Posted on 10/18/2024 6:58:07 PM PDT by know.your.why
The U.S. Space Force has provided funding of $35 million to create a new spacecraft that can “maneuver without regret.”
In the future, there could be a spacecraft capable of maneuvering with unprecedented speed and agility, without the constraints of limited fuel.
The U.S. Space Force has provided funding of $35 million to create a new spacecraft that can “maneuver without regret.”
(Excerpt) Read more at interestingengineering.com ...
Kind of like a Tic Tac craft? Funny how that happens.
I’m thinking this will cost way, and I mean way more than just $35 million.
“I used to know a girl like that.”
LOL...but I’d wager there are a lot more guys like that.
Of course it will.
It’s probably $35 million for lab work or bench scale experiments.
As a rule of thumb, pilot / demonstration work costs 10X that. Then commercial deployment costs 10X that.
The success rate going from lab work to pilot is 10%. Then the success rate going from pilot / demonstration to commercial deployment is 10%.
This is true for all new technologies.
It’ll be $35M PER ENGINE. By comparison, SpaceX’s Raptor is a methalox engine with a nominal cost of ~$1M per engine with Elon’s desire to scale production to a point where the cost comes down to ~$250K. Nuclear propulsion was tried and was exceptionally effective, but electric engines aren’t going to produce the TWR required to get any meaningful payload into space. They’re really only useful in vacuum.
Likely end up Regret Outmaneuvered.
Ummmm - how can $35 Million make a dent in that project?
Such aircraft will cost many multiples of that...and R&D is way more expensive than eventual product...
Someone’s just found a way to dip into taxpayers’ money...
I can see a cobimination of chemical fueled booster rockets, for the heavy lifting and very small nuclear fueled propulsion units for the very long distance requirements. The nuclear fueled units would be so capable that in the near emptiness of space they could carry the heavier chemical fueled boosters for off planet take-offs and landings.
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