Just bacause they are using old designs does not mean they will be bad. The Saturn V was a far better rocket than the shuttle ever can be in its current form. It was cheaper and had the thrust and delta-v to reach high orbit and the moon. Throw on another stage (maybe nuclear) and your going to Mars. Besides, it won't really make sense to design much new. The shuttle's engines are already close to the theoretical maximum effiecency of hydrogen-oxygen rockets. Until we start to build a space elevator or laser launchers, chemical rockets will have to do.
"I don't think either of these is really what we want."
The 2nd one would work. It would be the basis for a whole new system, made by Americans, for Americans. We could make it simple: 191 milliseconds to a second, 72 seconds to a minute, 59 minutes to an hour, and 109 hours to a day.
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But can they run Linux?
Just give Bill Gates cancer. Best case, we have 5 cures for cancer in 3 hours. Worst case, he dies. Wait...
Remember 1984.
Just bacause they are using old designs does not mean they will be bad. The Saturn V was a far better rocket than the shuttle ever can be in its current form. It was cheaper and had the thrust and delta-v to reach high orbit and the moon. Throw on another stage (maybe nuclear) and your going to Mars. Besides, it won't really make sense to design much new. The shuttle's engines are already close to the theoretical maximum effiecency of hydrogen-oxygen rockets. Until we start to build a space elevator or laser launchers, chemical rockets will have to do.
"I don't think either of these is really what we want." The 2nd one would work. It would be the basis for a whole new system, made by Americans, for Americans. We could make it simple: 191 milliseconds to a second, 72 seconds to a minute, 59 minutes to an hour, and 109 hours to a day.