Now that's what I'm talking about.
The news that Boeing will take over a hanger at Kennedy Space Center for its own space program is exciting news to those of us who believe private spaceflight is the future. Hopefully, this private company won't be the last to get space on the port.
Seeing the final space shuttle flight has been a tough pill to swallow for everyone living in Florida this year, but this could create a genuinely brighter future, and one where there is more manned spaceflight, not less.
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Boeing has a legitimate shot at developing a crew capsule for use by NASA, because they have the experience and corporate culture to deal with NASA's manned spaceflight requirements. But they're relying on being able to qualify an existing launch vehicle, and to me, that's basically absurd. Consider structural strength.
ReplyDeleteWhen you balance the cost of failure against the probability of success for a rocket launching a satellite, the failure cost is low (compared to launching humans), so you can accept a lower probability of success. Given that, you design your rocket accordingly. One of the most important things you do is, you build your rocket so that it is not overly strong - more strength than is required means the rocket is heavier, and can carry less payload. Which, after all, is the point. A typical strength requirement for a rocket is that you be able to carry 1.25 times the highest anticipated load.
But when you trade that satellite payload for a human, you need a stronger rocket! NASA typically requires that you be able to carry 1.4 times the highest anticipated load. There is not a simple way to increase the strength of an existing design.
Other requirements are similar.
So, I take these kinds of claims with a huge grain of salt. I'm speculating that even Boeing doesn't expect this CST-100 thing to go anywhere, but they figure they could get their hands on some of the money NASA's handing out for commercial spaceflight and keep some talent within the company, until we get some real direction from the government.
--Tom