Ok, yeah... this is a really random thread for her... but that's why it's in off topic hehe
So.. NASA has this whole mandate to retire the shuttle, design a new ship to launch crew, and to implement the "Vision for Space Exploration".... which includes landing back on the moon by 2020, and establishing a moon base after that, and planning towards and eventual manned Mars mission.
so... what is NASA currently doing to this end? well, they are planning on retiring the shuttle in 2010... and they have plans for a couple of new launchers.... which the first launcher won't be ready until march 2016.... that's 6 years without the ability to launch people into space.... interesting huh? well... so what is this delay all about? what are they designing that we will be waiting 6 years for? well... that's complicated....
one of the mandates in the "vision for space exploration" is that they must utilize the shuttle infrastructure, workforce, hardware, etc... keep that in mind....
the first ship is called Ares I... the idea was just to have a smaller launcher that will only launch crew.... so basically they start with a solid rocket booster (the white things on the sides of the space shuttle stack), and they throw a small upper stage on it, and it's supposed to be a quick easy way to space..... welllllll...... first of all they have to basically start from scratch with this ship... because this type of thing has never been done.... on top of that... all of the performance milestones haven't been met by the design.... so they had to raise the solid rocket booster from 4 segments to 5 (which requires an almost complete redesign of the whole thing.... meaning you're not really utilizing what you've got from the shuttle).... so even after doing that, it's still not able to lift as much as they would hope.... and there are other issues, such as thrust oscillation (kind of like what happens when you blow on a flute) that might just shake the crew to pieces.... all in all it's going to cost billions upon billions to develop... and even then, it won't be ready until 2016.... doesn't seem like we're saving either time or money there..... and on top of that... it won't be able to life really any cargo.... it's WAY less capable than even the shuttle.... but more expensive....
so what's after that? well... they have this huge behemoth of a rocket, that is mainly going to be for cargo... it's called Ares V... this is a ship which is going to cost something like $16 BILLION to develop... and billions to operate on top of that... this ship is a huge rocket... that will be able to lift more than the Saturn V moon rocket.... well... once again, it is not meeting design specs.... and is so underpowered they had to add another engine.... and make the SRB's on the side even LONGER... which means a separate set of SRB's will have to be developed for this rocket... making development even more expensive... the total development and operating cost of this new system over the next 20 years will be about $35 BILLION dollars....
is this the best way to do things? well, right now we actually have a fairly good heavy launch system that is actually pretty good.... the shuttle stack.... and i know you're thinking "but we've already had 2 shuttles and crews lost"... well, that was due in large part to the actual "shuttle"... having the shuttle on the side is a bad idea.... but what if you took the engines out of the shuttle, and put them on the bottom of the fuel tank (big orange tank that the shuttle sits on), and then put a cargo section and apollo type capsule on the top? you've got a heavy launch system that NASA already builds... is already familiar with, and is actually fairly cheap (the only expensive part is the shuttle itself... 3 decades of budget cuts have trimmed it down to a very efficient system).... this thing can launch the 12-story building that is the space shuttle into orbit... and we are just going to throw the whole system away... and spend billions upon billions of dollars developing a new system that is less capable and far more expensive... and takes far longer.....
this idea, of putting the engines on the bottom of the fuel tank, and the crew and cargo on the top is a rocket design and launch system called "Direct 2.0" or... the Jupiter 120 rocket....
http://www.directlauncher.com/
cheaper, safer, and sooner than nasa's current plans.... not only that... but if you add an upper stage... you can send missions to the moon.... launch 2 of the rockets with upper stages (Jupiter 232), and you can send more weight to the moon than NASA's new behemoth Ares V.... and with far less cost... and far sooner.... and $35 billion cheaper over the next 20 years....
their plans say NASA could be launching crews to the ISS on the Jupiter 120 by 2012... less than 2 years after retiring the space shuttle... if they start now.... and they could save tons of money.... money they could put to more science missions.... and yet, NASA keeps plodding along on this plan that needs Apollo era funding in an era when NASA will never get it.... in the apollo days nasa was getting 4 percent of the us budget.... today nasa gets 0.6 percent of the budget... and this in a time of looming depression... and a time when space exploration is far less popular than in the 60's .... and there's no space race to fuel it.... and NASA's new administrator Michael Griffen... wants to throw away nasa's current cheap tested heavy launch system in favor of a huge system that likely won't even get funded... and which is far more expensive and far less capable.... what the hell is going on? seems very strange to me....
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/
ok... that's enough of my soapbox rambling lol
So.. NASA has this whole mandate to retire the shuttle, design a new ship to launch crew, and to implement the "Vision for Space Exploration".... which includes landing back on the moon by 2020, and establishing a moon base after that, and planning towards and eventual manned Mars mission.
so... what is NASA currently doing to this end? well, they are planning on retiring the shuttle in 2010... and they have plans for a couple of new launchers.... which the first launcher won't be ready until march 2016.... that's 6 years without the ability to launch people into space.... interesting huh? well... so what is this delay all about? what are they designing that we will be waiting 6 years for? well... that's complicated....
one of the mandates in the "vision for space exploration" is that they must utilize the shuttle infrastructure, workforce, hardware, etc... keep that in mind....
the first ship is called Ares I... the idea was just to have a smaller launcher that will only launch crew.... so basically they start with a solid rocket booster (the white things on the sides of the space shuttle stack), and they throw a small upper stage on it, and it's supposed to be a quick easy way to space..... welllllll...... first of all they have to basically start from scratch with this ship... because this type of thing has never been done.... on top of that... all of the performance milestones haven't been met by the design.... so they had to raise the solid rocket booster from 4 segments to 5 (which requires an almost complete redesign of the whole thing.... meaning you're not really utilizing what you've got from the shuttle).... so even after doing that, it's still not able to lift as much as they would hope.... and there are other issues, such as thrust oscillation (kind of like what happens when you blow on a flute) that might just shake the crew to pieces.... all in all it's going to cost billions upon billions to develop... and even then, it won't be ready until 2016.... doesn't seem like we're saving either time or money there..... and on top of that... it won't be able to life really any cargo.... it's WAY less capable than even the shuttle.... but more expensive....
so what's after that? well... they have this huge behemoth of a rocket, that is mainly going to be for cargo... it's called Ares V... this is a ship which is going to cost something like $16 BILLION to develop... and billions to operate on top of that... this ship is a huge rocket... that will be able to lift more than the Saturn V moon rocket.... well... once again, it is not meeting design specs.... and is so underpowered they had to add another engine.... and make the SRB's on the side even LONGER... which means a separate set of SRB's will have to be developed for this rocket... making development even more expensive... the total development and operating cost of this new system over the next 20 years will be about $35 BILLION dollars....
is this the best way to do things? well, right now we actually have a fairly good heavy launch system that is actually pretty good.... the shuttle stack.... and i know you're thinking "but we've already had 2 shuttles and crews lost"... well, that was due in large part to the actual "shuttle"... having the shuttle on the side is a bad idea.... but what if you took the engines out of the shuttle, and put them on the bottom of the fuel tank (big orange tank that the shuttle sits on), and then put a cargo section and apollo type capsule on the top? you've got a heavy launch system that NASA already builds... is already familiar with, and is actually fairly cheap (the only expensive part is the shuttle itself... 3 decades of budget cuts have trimmed it down to a very efficient system).... this thing can launch the 12-story building that is the space shuttle into orbit... and we are just going to throw the whole system away... and spend billions upon billions of dollars developing a new system that is less capable and far more expensive... and takes far longer.....
this idea, of putting the engines on the bottom of the fuel tank, and the crew and cargo on the top is a rocket design and launch system called "Direct 2.0" or... the Jupiter 120 rocket....
http://www.directlauncher.com/
cheaper, safer, and sooner than nasa's current plans.... not only that... but if you add an upper stage... you can send missions to the moon.... launch 2 of the rockets with upper stages (Jupiter 232), and you can send more weight to the moon than NASA's new behemoth Ares V.... and with far less cost... and far sooner.... and $35 billion cheaper over the next 20 years....
their plans say NASA could be launching crews to the ISS on the Jupiter 120 by 2012... less than 2 years after retiring the space shuttle... if they start now.... and they could save tons of money.... money they could put to more science missions.... and yet, NASA keeps plodding along on this plan that needs Apollo era funding in an era when NASA will never get it.... in the apollo days nasa was getting 4 percent of the us budget.... today nasa gets 0.6 percent of the budget... and this in a time of looming depression... and a time when space exploration is far less popular than in the 60's .... and there's no space race to fuel it.... and NASA's new administrator Michael Griffen... wants to throw away nasa's current cheap tested heavy launch system in favor of a huge system that likely won't even get funded... and which is far more expensive and far less capable.... what the hell is going on? seems very strange to me....
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/
ok... that's enough of my soapbox rambling lol
