Comments on: Falcon 1 launch a success!

By: Buzz Parsec

Buzz Parsec — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:00:11 +0000

Convective cooling doesn’t work in space. It requires gravity. You are all thinking of conductive cooling.

By: Falcon 1 launch a success! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine - Himanchals Org.

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:23:02 +0000

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By: Elmar_M

Elmar_M — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:16:30 +0000

I am with John Powell on this, the DCX was the much more realistic approach. The Venture Star was to ambitious. I hate to say it, but ever since von Braun retired NASA has had a bad hand when it came to designing launch vehicles. The Constellation system is a way to expensive and not very well designed architecture. It will not make access to space any cheaper, nor will it make it more maintainable.
IMHO NASA should put money into the development of technologies for launch vehicles, but leave the ultimate design and construction of LVs to private companies.
I still hope that someone will build some DC-X like vehicle one day. There are some private companies that are heading that way, but they are only going suborbital for now.

By: Duckfish

Duckfish — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:56:00 +0000

As a staunch libertarian and space geek, this is immensely exciting to me. In my opinion the whole reason why space flight has been so slowly advancing over the past forty years is that it’s been entirely government-run. In America, the only true innovations that were completely government-run were Apollo and the atom bomb, and both of them were “cost is no object” projects. The private sector is the only place where true space innovation can take place, and it is there where I’ll be looking for the future of space flight. NASA has done its job, but it’s about to become obsolete, given the spending cuts and the complete lack of mobility until Ares is released. Go private sector.

By: addams013

addams013 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:55:25 +0000

Charles Boyer: The technology for reliable space-flight has existed for more than forty years, but we’ve not truly taken advantage of it in the ways that we could — and should have.

I’m inclined to agree. If you ever want to experience the melancholy of What Could Have Been, look up Apollo Applications sometime. One of the ideas that grabs my imagination is a plan to use a pack of consumables in place of a LM and use the Saturn IV-B stage to push it and an Apollo CSM to a Near-Earth Asteroid rendezvous. (Some of those asteroids require less delta-v to visit than the Moon!) Or what might have been possible if we’d used a Centaur as an upper stage. Heck, if you ever just wanted to take something the size of a Volkswagen and hurl it clear of the Solar System, the Saturn V represented that kind of technology.

Which we no longer possess, incidentally. Maybe the Ares V will help us realize some of those missed opportunities.

By: Ryan The Biologist

Ryan The Biologist — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:37:56 +0000

Elon Musk is a true visionary, and the world needs more millionaires like him. Every time I hear something about this guy, I can’t help but think “Hell YEAH!” Affordable and practical electric cars, commercial access to space, secure online purchasing, Mr. Musk is the kind of guy that really has it together.

By: Charles Boyer

Charles Boyer — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:28:38 +0000

@addamso13,

Indeed, it is the problem. Space exploration by and large has been underfunded — both manned and robotic. The technology for reliable space-flight has existed for more than forty years, but we’ve not truly taken advantage of it in the ways that we could — and should have.