Posted on 03/15/2019 2:19:14 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The Space Launch System (SLS) “is struggling to meet its schedule,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said at a Senate hearing Wednesday. The rocket won’t be ready for a launch in June 2020, when NASA had planned the Exploration Mission-1 flight of its Orion spacecraft around the moon.
The agency is now exploring options for meeting that deadline using “commercial capabilities,” Bridenstine said. He stressed that the agency remains committed to Boeing’s SLS, the largest rocket in U.S. history and a “critical capability” for future deep-space missions.
An October 2018 audit by NASA’s Inspector General found multiple management flaws in the SLS program, and said that Boeing was likely to spend at least $8.9 billion for the rocket, double the original budget for the contract. A test flight of the Orion capsule was launched in early 2015 aboard a Delta IV rocket built by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Without the SLS, NASA would be forced to purchase two heavy-lift vehicle launches and then integrate the Orion with an upper stage in orbit, adding to the cost. Bridenstine told the Senate panel that NASA may need further financial assistance from Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
So then they can go back to their mission of sending Mohammadans into outer space ?
The Orion Project (motto: Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970 which was killed in 1964) got around those problems completely. However, there was not only a total failure of political will, but also the concept was politically incorrect. And so we are stuck using second rate technologies and methods to this day.
Nearly 300,000lbs into LEO. That’s a monster that dwarfs Saturn V.
Saturn V 310,000 to LEO (90 nmi) or 170 nmi at 30 degrees, 107,100 to TLI
What kind of heavy are we talking? Falcon Heavy can lift 64 tons.
“The Orion Project”
I think that was the one that was going to use nuclear bombs as propulsion. I can see doing that in space, and it has been proposed as a means to get to Proxima Centari. But the original Orion Project had them using nukes starting on the ground. Yes, I think that would be a political problem.
I saw an interesting video where they proposed to launch a massive number of micro probes which would weigh about a gram and have light sails ~1m x 1m. They would be propelled to 0.2C by a huge array of ground based lasers. Massive redundancy, get there in 20 years. Given the advances in electronic and micro machines, I can see this tech being developed.
One problem with a single big ship is that the kinetic energy of just a speck of dust at those speeds would be like a nuke going off. Paint flecks cracked windows on the space shuttle going at ~18000 miles per hour. At 0.1C you are going 18000 miles per second. Small and redundant is possible solution to this issue.
“using current technology and methods”
That’s where basic research comes in.
I have had an MRI and I could definitely feel it when they switched it on. Maybe that’s a solution. This is where basic research come into play. I am amazed by how much conditioning you must get from just having gravity tugging at every molecule in your body 24x7.
Also any stationary atoms encounter at those speeds would end up with energies akin to a particle accelerator. In this case the particle isn’t be accelerated the target - the space is! If it hits moving atoms or particles just add those energies in!
Particles hitting something at huge speeds produce gamma rays. Another hazard. I read some years ago about a scheme to use magnetic fields to sweep the path clean. More mass, more energy required.
Yep!
If you could “warp space”, route the parties around the craft.
Sorry had to throw in some “Star Trek science” for fun!
It was only a political problem at the time because of the various treaties we had signed with Russian and the UN. The Limited Test Ban Treaty prevented it.
Yes, originally it was using nukes to launch, but was changed to using chemical rockets to orbit before it was canceled. One of the largest factors in cancellation was the Air Force which had other ideas like Apollo.
Collision is always a problem. However there were/are several schemes for overcoming this problem.
If you never try you never will.
Well, I suppose anything is possible. The kind of manned spaceflight that people really want requires us to build something like a USS Enterprise. We have absolutely no idea how to do that. That’s why I think that we need to set aside the foolishness we are engaged in today and use those resources to figure out how we might build that star ship. In the mean time, we can still be using the methods to explore the universe which have served us so well to this point
I need to find that video I saw on traveling to Proxima Centari and link to it here. One of the options was a ship just over 1 km long. IIRC it would have 100,000 H bombs on board, and that would be sufficient to propel it to 0.1C. It would be pretty cool to watch it during the acceleration phase.
But all that was before zero point propulsion ...
Zero Point - Classified Anti Gravity Craft - UFO Full Documentary
Narrated by Mark McCandlish USAF illustrator.
Who is McCandlish?
Is the Mark McCandlish Alien Reproduction Vehicle Nothing More Than Project 1794? (a jet propelled vehicle)
See McCandlish's replies in comments section.
OT
Former Defense Industry Technician Makes His Voice Heard At Anti-Geoengineering Event (Mark McCandlish)
... exposing and halting global climate engineering programs that are decimating our planet and the entire web of life
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