Posted on 04/05/2005 6:36:15 PM PDT by KevinDavis
SpaceDev has signed a lease to expand its fabrication and test facilities and to begin constructing portable, high tech rocket motor test support equipment in anticipation of test firing new rocket motors that SpaceDev is developing for its low-cost expendable small launch vehicle called SpaceDev Streaker.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacedaily.com ...
NASA should be designing early retirement. That's it.
> Companies like spacedev should be developing the next rocket.. Not NASA...
Agreed. NASA should go back to it's NACA roots... doing advanced technology development and the like, and doing missions.... but doign missions usign craft developed by private industry. Private industry that benefitted from NASA tech developments... but private industry that is not mandated to *use* those developments. SSTO is possible with 1960's tech, for instance...
Isn't th lower stage usually the hardest to do?
And private industry will probably necessarily exclude all the big aerospace contractors, they are too enamored of the status quo to ever get serious about changing it.
> Isn't th lower stage usually the hardest to do?
Oh, HELL no. The lower stage has far softer margins. One pound of extra weight on the upper stage means a pound less payload, but one pound more on the lower stage means a few ounces less payload. That's why you often see big, heavy kerosene powered first stages with hydrogen upper stages.
Also, lower stages tend to burn out at around Mach 5-7 or so. Upper stage at orbital velocity (Mach 25+) Consequently, lower stages area hell of a lot easier to recover. And since they by definition have to be built stronger than upper stages (because they have to support not just the payload, but the upper stages), much of that added beef helps them survive recovery that much better.
Oh, the existing primes will eventually get involved. They will have to, or they will go under. Or they will go out of the space launch bidness. Keep in mind, there are only three space launch companies left (at the moment)... Boeing, Lockheed and OSC. Boeing and Lockheed can do other things, and may well end up abandonign space, if they can't keep the highly profitable monopoly.
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