Re: How to be immune from budget cuts

On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 04:58:16 GMT, simberg.interglobal@xxxxxxxxx (Rand
Simberg) wrote:

>On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 21:54:22 -0400, in a place far, far away, Josh
>Hill <usereplyto@xxxxxxxxx> made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
>such a way as to indicate that:
>
>>>>No, but it seems that the staff at NASA didn't believe in /any/ of the
>>>>SSTO proposals.
>>>
>>>They don't now. But that has nothing to do with reducing launch
>>>costs. They don't seem to think that's possible, either. They're in
>>>for a shock in the coming years, as they build their new white
>>>elephants.
>>
>>I suspect that, at this point, they just want something that works. No
>>one ever got fired for buying IBM . . .
>
>The problem is that there are things that would work, and much more
>cost effectively. And they're doing it with other peoples' money.

I'm beginning to think you're right. I've seen some proposals here
that don't strike me as particularly practical -- pin the program on
SpaceX, use small boosters rather than developing an HLV. But I don't
see any reason we couldn't use the Delta or Atlas for the CEV, thereby
saving most of the $5 billion or so allocated for its development,
with SpaceX an option if their program is successful and they can
offer lower launch costs. Unless someone can make a good safety
argument against it, It seems to me we could save $100 million per
moon mission by lofting the CEV on the HLV, as you propose. And it
seems to me that we could save a lot of the $15-20 billion development
cost of the CEV and HLV by sharing development with the Europeans and
Russians. That would leave $10 billion or so for the development of
advanced vehicles.

--
Josh

"This is a devastating storm. This is a storm that's
going to require immediate action now." -George W. Bush,
four days after Hurricane Katrina
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: CEV a Step Backwards
    ... >> Ahh sadly at 1.25 BILLION per launch the shuttle just isnt affordable:( ... >> Worse that cost is rising, given its aging systems. ... CEV itself will cost $250-350 million each? ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: How to be immune from budget cuts
    ... >>>cost effectively. ... And they're doing it with other peoples' money. ... >> offer lower launch costs. ... >> moon mission by lofting the CEV on the HLV, ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: GRIFFINS DRIVE FOR SHUTTLE-DERIVED
    ... CEV is being built primarily for lunar ... with ISS support as a secondary ... Why would lunar missions need a very large CEV when a small one can be ... > that cost per pound to orbit is lowest for the rocket ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Is Crew Launch Vehicle Too Big?
    ... >> option does exit for NASA to launch CEV from HLV instead of CLV, ... Having a CLV gives us access to low earth orbit earlier. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: USA Today: NASA Administrator says space shuttle was a mistake
    ... >>> You think the CEV won't? ... > The CEV alone may cost less, but the CEV plus the stick plus the SDHLV is ... > I'd expect the cost to build and fly those to be similar to ISS costs. ... are the benefits of this plan worth the costs? ...
    (sci.space.history)
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