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To: hopespringseternal
What I keep hearing from so many bureaucrats is that launch costs are stuck where they are for the forseeable future because of technical challenges. If that is the case, then manned space will continue to be a fool's errand.

I disagree, but there must be a realization that until a cheaper way is developed, space exploration will be expensive. The problems are both technical and political. The technical problems are difficult and solutions will not come cheap. The political problems generally manifest themselves in continuity of funding. Without long term commitment, all the start/stop/start efforts only increase total cost and wasted effort. Sadly, the nature of the federal budget process is such that beyond the next year, funding is an uncertainty.

15 posted on 02/28/2003 11:09:43 AM PST by Magnum44 (remember the Challenger 7, remember the Columbia 7, and never forget 9-11)
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To: Magnum44
The technical problems are difficult and solutions will not come cheap.

The technical problems have been solved again and again for forty years. The people whining about the technical challenges are NASA bureaucrats wanting every single project to mean employment for life.

Even if you work your way out to the concepts that send NASA bureaucrats hiding under their beds, such as SSTO, you don't find insurmountable technical obstacles.

Rocket engines, thermal protection systems, tanks, these are all relatively mature technologies.

Eventually, some private enterprise (Beal looks like the front runner now) will integrate these systems in a sane way and launch costs will start coming down. Until that happens, the bureaucrats will continue to maximize the dollars spent and minimize the return.

16 posted on 02/28/2003 1:22:32 PM PST by hopespringseternal
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