Time to Revisit the Aerospace Plane Concept in Light of this Disaster

self | 02/01/03 | LS

[rs79bm]

Of course, but it got cancelled because of the inordinate amount of funding it required. I would like to see new concepts designed that can do things more effectively and efficiently. We can do that, but it does require a lot of work.

[RayChuang88]

NASA last year had started to put out bids for engineering studies on a replacement for the Space Shuttle that would be flying in the next decade. It looks like that project will have to be accelerated with the unfortunate loss of Columbia. :-(

I agree it's time to revive the aerospace plane idea. Besides the fact you no longer need complicated vertical launch facilities, it also means the aerospace plane could operate from anywhere in the world that has at least a 12,000 foot runway. The only infrastructure improvements besides new hangers to store and service the aerospace plane is fuelling facilities for liquid methane or hydrogen slush fuel that the aerospace plane will need.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Time to Revisit the Aerospace Plane Concept in Light of this Disaster Can we grieve, first?

[the_doc]

Thanks for the opinion. Sounds reasonable to me.

[evolved_rage]

Can we grieve, first?
BUMP!!

[canuck_conservative]

I don't get it.

"... the frozen slushy hydrogen was pumped THROUGH the aircraft, to the leading edges of the wings and nose first, then to less hot areas, then finally to the engines, where it was burned..."

The ship doesn't need to burn fuel on re-entry; the problem is an EXCESS of speed! Fuel is burned only at takeoff, to GET to orbital speed. Thus - what's left for re-entry cooling? Explain, please.

And liquid slush hydroden? Never heard of that.

[weikel]

Bump

[taxed2death]

It seems like an incredible waste of human life......just to study "dust". Couldn't this mission have been completed by an unmanned space drone?

[weikel]

I agree we should phase in a privitazation of NASA( a military space branch should be retained). However what happened today was a tragedy and NASA isn't staffed with morons like most gov agencies.

[Eala]

it is perhaps time to revisit the intentions behind the now-cancelled National Aerospace Plane (the X-30) program.

I worked on the Shuttle program when its only flights were still in wind-tunnels ('73-'75). The Shuttles are long past their time -- but NASA has become so encumbered by bureaucracy I wouldn't expect to see anythng new without a HUGE infusion of cash. (It was while I was there, 30 years ago, that one of the scientists observed a bleak milestone attained: NASA's staffing had reached the level one bureaucrat for each researcher.)

[Constantine XIII]

Unfortunately, that isn't true any more. A few years ago NASA officially passed the 1 to 1 mark for the ratio of scientists to bureaucrats. :o(

[Mfkmmof4]

Agreed!!

[Eala]

the need for the Shuttle-type tiles

Those tiles were amazing stuff in their day. Tough enough to survive the rigors of re-entry, light enough for the application, and providing an amazing amount of insulation. But there was always concern about them -- the last program I worked on at NASA was an ultra-high-speed wind-tunnel test to see how well a tile would stand up to the dynamic forces encountered during re-entry.

[Brett66]

The Orbital Space Plane project could be sped up, it is time to think seriously where NASA should be going with it's launch system. A positive direction could result from this, where we get a safer, less complex, less expensive means of getting people into space. In an ideal world, NASA would simply buy tickets on a private company's launch system to get to the ISS. Unfortunately no private company has such a system but I expect that to change in the next decade.

[Atlas Sneezed]

We may need to send people into space for military research necessity, but with advancements in computer technology there is no reason for our government to be sending civilians into space.

[weikel]

Oh. Well there is your problem. So the buereaucrats outnumber the technocrats...

[jaz.357]

Shuttle technology is 40 years old.