Re: commercial uses of the Dtick and the Heavy Lifter
- From: "Ed Kyle" <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 4 Oct 2005 20:19:48 -0700
Josh Hopkins wrote:
> "Ed Kyle" <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1128460709.336594.238890@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Henry Spencer wrote:
> > > In article <1128435679.364735.275010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> > > Ed Kyle <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > >The Falcon 9 payload is "top secret", non-standard, and
> > > >one-off, so we have no way of knowing if it is essential or not.
> > >
> > > Again, what does "essential" mean? What matters is whether it's
> important
> > > enough to the customer to be worth launching.
> >
> > Does the payload, by itself, contribute to the
> > national defense in a way that is worth the cost?
> > Or is it little more than a thinly veiled
> > "demosat" used to transfer funds to a startup
> > launch provider?
>
> The fact that some classified organization chose to purchase
> a Falcon launch rather than an EELV launch *is* interesting.
> However, there is every indication that SpaceX planned to
> build a smaller launch vehicle (Falcon 5) and this customer
> needed more payload capacity badly enough to drive a
> requirement for a new, larger launch vehicle (Falcon 9).
> Elon Musk was hinting at that before the decision to
> do Falcon 9 was announced. That seems consistant with
> a real spacecraft that has to meet a real mission requirement.
> If it were simply a thinly veiled startup 'anchor tenant'
> subsidy, why not subsidize Falcon 5?
>
> Josh Hopkins
If it were a critically important payload, it
would almost certainly be flying on a proven
EELV-Medium. It seems to me more likely that
this is an effort by someone in the recon
research arena to create a more responsive
EELV alternative.
- Ed Kyle
.
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