Personal computing discussed
Moderators: askfranklin, renee, emkubed, Captain Ned
Captain Ned wrote:Now we can finally move on to commercially-funded manned space programs, ala SpaceX.
Vrock wrote:Good riddance to an overly fancy and costly program.
just brew it! wrote:Vrock wrote:Good riddance to an overly fancy and costly program.
The original concept was good. It was the execution that kinda sucked.
Nutmeg wrote:Now I can finally ram a pike up your ass.
Voldenuit wrote:I'm not sure the concept was all that good to begin with. Making a spacecraft reusable ups complexity, ups weight (which reduces payload and range), ups cost, and reduces reliability and safety.
There are good reasons no other space program uses a reusable vehicle (and no, the Buran doesn't count, as it only flew once, and that without any crew on board, before getting canned). SpaceShipOne and Two don't count either, as they are both suborbital craft, and don't face high reentry stresses due to the low speed of reentry.
ludi wrote:Nutmeg wrote:Now I can finally ram a pike up your ass.
Uhm, wow, really? Just because the shuttle was a major accomplishment in manned spaceflight, doesn't mean it is sacrosanct now, when it is about 20 years obsolete. Time to move on.
Meanwhile, as a thought experiment, I would be curious to see what a modern shuttle program performed with the same intensity and money-pit atmosphere as the original, would produce. Given access to modern material science, both the physical structure and the heat-proofing materials ought to get a whole lot smaller and lighter, meaning lower fuel requirements and a shorter reset time.
Voldenuit wrote:We have a winner.just brew it! wrote:Vrock wrote:Good riddance to an overly fancy and costly program.
The original concept was good. It was the execution that kinda sucked.
I'm not sure the concept was all that good to begin with. Making a spacecraft reusable ups complexity, ups weight (which reduces payload and range), ups cost, and reduces reliability and safety.
Thrashdog wrote:Voldenuit wrote:I'm not sure the concept was all that good to begin with. Making a spacecraft reusable ups complexity, ups weight (which reduces payload and range), ups cost, and reduces reliability and safety.
There are good reasons no other space program uses a reusable vehicle (and no, the Buran doesn't count, as it only flew once, and that without any crew on board, before getting canned). SpaceShipOne and Two don't count either, as they are both suborbital craft, and don't face high reentry stresses due to the low speed of reentry.
What about SpaceX's Falcons? It's not a current capability, but Musk's stated that all stages of the Falcon 9 are ultimately intended to be reusable (SpaceX's inability to recover the first stage was their only disappointment on the first test flight), and the the Dragon capsule could actually be reused without so much as replacing the heatshield.
Captain Ned wrote:Now we can finally move on to commercially-funded manned space programs, ala SpaceX.
just brew it! wrote:Vrock wrote:Good riddance to an overly fancy and costly program.
The original concept was good. It was the execution that kinda sucked.