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Ars Technica reports on an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics forum in Salt Lake City with the provocative title, "Launch Vehicle Reusability: Holy Grail, Chasing Our Tail, or Somewhere in Between?"
Moderator Dan Dumbacher said of the panel, "We purposefully tried to get a good cross-section of those who have been working on it." However, the panel included no one actually building reusable rockets and relied heavily on the old-guard perspective. Dumbacher himself, now a professor at Purdue University, previously managed development of the Space Launch System rocket for NASA, and he expressed doubt about the viability of reusable launch vehicles in 2014 by essentially saying that because NASA couldn't do it, it was difficult to see how others could.
[...] The panel featured three men tied to the reusable but costly space shuttle in one way or another. Gary Payton, a visiting professor at the United States Air Force Academy, is a former shuttle astronaut. Doug Bradley is chief engineer of advanced space & launch at Aerojet Rocketdyne, which built the shuttle's reusable engines. And Ben Goldberg is director of technology at Orbital ATK, which manufactured the shuttle's solid rocket boosters.
The discussion was predictably negative, even dismissive. (Think tones of IBM, Honeywell, Burroughs, Amdahl, DEC when a couple of punks debuted a new "computer" at a Homebrew Computer Club meeting in Menlo Park.) But, reality happens...
So where were the representatives of the new space companies actually building reusable launch systems in 2016 and flying them into space? Dumbacher addressed that question more than halfway through the two-hour discussion: SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic were all invited, but "unfortunately were unable to attend due to other commitments." Perhaps instead of debating the question, they're just getting on with the job.[emphasis added]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 28 2016, @11:58AM
Respect your elders, you owe them a lot. They did it first and you are building on their achievements.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rondon on Thursday July 28 2016, @12:39PM
I have no respect for elders who claim they "did it first." The honest truth is they just did it before I did, but not before their fathers and elders, who they likely didn't respect either.
I do, however, respect those who try to pass on their wisdom instead of pooh-poohing everything those youngsters are doing whilst yelling at clouds. I have learned more from wise people than I have discovered on my own, that is for sure.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by rts008 on Thursday July 28 2016, @02:54PM
Well said.
It illustrates the difference between a good teacher, and someone who teaches for a living.(yes, there is some overlap, but also much polarity)
A good teacher takes pride in their students that 'surpass' them, while the other declares that same trait as 'disruptive, and questioning authority, it must be quashed.
If the younger ones never questioned their elders, we would still be nomadic hunter-gatherers, bashing stuff with sticks and stones...not having this discussion online about reuse of spacecraft components.
And this coming from an elder...now get off my lawn! My Geritol hasn't kicked in yet, and I need to take my nap. :-)