. I closely followed every mission. I KNOW it happened. It could not be faked. If you disagree, consider, If it were a hoax the Soviet Union and any other country with a radio telescope could tell it was. On launch mornings, the television coverage would include a shot of the Soviet "trawler" hanging off the coast observing the proceedings. In fact, the soviets were very interested in observing our spaceflights. They tracked them in orbit, they tracked them going , decending, acending, and returning from the moon, and then at the splashdown theres another "trawler" hangin around. It was easy to do! you did'nt need a powerful radar as the spacecraft was constantly beaming back telemetry data and radio transmissions in the clear. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world at the time because of their absolute secrecy, the Soviets manned lunar programwas having a little trouble with their N1 boosters blowing up. In light of their own failure, and the general hostile attitude toward the United States, you cannot convince me that they would just stand by and let us evil capitalist pigs get away such a fakery! WE WENT!
Ahem! I meant EXISTING landing sites! Apollo? I dont recall the names of the soviet rovers and probes, but the soviets put them there so therefore they are SOVIET landing sites! capiche?
Nice try, but if you would reference article 1, sec. 8 of your constitution, you will see it is Congress who has control of the nations purse strings. The president will submit a budget, but congress can alter it or circular file it. Every budget Reagan ever submitted was declared DOA by Tip O'neill, Democratic speaker of the house. They gave him his defense increases, but cut nothing, in fact spent exponentially more every year, ballooned the deficit, and blamed the republicans for it. If he were to veto it the solidly democrat congress would override him.
The move to Intel is to appease hollywood. The new Intel chip will have BUILT IN copy protection which apple must adopt in order to offer an imovie service
Uh, you do realize don't you that the Hubble is a lifeless hunk of hardware? Oh, and Apollo 13 was a MANNED mission, and the rescue was about saving mens lives? We can always build another telscope.
In the illustration the vest is available up to XXL. Excellent! I always have trouble finding wearable comuters in my size;)
How big a layout would one need to operate as a common 8 digit pocket calculator?
Apollo Cameras
The astronaut would stand in one spot, take a picture, turn a little, take another, and so on for a full 360 degrees.
Some Claim we got nothing from the apollo program. For them I direct your attention to theTop 10 Apollo scientific discoveries
New technologies and PR aside, the Apollo program accomplished very little except getting some footprints on the moon. HOGWASH! Please read this article aboutLunar Rock Science.We learned a great deal about the moon including the presently accepted theory about it's origins.
Let me spell it out for you;
Money, Moolah, greenbacks, bread, dough, dead presidents, cash, lettuce. The spigot was open, the blank check was written, all that was needed was allocated, and then some. And then we did it. and then the bank was closed. During the 1960's, NASA's budget was 5% of the American Federal Budget. In 2003, it had fallen to less than 0.7% - nearly a factor of 10 times smaller!!! Throw enough money at an mere engineering challenge and you can do just about anything!
No. As in Gerard K. O'Neil. (1927-1992)Author of The High Frontier: Human colonies in space THE authoritive tome on space colonization that anyone who wants to understand the subject should read. I heartily recommend it.
1) Send shuttle on risky repair mission. Estimated cost- 1.7 to 2.4 Billion dollars and potentially up to seven lives.
2) Develop and build complicated robot gizmotron that might or might not be able to do the job. Estimated cost- 1.6 Billion
3) The hell with it, just build a new one. Use the same basic design updated with latest technology and these replacement parts we developed for the old one and shoot it up on an expendable booster. Estimated cost under a billion.
Hmmm..... I like option 3!