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2005-08-19 Home Front: Tech

Shuttle grounded until ~~pigs have wings~~ 2006

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Posted by Jackal 2005-08-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11126 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Americans probably still will Jackal, you're just looking at the wrong ones. The NASA of the moonshots that so inspired kids like me (well, I was then!) is long long gone. This NASA is a bureaucratic nightmare, too afraid to take chances, to tell the American public what *risk* really means - ie people can die doing this stuff, and are too hampered by ridiculous legislation - one of the reasons the foam detached is because it doesn't use CFCs.

The people you want to look at are the Rutans, the people who were involved in the X-Prize and the newer prizes. Richard Branson is also in the frame too. Essentially, entrepreneurs - people who see an opportunity and just get things done.

Don't look to the Government for colonising space, the best thing they can do is to buy services from private firms.

Check out what Rand Simberg, Jerry Pournelle and others have to say on this - it's not all doom and gloom! :)

Posted by Tony (UK) 2005-08-19 06:51|| 2005-08-19 06:51|| Front Page Top

#2 NASA said Thursday it is pushing the next shuttle flight into 2006 to give engineers time to understand dangerous fuel-tank foam loss and to avoid the string of unrealistic launch dates that preceded Discovery's just-completed mission.

The very first step in the process is to fire without pause any bureaucratic weenie who changed the formulation and who resists returning to the original formulation. We've had years to get back to it, so time is not an excuse. Off with their heads [the big or little one, fielders choice].

Posted by Shomonter Threater9114 2005-08-19 08:52|| 2005-08-19 08:52|| Front Page Top

#3 Looks like ima maybe have Oxford fren help me post. We'ent me.

Posted by Grulet Ulinert8626 2005-08-19 09:51|| 2005-08-19 09:51|| Front Page Top

#4 NASA said Thursday it is pushing the next shuttle flight into 2006 to give engineers time to understand dangerous fuel-tank foam loss and to avoid the string of unrealistic launch dates that preceded Discovery's just-completed mission.

These guys' collective heads are harder than diamonds.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-08-19 10:47|| 2005-08-19 10:47|| Front Page Top

#5 Time to finally privitize space exploration. NASA has been lost in space for decades.

Posted by Captain America 2005-08-19 13:44|| 2005-08-19 13:44|| Front Page Top

#6 Here's a post by Jerry Pournelle on the shuttle.

Here's a really good comment;

What ought to have been done with NASA's billion and a half was: (1) Hire a dozen smart people to design a condom for the Shuttle Tank. Peter Glaskowsky and I discussed this last night: surely the right material for the condom would be America's Cup sailcloth which isn't a cloth but a reinforced carbon fiber film, as light as anything made for its strength. Make a condom of that, encase the tank in epoxy and that condom, and foam chunks won't fall off. It might weigh a few hundred pounds, and so what? (2) use the remaining funds -- a billion at least -- to pay a bunch of small companies out there to work on SSTO, recoverable first stage rocket boosters, and air drop. Get each to build the best X project flying hardware they can build incorporating their approach for the $333 million each will get. Fly those ships. Observe the results and decide which concepts to encourage.

It's all *there* to get people into space (also check out Whiskey Mikes comment today regarding nanotech sheets), we just need to (a) get the government out of deciding what happens in space and (b) let the private sector rip!

Posted by Tony (UK) 2005-08-19 16:53|| 2005-08-19 16:53|| Front Page Top

#7 Tony real capitalism? You think Washington DC wants to allow real capitalism?

Posted by Sock Puppet 0â Doom 2005-08-19 17:19|| 2005-08-19 17:19|| Front Page Top

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