Science > Physics > What's New -- Friday, June 11, 2004 by Bob Park (this week Paul Gresser)
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Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Sam Wormley" |
| Date: |
11 Jun 2004 02:46:29 PM |
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What's New -- Friday, June 11, 2004 by Bob Park (this week Paul Gresser) |
Ref: http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn061104.cfm
Friday, June 11, 2004
1. THE REAGAN LEGACY: AN EPONYMOUS EPIDEMIC GRIPS WASHINGTON.
The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project is dedicated to making sure that
Americans are reminded of Reagan every day as they go about their
business. The top priority is to replace Alexander Hamilton on the
$10 bill. But Reagan is too big for a sawbuck. Too big even for
Rushmore. So why not go for the moon? Everybody loves the moon, and
it's badly in need of a real name. Other planets have moons with
dynamite names like "Phobos" and "Titan." What do we call our moon?
"The moon." It's an embarrassment. Why not call it "Reagan"? We were
there first, and we should name it. But we'd better do it before
China gets there and names it "Mao."
2. IT'S THE PITS: GOP LAWMAKER SLASHES FUNDS FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
The infamous Nuclear Posture Review, which leaked two years ago, (WN
15 Mar 02), outlined a secret plan to develop a new class of nuclear
weapons, while publicly opposing nuclear proliferation. David Hobson
(R-OH), powerful chair of the House Energy and Water Appropriations
Subcommittee, and a true fiscal conservative, was having none of it.
Funding was eliminated for a new pit facility, clearly capable of
making plutonium pits for new weapons, and a nuclear bunker-buster
bomb.
3. DARPA: A MOMENT OF SILENCE TO REFLECT ON OUR FALLEN PROGRAMS.
Last week marked the demise of the Isomer Energy Release Program, (WN
04 Jun 04) but this was only the most recent DARPA program to be too
strange even for the Pentagon, like Total Information Awareness (WN
20 Dec 02). Then there was the Policy Analysis Market, a plan to base
intelligence estimates on betting in a futures market (maybe that's
where the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq came
from), and the LifeLog comprehensive personal database
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,62158,00.html.
4. SPACESHIPONE: IS "LOW-COST SPACE FLIGHT" AN OXYMORON?
Scheduled for launch on June 21, SpaceOne is the first attempt to
send a private spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere with a human
cargo. If it can safely ferry three passengers to an altitude of 100
kilometers twice within two weeks, SpaceShipOne will win the $10
million Ansari X Prize, a contest intended to stimulate interest in
the space tourism industry. They hope to "show that people can fly to
space for very low cost" by using "the lowest technology possible,
not the highest." Perhaps they 'll be kind enough to fix Hubble (WN
26 Mar 04) while they're up there.
Paul Gresser contributed to this week's issue of What's New.
Bob Park can be reached via email at
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
University, but they should be.
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| User: "Uncle Al" |
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| Title: Re: What's New -- Friday, June 11, 2004 by Bob Park (this week PaulGresser) |
11 Jun 2004 03:20:57 PM |
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Sam Wormley wrote:
Ref: http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn061104.cfm
Friday, June 11, 2004
[snip]
4. SPACESHIPONE: IS "LOW-COST SPACE FLIGHT" AN OXYMORON?
Scheduled for launch on June 21, SpaceOne is the first attempt to
send a private spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere with a human
cargo. If it can safely ferry three passengers to an altitude of 100
kilometers twice within two weeks, SpaceShipOne will win the $10
million Ansari X Prize, a contest intended to stimulate interest in
the space tourism industry. They hope to "show that people can fly to
space for very low cost" by using "the lowest technology possible,
not the highest." Perhaps they 'll be kind enough to fix Hubble (WN
26 Mar 04) while they're up there.
1) The Hubble Space Telescope has a mission.
2) Despite incredible NASA incompetence (wrong mirror Rx, feed cable
vs. high gain antenna, crappy steering gyros, and 200% cost overrun in
custom building and orbiting its own KeyHole spy satellite), Hubble
works.
3) Hubble must be destroyed before more damage is done by its
successes. NASA Man in Space!
Uncle Al would sell Hubble to China for $(US)1 and transfer of
liabilty. Figure the NASA paperwork would cost $100 million to
duplicate a one page boilerplate Bill of Sale. Still a bargain.
If you want it done for real, Rutan and a few engineers not NASA and a
thousand bureaucrats.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!
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| User: "Will Janoschka" |
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| Title: Re: What's New -- Friday, June 11, 2004 by Bob Park (this week Paul Gresser) |
12 Jun 2004 10:31:59 AM |
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On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 20:20:57, Uncle Al <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> wrote:
Sam Wormley wrote:
Ref: http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn061104.cfm
Friday, June 11, 2004
[snip]
4. SPACESHIPONE: IS "LOW-COST SPACE FLIGHT" AN OXYMORON?
Scheduled for launch on June 21, SpaceOne is the first attempt to
send a private spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere with a human
cargo. If it can safely ferry three passengers to an altitude of 100
kilometers twice within two weeks, SpaceShipOne will win the $10
million Ansari X Prize, a contest intended to stimulate interest in
the space tourism industry. They hope to "show that people can fly to
space for very low cost" by using "the lowest technology possible,
not the highest." Perhaps they 'll be kind enough to fix Hubble (WN
26 Mar 04) while they're up there.
1) The Hubble Space Telescope has a mission.
2) Despite incredible NASA incompetence (wrong mirror Rx, feed cable
vs. high gain antenna, crappy steering gyros, and 200% cost overrun in
custom building and orbiting its own KeyHole spy satellite), Hubble
works.
3) Hubble must be destroyed before more damage is done by its
successes. NASA Man in Space!
Uncle Al would sell Hubble to China for $(US)1 and transfer of
liabilty. Figure the NASA paperwork would cost $100 million to
duplicate a one page boilerplate Bill of Sale. Still a bargain.
If you want it done for real, Rutan and a few engineers not NASA and a
thousand bureaucrats.
Yeah-- Go Bert; and again show the idiots how it is done!!!
-will :@)
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| User: "Dave Typinski" |
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| Title: Re: What's New -- Friday, June 11, 2004 by Bob Park (this week Paul Gresser) |
11 Jun 2004 07:23:07 PM |
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Uncle Al wrote:
Sam Wormley wrote:
Ref: http://www.aps.org/WN/WN04/wn061104.cfm
Friday, June 11, 2004
[snip]
4. SPACESHIPONE: IS "LOW-COST SPACE FLIGHT" AN OXYMORON?
Scheduled for launch on June 21, SpaceOne is the first attempt to
send a private spacecraft beyond Earth's atmosphere with a human
cargo. If it can safely ferry three passengers to an altitude of 100
kilometers twice within two weeks, SpaceShipOne will win the $10
million Ansari X Prize, a contest intended to stimulate interest in
the space tourism industry. They hope to "show that people can fly to
space for very low cost" by using "the lowest technology possible,
not the highest." Perhaps they 'll be kind enough to fix Hubble (WN
26 Mar 04) while they're up there.
1) The Hubble Space Telescope has a mission.
2) Despite incredible NASA incompetence (wrong mirror Rx, feed cable
vs. high gain antenna, crappy steering gyros, and 200% cost overrun in
custom building and orbiting its own KeyHole spy satellite), Hubble
works.
3) Hubble must be destroyed before more damage is done by its
successes. NASA Man in Space!
Uncle Al would sell Hubble to China for $(US)1 and transfer of
liabilty. Figure the NASA paperwork would cost $100 million to
duplicate a one page boilerplate Bill of Sale. Still a bargain.
If you want it done for real, Rutan and a few engineers not NASA and a
thousand bureaucrats.
Feh. Rutan may win the X prize; but, this will not, despite Scaled
Composites' gushing press releases, usher in a new era of civilian
space flight.
There's no profit in it. No matter how thin you slice it, LEO is
expensive. Way expensive. Look at Scaled's press release and note
whose name is listed first:
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/New_Index/news/062104.htm
Paul Allen is playing fast and loose with his cash. A tourist company
beholden to owner/investors won't. Orbital Sciences Corp has made a
go of civilian launch operations with their L-1011 and Pegasus launch
vehicle; however, they're not carting humans anywhere near space.
Moreover, a 100km sub-orbital ballistic hop is not at all the same
thing as orbiting, let alone an extended stay to do anything useful
(if, in fact, there is anything useful for people to do there beyond
just looking out the window). Re-entry heat, for starters, which
means a heavier structure with a heat shield. Add consumables and the
extra fuel needed to loft all of it.
As you noted, Rutan will get the job done. For the foreseeable
future, however, he will not make any money at it. Which means the
morning of June 21, 2004 will be a nice "ooh ahh" moment, but not much
else.
It'd be far more impressive if Scaled launched their own probe and
successfully brought back a chunk from the asteroid belt (or maybe one
of Alan Shepard's golf balls) as proof of concept.
--
Dave Typinski
http://home.alltel.net/trapezium
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