Orion won't fly until 2014

[Yoda]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/08/11/nasa.orion/index.html

This piece of junk won't ever fly; it's a half a.. job done by NASA trying to come up with a quick solution for shuttle replacement.
What a joke !

 

[tl8]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/08/11/nasa.orion/index.html

This piece of junk won't ever fly; it's a half a.. job done by NASA trying to come up with a quick solution for shuttle replacement.
What a joke !

Evidently, I thought it wasn't going to get off until 2016.

 

[Native Son]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/08/11/nasa.orion/index.html

This piece of junk won't ever fly; it's a half a.. job done by NASA trying to come up with a quick solution for shuttle replacement.
What a joke !

You mean the Ares I, not the Orion CEV? Then, yes, I have a similar attitude toward the program. In fact, I'm starting to agree with John Glenn about the whole point of the VSE, and I'm sure Congress will start changing attitudes also.

 

[Andy44]

NASA is toast. Giant boondoggle.

 

[Kyle]

Orion will fly, you can count on that, however its Launch Vehicle, its either gonna be that Direct like thing or Ares I.

 

[Quick_Nick]

NASA is toast. Giant boondoggle.

So now we just watch Virgin Galactic slowly build their spacecraft, and SpaceX rapidly send their rockets one after another to a watery doom? :dry:

 

[Andy44]

The difference between NASA and Virgin Galactic is that VG isn't wasting any of my money, unless I am a stockholder or a passenger.

SpaceX has government customers, so they are not quite so squeaky clean. But at least if they can't get their rocket to fly, they will not be rewarded by more free money from Congress.

 

[Pilot7893]

NASA is toast. Giant boondoggle.

Quick! Everyone! Abandon ship! Let's all divert to the ESA and JAXA!

 

[Deke]

We'll never see the glory days of NASA gain like in the 60s and 70s... Too much negative attention with everything else going on in the world. Shuttle never should have been built.

Skylab should have been used, and then something similar built to replace it for today's technology. Probably would have cost a whole lot less than the ISS...

 

[eveningsky339]

Space agencies are on their way out, I'm afraid. Support commercial space tourism!

 

[Thunder Chicken]

On a positive note, Hanley said engineers have come up with a possible fix for high vibration levels in the Ares-1 rocket.
"It's a really rather elegant concept of using electromagnetic mass absorbers," he said. "Basically, what they are are big springs at the base of the rocket, either arrayed inside or outside the aft skirt of the first stage. The team has identified a concept, a system that has an active element to it to sense what's going on with the vehicle, the way it's behaving, and actually manipulate those mass absorbers to tune up with the offending oscillations. That looks to be very effective."

It probably looks effective on paper, but this makes me cringe. I almost hope this gets the axe before someone gets hurt.

 

[Spicer]

I'm actually one of the few optimists when it comes to Orion/Ares 1. I feel like the SRB is well flushed-out tech, and so is much of what is being put into Orion.

The resonance problem in the booster is an issue, but NASA will be able to fix it. Oh, and by the way...I think that if they do 2014 as a first launch date, that's great! I had seen dates in 2015 or 16.

 

[eveningsky339]

I'm actually one of the few optimists when it comes to Orion/Ares 1. I feel like the SRB is well flushed-out tech, and so is much of what is being put into Orion.

The resonance problem in the booster is an issue, but NASA will be able to fix it. Oh, and by the way...I think that if they do 2014 as a first launch date, that's great! I had seen dates in 2015 or 16.

I would support Orion if NASA had more money and knew what they were doing with it. Now we're too busy spending money on a meaningless war (as well as a large part of the military that is never used, ever).

Not to mention gas prices... The economy is just having some hiccups right now. Bad timing for a new project.

 

[C3PO]

Now this is just silly. :huh:

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0808/19ares1/

NASA hopes to resolve concern about high vibrations in its new Ares 1 rocket by using a shock absorber-like passive damper between the first and second stages and a computer-controlled, motor-driven system of spring-mounted weights at the base of the booster to actively cancel out unwanted up-and-down oscillations.

You know that you've got a bad design when you start adding things like this.

 

[Urwumpe]

You know that you've got a bad design when you start adding things like this.

Yeah, that is doctoring. I wonder if there can't be a simpler solution. For example a hydrostatic solution.

 

[C3PO]

Yeah, that is doctoring. I wonder if there can't be a simpler solution. For example a hydrostatic solution.

IMHO the solution is to build a stage that doesn't produce those vibrations.
NASA's attempt to 'justify' the STS program by re-using the components is going to be the end of ARES. And quite possibly the end of manned space flight by NASA. There's just too much *wrong stuff'¹ involved in NASA's decision making.

¹ Read: 'politics'

 

[GregBurch]

The fact that Ares/Orion is still "alive" is a testament to just how little of the real substance of spaceflight is understood by the political apparatus and the population in general. If the people who direct funds to NASA and the taxpayers who ultimately pay the bill really knew how deeply screwed up the project was, it would be dead in one 24-hour news cycle.

 

[Arrowstar]

USA Today: "NASA's moon rockets will sport shocks to smooth out bumpy ride"

From a USA Today article:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2008-08-20-nasa-moon-rocket_N.htm

I'm especially interested in any comments from the professional crowd...

 

[willy88]

I keep on wondering why they don't just scrap the fundamentally flawed Ares I and use a rocket that could actually work.

 

[C3PO]

Sad, so sad.