Replacements for Orion?

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
On 4/6/2010 12:51 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 4/5/2010 4:32 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Blue Origin's a wild card because no one knows what they're up
to.

Why do I get the feeling that even Blue Origin doesn't know what Blue
Origin is up to?

They seem to be somewhat short on skilled people to build their rocketship
also, given what their employment openings list looks like:
http://www.blueorigin.com/
They do supply a place to hang your bicycle though.

Pat

Now I recognise who Blue Origin - haven't heard of them in about two years.

On 4/5/2010 5:58 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Jeff 'Amazon.com' Bezos' company out in the West Texas boondocks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Origin

Officially, they're going for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital market, but
there has been speculation they're aiming higher (i.e., why else would
they have been developing that pusher launch abort system NASA decided
to fund?)

That could be a combo launch abort/second stage system like Canadian
Arrow was going to use to reach space:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/newepard.htm
Alternately, the "Whole Zen Groove" of the concept may have felt right, man.
The turtles talk, Bezos The Man listens, and the "Little Tripster" takes
flight like a Kung-Fu monk.

Pat

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message
...

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
On 4/6/2010 12:51 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 4/5/2010 4:32 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Blue Origin's a wild card because no one knows what they're up
to.

Why do I get the feeling that even Blue Origin doesn't know what Blue
Origin is up to?

They seem to be somewhat short on skilled people to build their
rocketship also, given what their employment openings list looks like:
http://www.blueorigin.com/
They do supply a place to hang your bicycle though.

Pat

Now I recognise who Blue Origin - haven't heard of them in about two
years.

From the Blue Origin website:

"Flight testing of prototype New Shepard vehicles began in 2006. Blue Origin
expects the first opportunities for experiments requiring an accompanying
researcher astronaut to be available in 2012. Flight opportunities in 2011
may be available for autonomous or remotely-controlled experiments on an
uncrewed flight test."

That is all. :-|

On 4/6/2010 12:51 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:
On 4/5/2010 4:32 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:

Blue Origin's a wild card because no one knows what they're up
to.

Why do I get the feeling that even Blue Origin doesn't know what Blue
Origin is up to?

They seem to be somewhat short on skilled people to build their
rocketship also, given what their employment openings list looks like:
http://www.blueorigin.com/
They do supply a place to hang your bicycle though.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
On 4/5/2010 1:25 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
That's was the original plan; use D-IV-H for Orion. What kind of
mentality decided to develop an entirely new booster for Orion anyway?
Bloody ridiculous idea.

That's easy: former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. It was his pet
design
from the beginning and he made it clear to his underlings what the
"right"
decision was when it came to launch vehicles. Thanks Mike, NOT! :-P

Spread the wealth...first you have Delta IV and Atlas V meeting the same
military requirement, now it's time to bring in ATK with a third design
for civilian use.
One too many pigs in the pork barrel.

No kidding. When the EELV costs started to rise (due partly to fewer than
expected payloads), there was serious talk about eliminating one of them.
Then NASA comes along and creates yet another launch vehicle in the same
payload class. Absolute stupidity macro-economically.

Jeff
--
"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
Lampoon

On 4/6/2010 1:22 AM, Alan Erskine wrote:


From the Blue Origin website:

"Flight testing of prototype New Shepard vehicles began in 2006. Blue
Origin expects the first opportunities for experiments requiring an
accompanying researcher astronaut to be available in 2012. Flight
opportunities in 2011 may be available for autonomous or
remotely-controlled experiments on an uncrewed flight test."

They haven't released much data on the 2006 test flights, which suggest
that they went none-too-well.
As to why they have their assembly site in Washington state and their
test area in Texas, rather than just put the whole works in Texas, is a
good question.
It probably has something to do with the alternative music scene being
more favorable near Seattle, as well as easy access to magic mushrooms
rather than the harsh peyote buttons of Texas, but it makes for a long
bicycle ride to get from one site to the other.
When asked if they were tired of commuting between the two sites, the
Space Turtles replied: "You bet your sweet ass we are." ;-)

Pat

On Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:45:01 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

As to why they have their assembly site in Washington state and their
test area in Texas, rather than just put the whole works in Texas, is a
good question.

If you've been to West Texas, you wouldn't have to ask...

Brian

"Brian Thorn" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:45:01 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

As to why they have their assembly site in Washington state and their
test area in Texas, rather than just put the whole works in Texas, is a
good question.

If you've been to West Texas, you wouldn't have to ask...

Brian

I think Pat means "Why not have the whole thing in Texas?"

On Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:45:01 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

They haven't released much data on the 2006 test flights, which suggest
that they went none-too-well.
As to why they have their assembly site in Washington state and their
test area in Texas, rather than just put the whole works in Texas, is a
good question.
It probably has something to do with the alternative music scene being
more favorable near Seattle, as well as easy access to magic mushrooms
rather than the harsh peyote buttons of Texas, but it makes for a long
bicycle ride to get from one site to the other.
When asked if they were tired of commuting between the two sites, the
Space Turtles replied: "You bet your sweet ass we are." ;-)

Probably for the same reason SpaceX has their HQ in Hawthorne, CA as
opposed to the MacGregor, TX test site. No? But TX is still probably
an easier "commute" than Kwajelein.

On Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:26:25 GMT, "Alan Erskine"
wrote:


If you've been to West Texas, you wouldn't have to ask...

I think Pat means "Why not have the whole thing in Texas?"

Blue Origin isn't in Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio. Calling where
they are 'boondocks" in an insult to boondocks. They wouldn't get many
top-flight engineers to move out there.

Brian