NASA Avoids Smelling Like Musk

1. Congress cancelled funding for the previous NASA-planned heavy lifting rocket.
2. NASA kept the Orion capsule from that system in their plans, but with no way to launch it.
3. Elon Musk (SpaceX) has rockets that already work, and rockets in development that will be more than adequate for sending Orion capsules to Mars and beyond.
4. NASA just announced plans for their next heavy lifting rocket (Space Launch System) which looks like a scaled shuttle booster system.

Liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen may yield high amounts of thrust, but at significant cost - especially in a disposable system which must keep the two in liquid form. SpaceX can deliver as much thrust at far lower cost, and with fewer throw-away parts.

Given these factors, it's not really a surprise that NASA wants its own system, built and maintained by its traditional suppliers, is it? After all, they are a governmental agency. I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't someone from CERN advising them in this matter.

After all, this isn't rocket science, folks ... oh wait, it is rocket science. Frankly, rocket science is pretty darned simple, you know. So why do the rocket scientists seem to have such trouble with seeing how much their options cost? It's just simple arithmetic.

Posted by Procrustes 17

Related Posts:
Travels in Space and Time
The US Navy: Channeling Andre Norton
Occam and Lunatics
CERN's LHC Wants Your CPU Cycles
Slowly I CERN ... Step By Step ... Inch By Inch ...
Trying to disCERN the Truth