Re: Stick - Saturn IB Reprise?


Ed Kyle wrote:
> Rand Simberg wrote:
> > On 26 Sep 2005 08:24:09 -0700, in a place far, far away, "Ed Kyle"
> > <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> made the phosphor on my monitor glow in such a
> > way as to indicate that:
> > >At the time, in the midst of Vietnam and social upheaval,
> > >expendable launch was seen as a massive waste - nevermind
> > >what the engineers said. The problem was that it was
> > >hard for the engineers to explain the truth to the public.
> > >When you tried to explain that it was cheaper to throw
> > >the hardware away, the typical reaction would be to ask
> > >why we were spending money on such stuff at all.
> > >
> > >So NASA offered Shuttle as a way to save money. It was
> > >the only program that NASA could win funding for at the
> > >time. That they made it to work was something, but the
> > >idea clearly had flaws from the start.
> >
> > It wasn't the idea of reusability that was flawed--it was the
> > implementation.
>
> The implementation was bad in the sense (IMO) that
> the scaling of the thing was bad. It was too big,
> but it had to be too big to meet the payload specs.
> Because it was too big, it could only be partially
> reusable given the budgetary constraints.
>
> I always thought that the common-sense way for NASA
> to have tried reusability at the end of Apollo would
> have been to stick with Saturn IB, gradually
> modifying part or all of the system toward recovery
> and reuse. The first stage was originally designed
> with parachute recovery in mind, for example. The
> second stage could have been modified for experiments
> in reusability (see Gary Hudson's many ideas on this).
> Meanwhile, the Apollo spacecraft could also have been
> gradually optimized for LEO/Space Station use (bigger
> CM, smaller SM, design for reuse, etc).
>
> - Ed Kyle


The stage-and-a-half Saturn V-B was another attractive option.

http://astronautix.com/lvs/saturnvb.htm

Will McLean

.

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