"jonathan" wrote in message
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"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
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"jonathan" wrote in message
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Just one month before Bush wins the White House~
Atlanta Inquirer
10-14-2000
NASA, Lockheed Martin Agree On X-33 Plan
NASA and Lockheed Martin have agreed on a plan to go forward with the
X-33
space plane program, to include aluminum fuel tanks for the vehicle's
hydrogen fuel, a revised payment schedule and a target launch date in
2003.
The launch date is a contingent on Lockheed Martin's ability to compete
and
win additional funding under the Space Launch Initiative. NASA and
Lockheed
believe it is critical to continue work to solve the last remaining
barrier
to low-cost, reliable access to space.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-79131028.html
I see no malice by the administration here, only incompetence in picking
the
most technologically challenging X-33 proposal and actually expecting it
to
lead to a mature flight prototype.
Not malice, militarization.
I call b.s. As far as I'm concerned, there is no credible evidence that the
US military had any interest in terminating X-33. If anything, if X-33 had
flown, they would have gotten some good data from it, just as NASA would
have.
The fact is that the US military is not that interested in pushing
reusability of launch vehicles. Witness the fact that we already have to
underutilized EELV's, developed to meet US military requirements for
launching military payloads. They're currently moderately interested in
reusable upper stages/satellites, which could be launched by existing launch
vehicles. But I absolutely don't see them pouring tens of billions of
dollars into developing them, unlike other emerging military technologies.
Remember, no bucks, no Buck Rodgers. Show me the money. If the US military
really is *very* interested in these sorts of technologies, why don't we see
them spending the money to make them a reality? The answer is they're
interested, but not *that* interested.
Jeff
--
"Many things that were acceptable in 1958 are no longer acceptable today.
My own standards have changed too." -- Freeman Dyson