DailyDirt: More Commercial Spaceships On The Way
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The end of the space shuttle program is coming up pretty soon, but there are still a few plans to keep humans flying in space. It’s actually quite interesting to see commercial space programs getting off the ground, but just getting to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere (or a little bit beyond) isn’t that awe-inspiring anymore. Nevertheless, commercial ventures are trying to pick up the slack in space exploration, and here are a few links on just some of the projects ahead.
- The cancelled Ares I rocket could be turned into a commercial launch system that could take 44,500 pounds into low Earth orbit for just $180 million. This re-purposed rocket is planned for testing in 2013, if it can get some commercial space subsidies from NASA along the way. [url]
- The space shuttle program might not be completely mothballed if a NASA contractor can privately fly the Atlantis and Endeavour twice a year for under $1.5 billion. It’s a shame that the shuttle fleet will likely end up rusting in a museum, but the shuttles are pretty expensive to maintain. (And they don’t exactly have the best safety record….) [url]
- A robotic mission to the moon funded by SpaceX is under contract to launch as soon as December 2013. This first mission will rely on additional funding such as $24 million from Google’s Lunar X-Prize, Florida’s $2 million launch bonus, and a $10 million NASA contract. [url]
- NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is preparing to support more commercial launches as the shuttle program winds down. NASA has built more than a few nice rocket facilities, but the return on its investments might be a bit hard to find. [url]
- To discover more links on space exploration, check out what’s floating around in StumbleUpon universe. [url]
By the way, StumbleUpon can also recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
Filed Under: space, spaceships
Comments on “DailyDirt: More Commercial Spaceships On The Way”
It’s actually quite interesting to see commercial space programs getting off the ground…
D.D. Harriman, where are you?
Re: Re:
Had to google that one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delos_D._Harriman
Re: Re: Re:
You had to Google that????? Seriously, you’re missing out on some awesome fiction. 🙂
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To be fare I’m a Heinlein fan and would of had to Google that 😉
space shuttle safety record
I’m not sure it’s entirely fair to say the space shuttles “don’t exactly have the best safety record”. There have been two catastrophic losses in over 130 launches. Given the nature of space travel technology in general, and given how few flights we have relative to air travel, I think the safety record is consistent with the state of development of space travel technology.
Re: space shuttle safety record
Hmm. The Soyuz manned space missions probably have the best safety record — beating the shuttle by quite a bit. Not sure what other manned space program to compare the shuttle to that would make the shuttle look better…?
Re: Re: space shuttle safety record
How many losses had the Soyuz had after 130 launches? If I recall correctly, after accounting for those hidden by the Soviets, it was more than two.
In addition, the capabilities of a Soyuz are significantly lower than a shuttle. With increased capability comes increased complexity and increased risk.
It’s a trade-off, and I think if we’re serious about space exploration, we have to accept that there will be failures that involve loss of life.
Re: Re: Re: space shuttle safety record
But the issue is not the historic Soyuz failures (which contribute to the safety of the current vehicle). Soyuz is a throw-away rocket which means that it is easier to upgrade over time than the shuttle. The current Soyuz is a distant descendant of the ones that failed in the 60’s. They still use those old rockets for unmanned missions(they are cheaper) and they still fail from time to time but that is not relevant to the safety of the current manned system.
44,500lbs? Note to self, find out how much the house weighs.