Keith Cowing Makes His Move

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/20...able.html#more

I've already made mine :

http://webpages.charter.net/tsiolkov...oposal/IPO.doc

What will Michael Griffin's next move be?

It's a space board! Filled with player's pieces!

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/20...able.html#more

Keith Cowing's web page contains:

Here are the specific questions I asked ESMD PAO - questions that they
are either unwilling or unable to answer:

Do launch vibroacoustics, oscillations, etc. generated by the current
Ares 1 design exceed acceptable baselined limits for the Orion
spacecraft? Do these oscillations exceed limits and/or pose a risk to
the crew inside the Orion spacecraft? If so, to what extent to they
exceed acceptable limits?
[and continues on in that vein]

Well, PAO is almost surely unable to answer to this level of technical
detail on their own.

The questions are also mostly loaded. It struck me as the kinds of
questions that a congressional committee, GAO, etc, would ask, not the
kind that PAO would routinely answer to the public.

Having said all that, it is interesting that Cowing is on this
particular warpath. Not that I've been following Ares closely enough
to really know what to make of it...

"Jim Kingdon" wrote in message
news
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/20...able.html#more

Keith Cowing's web page contains:

Here are the specific questions I asked ESMD PAO - questions that they
are either unwilling or unable to answer:

Do launch vibroacoustics, oscillations, etc. generated by the current
Ares 1 design exceed acceptable baselined limits for the Orion
spacecraft? Do these oscillations exceed limits and/or pose a risk to
the crew inside the Orion spacecraft? If so, to what extent to they
exceed acceptable limits?
[and continues on in that vein]

Well, PAO is almost surely unable to answer to this level of technical
detail on their own.

That was my thought as well. And since PAO can't answer these directly, I'm
not terribly sure they're going to be highly motivated to start bugging
ESMD's technical managers for the answers.

The questions are also mostly loaded. It struck me as the kinds of
questions that a congressional committee, GAO, etc, would ask, not the
kind that PAO would routinely answer to the public.

Yea, well, we are talking about Keith Cowing here, so it doesn't surprise
me.

Having said all that, it is interesting that Cowing is on this
particular warpath. Not that I've been following Ares closely enough
to really know what to make of it...

From what I've gleaned from sites like NASA Watch and Spaceflight.com, it's
not doing very well. The vibration issue was discussed here a bit (no ET to
dampen the SRB's vibrations, and the fifth segment on the SRB changes the
frequency of the SRB vibrations as well). Weight has been an ongoing issue
since NASA insists on launching Orion fully fueled for lunar missions.

All in all, it's not appearing to be going very well. This isn't the "safe,
simple, soon" launch vehicle that ATK sold us. It's a horrible bait and
switch!

Jeff
--
A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein

Jim Kingdon wrote:

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/20...able.html#more

Keith Cowing's web page contains:

Here are the specific questions I asked ESMD PAO - questions that they
are either unwilling or unable to answer:

Do launch vibroacoustics, oscillations, etc. generated by the current
Ares 1 design exceed acceptable baselined limits for the Orion
spacecraft? Do these oscillations exceed limits and/or pose a risk to
the crew inside the Orion spacecraft? If so, to what extent to they
exceed acceptable limits?
[and continues on in that vein]

Well, PAO is almost surely unable to answer to this level of technical
detail on their own.

The questions are also mostly loaded.

Loaded with facts.

It struck me as the kinds of
questions that a congressional committee, GAO, etc, would ask, not the
kind that PAO would routinely answer to the public.

Yes, the Bush Administration is a secret society. Are you a member?

Having said all that, it is interesting that Cowing is on this
particular warpath. Not that I've been following Ares closely enough
to really know what to make of it...

Indeed, your level of ignorance is astonishing for a space advocate.
Perhaps you are not a space advocate after all. We're space activists.
We're professional astrobiologists. Do you know the difference?