Why test a dead concept?

They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

wrote:
They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Bob,

This has been explained here before. This is the way government contracting
works. Once money has been allocated and a project is started it runs to
completion of the terms of the contract. And some contracts are actually
written whereby it is often cheaper to let the contract run to completion than
cancel halfway through which causes all sort of special termination/penalty
clauses to kick in.

Space and government contracting works like a big long pipe. You can shut the
spigot off at the top of the pipe but it takes time before the water stops
running out the other end. Oh and by the way, at the spigot valve there isn't
one person in charge but a committee.

Dave

On 23/08/2010 11:49 PM, David Spain wrote:
wrote:
They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Bob,

This has been explained here before. This is the way government
contracting works. Once money has been allocated and a project is
started it runs to completion of the terms of the contract. And some
contracts are actually written whereby it is often cheaper to let the
contract run to completion than cancel halfway through which causes all
sort of special termination/penalty clauses to kick in.

Space and government contracting works like a big long pipe. You can
shut the spigot off at the top of the pipe but it takes time before the
water stops running out the other end. Oh and by the way, at the spigot
valve there isn't one person in charge but a committee.

Dave

And, as J.F. Kennedy said "A committee is 12 men doing the work of one".

On Aug 23, 3:46*pm, Alan Erskine wrote:
On 23/08/2010 11:49 PM, David Spain wrote:





wrote:
They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Bob,

This has been explained here before. This is the way government
contracting works. Once money has been allocated and a project is
started it runs to completion of the terms of the contract. And some
contracts are actually written whereby it is often cheaper to let the
contract run to completion than cancel halfway through which causes all
sort of special termination/penalty clauses to kick in.

Space and government contracting works like a big long pipe. You can
shut the spigot off at the top of the pipe but it takes time before the
water stops running out the other end. Oh and by the way, at the spigot
valve there isn't one person in charge but a committee.

Dave

And, as J.F. Kennedy said "A committee is 12 men doing the work of one".- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Well future contracts shouldnt allow featherbedding it just makes nasa
and government in general look like a bunch of drunken sailors on
leave.

Better to give a stop loss and pay the cancelation fees than look bad
to taxpayers.

the money would of been better spent adding some more shuttle flights
till whatever new is flying........

On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:04:58 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Orion isn't dead. President Obama reinstated the project in April
(after killing it in February) as a lifeboat for the Space Station.
But both the Senate and House reinstated Orion as a full-fledged
spacecraft as a hedge against SpaceX, Boeing, et. al., failing to
deliver a manned spacecraft. Presumably, if SpaceX or Boeing do
deliver a reliable manned spacecraft, Orion will transition into a
deep-space-only role, which SpaceX and Boeing say their vehicles are
not capable of achieving.

And remember, there really has not been a serious problem with Orion.
It's trials and tribulations to date are almost entirely due to the
ever-declining performance of its launch vehicle, Ares I, forcing one
redesign after another (sound familiar?) Ares I, though, is now
thoroughly deceased with Orion tentatively basedlined on something
like DIRECT or Shuttle-C, but with Atlas V-Heavy a serious option.

Brian

On 24/08/2010 8:34 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:
On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:04:58 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Orion isn't dead. President Obama reinstated the project in April
(after killing it in February) as a lifeboat for the Space Station.


Cites?

On 08/23/2010 10:58 PM, Alan Erskine wrote:
On 24/08/2010 8:34 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:
On Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:04:58 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Orion isn't dead. President Obama reinstated the project in April
(after killing it in February) as a lifeboat for the Space Station.


Cites?


Alan, what rock have you been hiding under since April? Brian is
correct; Orion is the one element of Constellation that the
administration, Senate, and House proposals all support.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/science/space/14nasa.html?_r=1&hpw

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100413-orion-become-crew-lifeboat-under-revised-obama-plan.html

http://www.space.com/news/obama-space-plan-revives-orion-sn-100413.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/14/obama_orion_backtrack/

http://www.hobbyspace.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=19953

On 8/23/2010 8:07 PM, Jorge R. Frank wrote:
t

Alan, what rock have you been hiding under since April? Brian is
correct; Orion is the one element of Constellation that the
administration, Senate, and House proposals all support.

And it's got around the chance of flying in its finished form that
Dyna-Soar did. :-D

Pat

On 8/24/2010 6:39 AM, Pat Flannery wrote:

And it's got around the chance of flying in its finished form that
Dyna-Soar did. :-D

To explain that - Orion is too heavy as presently designed to get into
orbit on either a Delta IV Heavy or Atlas V Heavy.
Once the Ares 1 booster goes bye-bye, Orion has nothing that can carry
it into orbit; and Ares 1 is dead - so you now have a spacecraft that
can't be launched on any existing booster.

Pat

On Aug 23, 5:34*pm, Brian Thorn wrote:

Orion will transition into a deep-space-only role,

Just how deep into space can Orion go on its own (assuming appropriate
propulsion is provided)? To the Moon, sure. Maybe to EML-1/2 or even
a short asteroid excursion when the orbitology aligns, but it seems
considerably too small for a canonical Mars mission. And what about
life support in the many months to a couple of years range?

It seems that for missions that last more than a few months, a
separate habitation module would be needed, no?