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Comment Threads

• joshcryer commented on Bolden and Holdren Fight Back
  SpaceX is wisely allowing COTS-A-C to get completed before they run headlong in to completing Dragon for COTS-D. That's how you actually manage a program....

• forrestlumpkin commented on Bolden and Holdren Fight Back
  Chrish, There is a "head" start today. We have a VAB, launch complex 39, and the Michoud assembly facility. Also, much of the Ares hardware was planned to be derived from existing hardware such as the SRB and the J-2 engine. The Orion vehicle nearing PDR. In 1960 there was no Johnson Space Center/Mission Control. It is not like we are starting from scratch. In my opinion the "head starts" in 1960 and today are about equivalent. The thing that greatly upset me was the implication that even with a blank check, our science and technology leaders don't think we...

• JedL commented on Bolden and Holdren Fight Back
  I'm in no position to judge, but I've heard that rocket scientists from the olden days were pretty hardcore. Johnny Rocket Student doesn't have the same morale he had when we all expected him to save us from the Russians. He can go out and play, or take more Business and Liberal Arts courses. U.S. workers and designers are more "productive" due to increased reliance on automation. That's marginally helpful for lunar exploration. And our economy is bigger. Are you counting Wall Street? If I'm building a rocket I'd hire people with manufacturing experience. That's the sector by which I...

• Noel commented on Bolden and Holdren Fight Back
  @forrestlumpkin 'much of the Ares hardware was planned to be derived from existing hardware such as the SRB and the J-2 engine.' I think you got the wrong tense there ("planning to be") - the J-2X contract was awarded in mid-2007; P+W had major components in full-scale test by late 2008, and initial tests of the complete engine were supposed to happen in late summer of 2010. No idea if they are still on that schedule, and what the plans are in light of the Garver 'plan', but given that the design passed CDR at the end of 2008, I...

• forrestlumpkin commented on Bolden and Holdren Fight Back
  @JedL The main reason the US economy is bigger today than in 1960 is a much larger workforce/population. 1960 population ~ 190M; 2010 population ~ 304M A secondary factor is increased productivity for each worker. Granted since most "exploration" vehicles are production runs in the 10's instead of the millions, "automation" will not as big a factor as say in the automobile industry. However, for example, today's aerospace vehicles have avionics which are much more based on COTS hardware (where automation is important) than they did in the 1960's. In the 60's, aerospace circuits were wire wrapped with discrete components....