CEV to be made commercially available

Breaking news...

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-b...ic.php?t=31504


--
"The only thing that galls me about someone burning the American flag is how unoriginal it is. I mean if you're going to pull the Freedom-of-speech card, don't be a hack, come up with something interesting. Fashion Old Glory into a wisecracking puppet and blister the system with a scathing ventriloquism act, or better yet, drape the flag over your head and desecrate it with a large caliber bullet hole." Dennis Miller

On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 04:26:11 GMT, Scott Lowther
wrote, in part:

Breaking news...

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-b...ic.php?t=31504

LOL!

Now, if only your subject line were literally true... and there were
private companies that had a rational reason to have personnel flown to
the Moon, or even to experience springtime on Mars...

I suppose we shall have to content ourselves with what the song suggests
that might mean in other words...

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 12:07:57 GMT, in a place far, far away,
lid (John Savard) made the phosphor on
my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 04:26:11 GMT, Scott Lowther
wrote, in part:

Breaking news...

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-b...ic.php?t=31504

LOL!

Now, if only your subject line were literally true... and there were
private companies that had a rational reason to have personnel flown to
the Moon

There are many companies with rational reasons to have personnel flown
to the moon. What's lacking are companies that would be willing to do
it as expensively as the use of a CEV would require.

What's lacking are companies that would be willing to do it as expensively as the use of a CEV would require.

Then increase the flight rate. No such thing as a manned spacecraft
that'll be "cheap" if only flown a few times a year.

On 17 Oct 2005 11:26:57 -0700, in a place far, far away,
" made the
phosphor on my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

What's lacking are companies that would be willing to do it as expensively as the use of a CEV would require.

Then increase the flight rate. No such thing as a manned spacecraft
that'll be "cheap" if only flown a few times a year.

And there's no way that CEV will be cheap even if flown a thousand
times a year, if it flies on top of an expendable.

And there's no way that CEV will be cheap even if flown a thousand
times a year, if it flies on top of an expendable.

Agreed. That's why you should fly it on the Stick rather than the
EELVs. EELVs are fully expendable. Stick is fully reusable.

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:55:27 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote, in part:

There are many companies with rational reasons to have personnel flown
to the moon. What's lacking are companies that would be willing to do
it as expensively as the use of a CEV would require.

That's quite correct. It is absolutely true, every word of it.

However: just as Shenzou VI would not be out of the Earth's gravity if
it had a slightly higher orbit...

are you claiming that there are ways, absent the development of
far-future technologies such as a space elevator (or non-Newtonian
propulsion!), to send personnel to the moon at prices that would be
rational for even a *few* private companies to take advantage of?

Of course, looking at prices in my local department store... if it
weren't for the effects of the balance of payments deficit, perhaps the
U.S. could just buy Shenzou rockets from China!

Or, given NAFTA... Hecho en Mexico, anyone?

On the other hand, I think that it is possible to launch *small* rockets
quite inexpensively. On the Astronautix site, for example, the low cost
of the German V-2 is cited.

What with all the advances in microelectronics and medical science,
perhaps in a few decades people will be able to "upload" themselves into
a matchbox-sized mass of electronics. We could call it the Henry
Wadsworth Akeley method of space travel.

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:13:39 GMT, in a place far, far away,
lid (John Savard) made the phosphor on
my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:55:27 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote, in part:

There are many companies with rational reasons to have personnel flown
to the moon. What's lacking are companies that would be willing to do
it as expensively as the use of a CEV would require.

That's quite correct. It is absolutely true, every word of it.

However: just as Shenzou VI would not be out of the Earth's gravity if
it had a slightly higher orbit...

are you claiming that there are ways, absent the development of
far-future technologies such as a space elevator (or non-Newtonian
propulsion!), to send personnel to the moon at prices that would be
rational for even a *few* private companies to take advantage of?

Of course there are.

Don't throw the hardware away, and fly a lot.

Rand Simberg wrote:
On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:13:39 GMT, in a place far, far away,
lid (John Savard) made the phosphor on
my monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:55:27 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote, in part:

There are many companies with rational reasons to have personnel flown
to the moon. What's lacking are companies that would be willing to do
it as expensively as the use of a CEV would require.

That's quite correct. It is absolutely true, every word of it.

However: just as Shenzou VI would not be out of the Earth's gravity if
it had a slightly higher orbit...

are you claiming that there are ways, absent the development of
far-future technologies such as a space elevator (or non-Newtonian
propulsion!), to send personnel to the moon at prices that would be
rational for even a *few* private companies to take advantage of?

Of course there are.

Don't throw the hardware away, and fly a lot.

oh yeah...and don't hold your breath. you'll pass out well before the
private sector launches anything to the moon, unless you've got a cool
billion in your pocket--and/or a congressman, as even some alt.spacers
are starting to go for.

tom

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 17:51:34 GMT, h (Rand
Simberg) wrote, in part:

Of course there are.

Don't throw the hardware away, and fly a lot.

Reusability involves weight and cost penalties.

Flying a lot creates a chicken-and-egg problem.

But I do see on the Astronautix site the sad story of one attempt that
could well have been successful.

If you can't fly a lot, just build your rocket out of a lot of identical
units!

Despite clearly not being optimal in terms of overhead mass, OTRAG
apparently already demonstrated how one can significantly reduce the
costs of launching rockets into space.

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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