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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations ERIC BERGER - 5/19/2020, 4:37 PM - Ars Technica https://tinyurl.com/y7pd5ydx From above: However, his departure does not seem to be directly related to his work on Crew Dragon. Rather it seems to stem from the recent process during which NASA selected three bids?led by Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX?from among five bidders. In an email to the human exploration staff at NASA on Tuesday, Loverro admitted that he made a mistake earlier this year. "Our mission is certainly not easy, nor for the faint of heart, and risk-taking is part of the job description," Loverro wrote. "The risks we take, whether technical, political, or personal, all have potential consequences if we judge them incorrectly. I took such a risk earlier in the year because I judged it necessary to fulfill our mission. Now, over the balance of time, it is clear that I made a mistake in that choice for which I alone must bear the consequences. And therefore, it is with a very, very heavy heart that I write to you today to let you know that I have resigned from NASA effective May 18th, 2020." I smell Boeing. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
On 2020-05-19 5:40 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations ERIC BERGER - 5/19/2020, 4:37 PM - Ars Technica https://tinyurl.com/y7pd5ydx [snip] I smell Boeing. Jeff Yeah, what up with this? Seems very strange to get booted for something that hasn't even been built yet. There's something here that doesn't meet the eye. Some Congress critter (Boeing) threatening to expose some kind of shady business deal that Loverro missed? Or a self-deal Loverro forgot to divorce himself from? Dave |
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
In article , says...
On 2020-05-19 5:40 PM, Jeff Findley wrote: Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations ERIC BERGER - 5/19/2020, 4:37 PM - Ars Technica https://tinyurl.com/y7pd5ydx [snip] I smell Boeing. Jeff Yeah, what up with this? Seems very strange to get booted for something that hasn't even been built yet. There's something here that doesn't meet the eye. NASA eliminated Boeing's lander from the competition completely. Even worse, for Boeing, none of the landers chosen to continue on at this time will use SLS. All of the landers will use distributed launch instead. This is one more nail in the coffin for SLS. Once the landers prove the cost efficiencies of distributed launch, compared to the insanely high price of an SLS launch, what's to stop NASA from shifting Orion to distributed launch? You could launch Orion on a Falcon 9, Vulcan, or New Glenn and then launch a high energy upper stage on another launch vehicle (Falcon Heavy, Vulcan, or New Glenn). Dock the two in earth orbit, and away you go. You can get Orion to Gateway for less than half a billion in launch costs compared to the $1-$2 billion it's really going to cost to launch SLS. Heck, even the RS-25E engines for one SLS launch are going to cost NASA $400 million alone. Obviously Congress will have to relent and stop funding SLS, but the above sets up SLS to be a highly visible boondoggle that's holding back other spending on human exploration of the moon (crewed bases, crewed rovers, in-situ propellant production, and etc). Note that the above is all speculation on my part. But given what Senator Shelby has done in the past this seems likely. Remember when the news broke that Shelby told ULA to never mention propellant depots, squashing all engineering development they were planning to do as ride- shares on Centaur upper stages? ULA even has the PDF on their website still. https://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/default-source/extended- duration/cryogenic-orbital-testbed-(cryote)-2009.pdf Note the year, 2009! Politics has held back development of propellant depots for over a decade now. ULA has more experience with long term cryogenic storage of propellants than any other US company. Deliberately holding them back is absolutely horrible for US technology development. Some Congress critter (Boeing) threatening to expose some kind of shady business deal that Loverro missed? Or a self-deal Loverro forgot to divorce himself from? Good question. I'm hoping we find out for sure, but it seems likely that this has to do with the way that the human lander selection was handled, IMHO. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
In article ,
says... Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations ERIC BERGER - 5/19/2020, 4:37 PM - Ars Technica https://tinyurl.com/y7pd5ydx snip I smell Boeing. New article: SO LONG LOVERRO -Here's why NASA's chief of human spaceflight resigned and why it matters. Loverro was ardently trying to fulfill his 2024 Moon landing mandate. ERIC BERGER - 5/20/2020, 11:31 AM https://tinyurl.com/y8j9bsc9 From above: So Loverro was under the gun to get humans on the Moon by 2024, he had concerns about most of the bids, and he favored integrated launch. This means Loverro likely favored the design of Boeing's bid for a Human Landing System, which entailed launching an integrated lander on a "commercial" Space Launch System rocket. It seems reasonable to assume that Loverro may have been pushing Boeing to come up with a more competitive bid. (After the awards were given to Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX, the agency's "source selection statement" indicated that Boeing's bid did not make it past a preliminary round of consideration). When the inspector general found out about this, it likely precipitated Loverro's resignation. So, it looks like Loverro may have talked to Boeing during the selection process to tell them their proposal was inadequate and needed improvement. This is likely because Loverro does not think that distributed launch is a viable way to get people on the moon by 2024. But this is not at all legal and would certainly be grounds for firing (had it gone through the IG and been proven true). So resigning was the logical thing to do. The irony is he fell on is sword for nothing, since Boeing was eliminated from the competition anyway! This is all sad, really, because I personally believe that placing your bet on the big orange rocket has far longer odds of winning than placing your bet on distributed launch. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
"Jeff Findley" wrote in message
... The irony is he fell on is sword for nothing, since Boeing was eliminated from the competition anyway! This is all sad, really, because I personally believe that placing your bet on the big orange rocket has far longer odds of winning than placing your bet on distributed launch. Jeff I first misread your final paragraph as in support of SLS and it took me aback. But then I thought about it. If your "goal" is a flags and footprints mission. Honestly, SLS is probably the way to go. Overbuild a single-one off, spend lots of money on a barely marginal lander, fly, land, get some rocks, come home and declare victory. BUT, if you want anything sustainable, then yeah, any of the other options are probably better. In a sense, I think it's a set of competing goals. A certain person at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave wants a lunar landing in 2024. He doesn’t really care how it's done. He's not a details man. But, I think others, including many at NASA are starting to really move towards a goal of a sustainable system. So, Loverro I think was caught between both goals and suffered. -- Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/ CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net IT Disaster Response - https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Resp...dp/1484221834/ |
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
On 2020-05-20 6:29 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
It's all pretty confusing right now. All the articles I've read are speculating to some degree. Jeff I'd use the word depressing. Dave |
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Doug Loverro resigns as Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations
In article ,
says... Scott Manley's take on the resignation: https://youtu.be/pHV14Tc2Jmw (8:47) I watched that last night, nothing really new there. Speculation is he gave Boeing information that he should not have. Likely information that they should have changed their proposal to make it more competitive. Possibly even specific information on the other proposals. Jeff -- All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone. These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends, employer, or any organization that I am a member of. |
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