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from the bang...zoom...straight...to-the-moon dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
NASA chief says a Falcon Heavy rocket could fly humans to the Moon
[...] Until now, it was thought that only NASA's Space Launch System could directly inject the Orion spacecraft into a lunar orbit, which made it the preferred option for getting astronauts to the Moon for any potential landing by 2024. However, [NASA Administrator Jim] Bridenstine said there was another option: a Falcon Heavy rocket with an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage built by United Launch Alliance.
[...] This plan has the ability to put humans on the Moon by 2024, Bridenstine said. He then emphasized—twice—that NASA's chief of human spaceflight, William Gerstenmaier, has yet to bless this approach due to a number of technical details. His reservations include the challenge of integrating the Falcon Heavy rocket in a horizontal position and then loading Orion with fuel in a vertical configuration on the launchpad. The Falcon Heavy would also require a larger payload fairing than it normally flies with. This would place uncertain stress on the rocket's side-mounted boosters.
"It would require time [and] cost, and there is risk involved," Bridenstine said. "But guess what—if we're going to land boots on the Moon in 2024, we have time, and we have the ability to accept some risk and make some modifications. All of that is on the table. There is nothing sacred here that is off the table. And that is a potential capability that could help us land boots on the Moon in 2024."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Tuesday April 02 2019, @09:57AM (3 children)
"it was thought" - gawd, only a bureaucrat could say something like that. Who thought that? Probably no one real...
What we're seeing is NASA preparing the ground for a major change: They can no longer justify throwing money at a system that may never be finished. Heck, it was never meant to be finished - it's just a pork distribution project. But when commercial companies are passing them in capabilities, in actual working hardware, for a fraction of the cost? There's a point where the embarrassment just gets too great. So the bureaucrats are preparing the ground for the inevitable announcement that SLS will be cancelled.
It will be interesting to see if the Congresscritters try to rescue their pork. They might, for example, require the military to continue SLS development. The military can claim more secrecy for its programs than NASA ("national security" or some such twaddle), so it might serve to hide the pork for another few years.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @11:42AM (1 child)
Since NASA doesn't run rocket building facilities, I hope you don't blame them for the neverending systems.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Tuesday April 02 2019, @12:25PM
"Since NASA doesn't run rocket building facilities, I hope you don't blame them for the neverending systems."
Blame NASA? Well, not exactly. Congress hands NASA the SLS money, and tells them how to spend it. I used to work in USAF procurement, and I know exactly how this goes down: you want your program to get funding approval, it is understood that subcontracts must be issued in as many Congressional districts as possible. The prime contractor takes care of this, and anyway, they're the ones with the lobbyists in direct contact with Congress. Your role as a procurement bureaucrat is to make sure that all the i's are dotted and all the t's are crossed. On a good day, your project will actually make real progress. That's great and all, but never forget that actual progress is not important to either the prime contractor or to Congress.
Is that NASA's fault? Not really. It's a fundamental flaw in a system where politicians get to spend other people's money with virtually no constraints. I also don't know what the solution is. The only thing I can suggest is getting the purse strings out of the politicians' hands. Maybe you could let the people who pay taxes should - in proportion to their tax bill - vote on major government spending programs? Dunno, but the current system is clearly broken...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 02 2019, @10:11PM
Congresscritters are assuredly going to try to rescue the rocket:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/03/nasas-new-budget-raises-questions-about-the-future-of-its-sls-rocket/ [arstechnica.com]
Most of the public doesn't know about the SLS so they are likely to get away with it as things stand. Somebody would have to start a fight over this that makes headline news in order to get attention. Possibly by using the Boeing angle or finding some dirty emails related to SLS.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]