Re: Griffin Wants Inline SDLV and 5 Segment SRB/CEV


"Brian Thorn" <bthorn64@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:j82jc199ub1dr316j0l315lrkcp3cbgk8i@xxxxxxxxxx
> Of course it does. Claiming the Stick to be an all-new booster, which
> you are seriously implying, is the same as saying Atlas 5 or Delta IV
> are all-new boosters. But the government got them both funded and
> built by insisting that since they were "evolved", they were cheaper
> than starting from scratch (note that Delta IV also featured an
> all-new upper stage). We've been calling Atlas 5 and Delta IV "Evolved
> Expendable Launch Vehicles" for years. The Stick is an "Evolved
> Semi-Reusable Launch Vehicle".

They are evolved expendables only in the sense that some parts were used in
earlier programs. The RD-180, Centaur and some bits and pieces flew on
earlier Atlas vehicles. The Delta IV cryo upper stage and some bits and
pieces flew on earlier Deltas. That's it. They're evolved, not in the sense
that they are evolutions of earlier Atlas and Deltas, but that they were the
next generation of thinking and technology in expendable launch vehicles.

> That you decry NASA proposing SDLVs while happily taking paychecks to
> help launch one EELV or the other is disingenuous as best, Kim. I'm
> not trying to be mean or harsh, but you couldn't possibly have other
> motives for being against the Stick, could you? Your arguments sound
> way too emotional.

I don't work for either EELV contractor; I do work on a NASA contract that
evaluates ALL of NASA's unmanned launches (that means LM, Boeing, OSC, even
SpaceX). I don't like ATK's designs because it means NASA-specific boosters
that no one else will use. I don't like them because it means NASA is not
moving from being a launch operations agency to a launch customer. NASA
cannot afford to operate launch systems like these, particularly not in
concurrent operations.

And yeah, I am emotional about it. I get emotional when I see stupidity at
work, especially stupidity that will negatively impact humankind's progress
in spaceflight.


.

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