Posted on 02/08/2011 4:50:10 PM PST by Nachum
The marching orders from Congress and the White House to NASA were pretty straightforward. Go out and build a new big rocket to replace the retiring space shuttle fleet. Unlike the shuttle, the new rocket has to be powerful enough to get out of low Earth orbit and carry humans to an asteroid and eventually Mars, perhaps even the moon. There must also be a test flight by 2016. But at this point, NASA officials are warning of a potentially devastating setback to future space exploration. Its first new rocket in 40 years may not happen because the agency doesn't
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Sorry I don’t read or watch cnn.
Maybe they can outreach to Saudi for funding...
NASA must concentrate on making Muslims feel good an proving Globull Smarming is real. Who needs outer space?
Just break out the blueprints for the Saturn 1B or V. Problem solved.
Buy the Engergia from the Russkies?
It only flew twice (once in cargo mode, once carrying the
Buran). It seems about right.
I always wondered about their version of the SMU’s.
LOL! NASA Is a GW and Islamic joke. It was good when the Germans ran it.
Clintoon messed up NASA big time. I have physicist friends with connections to NASA, and they were not amused.
Bush did little or nothing to straighten things out. The lead scientist was too busy spouting off about global warming to do much else.
Obama, of course, has made things far worse. But it was in pretty dismal shape even before he got hold of it.
You would need Germans to build it. I doubt most of the NASA “engineers” could read the plans even if they are in English.
Von Braun’s plans are probably not in Arabic or ebonics.
SpaceX will pick up the slack.
http://news.discovery.com/space/moon-rocket-private-space-110207.html
Company Books Ride to the Moon
Astrobotic Technology reserves a spot on a private rocketship to deliver their lunar lander to the moon by as early as 2013.
(excerpt)
SpaceX, the rocket company headed by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, sold its first launch to the moon, a mission that gives Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, a Carnegie Mellon University spin-off, an early lead in a $32 million race to land a privately owned rover on the lunar surface.
The contract, announced Sunday, reserves a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to fly Astrobotic Technology’s lander and rover to the moon as early as December 2013.
“For every hundred technology developments there is one that has a ride booked. It’s a real distinguishing factor,” David Gump, president of Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, told Discovery News.
There’s room aboard the Falcon 9 for another 240 pounds of additional cargo, space Astrobotic Technology is selling for $700,000 per pound, plus a $250,000-per-payoad fee for integration, communications and other support services.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which has made two successful flights, is the same rocket NASA is buying to fly cargo — and perhaps eventually astronauts — to the International Space Station after the shuttles are retired in about six months.
Aside from adjusting navigation software, Falcon 9 doesn’t need any modifications to reach lunar orbit, Musk wrote in an email to Discovery News.
“Falcon 9 is capable of launching missions to the moon, Mars or beyond. Payload to the moon is about three tons and to Mars about two tons, meaning Falcon 9 could have launched the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers on a single flight,” wrote Musk.
Nasa is the islamic fell good agency they have no business in space besides zero took all thier money
Elon Musk is that POS who got loads of govt money for hsi electric car that will never be economically viable.
Politically incorrect builders, operators, and materials used so start over.
That muslim outreach is expensive.
I guess dipping into their Muslim Outreach budget is out of the question. A space agency has it’s priorities, I’m sure.
“Objective: Build us a new rocket.
Schedule: four years.
Mission: Undefined. Maybe Mars. Maybe an asteroid. Certainly beyond low earth orbit. Let’s launch it and see how far it’ll go.
Budget: Peanuts.”
Yep, that’s the way to start a huge new engineering project. Sounds just like all the fast choo-choos we are starting to build all over the place.
Hey! NASA and Barry can buy one from the local Muslim Rocket and Mosque Manufacturing Company. No problem — Barry’s Muslim brothers will give him a discount for selling out America to Islam and Saudi Arabia.
Sounds logical to me.
Using new materials and/or methods where it makes sense, why re-invent the wheel?
You can re-invent the wheel for future use, but for now we need to get going as inexpensively as possible.
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