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When Will They Ever Retire The Space Shuttle?

I've asked it before, and I'll ask it again:  Given this, when will they ever retire the current space shuttle design and move forward with something a bit more reliable? 

How many times can we have a piece of foam cause problems?  When will NASA ever give it up?  Look folks, don't get me wrong here, I'm all for the exploring outer space thing. But gee whiz, given the current drawbacks of the current space shuttle design, I think it's just not worth the risk anymore. 

How many times can NASA keep on polishing the same old turd?

What happened to Project Prometheus?

Print | posted @ Sunday, August 12, 2007 11:58 PM

Comments on this entry:

Gravatar # re: When Will They Ever Retire The Space Shuttle?
by Rob at 8/13/2007 8:18 AM
1. The answer is the same as before. They still need the space shuttle to finish the ISS. "Apollo on steroids" won't be ready in time and wouldn't have the lift capacity anyway. Retire the shuttle now, and the ISS dies. I doubt the manned space program would survive long enough for the next gen craft (what is the official name, dang it?) to be built. I'd bet it would be cancelled.

Well, at least with American involvement...if you want to be involved in a space program, you probably need to move to Russia, China, or India.

This is the true fruit of the creationist/anti-global-warming anti-science movement in this country. FUD means kids want to grow up to be anything but scientists.

2. We can repair the heat shield on the shuttle now. This isn't as big a deal as it would have been. It's actually forcing NASA to learn to work "off the cuff" on outer space repairs.

3. This is the death knell of Hubble, though. After this mission, there's no way they'll fly to Hubble. They need the ISS as a stopping point to evaluate the condition of the heat shield.

4. Prometheus was never intended for earth-to-orbit usage. It's a space tug; most nuclear rockets we are capable of building couldn't take off from Earth if we wanted them to -- the specific impulse (Isp) isn't sufficient.

Lofting raduiactives to orbit is questionable right now. In theory, if there's a launch failure, the radioactives will remain contained under most failure scenarios. But there's a finite chance material will be released, and there's a finite chance it will happen in an inhabited place. Weird thing is, plutonium (the usual radioactive of choice) is chemically toxic; if you have a sealed chunk of plutonium, you can hold it in your hand without getting a significant dose of radiation. But smear it over downtown Miami (or worse, Spain (a more likely target given the orbital mechanics)) and you've still got big problems, not to mention the PR nightmare.

Prometheus would be best used once we've got a fissionables mine on the Moon. Of course, if you think about how the Moon was formed, you'll realize that might not be possible.

Bonus bit: I grew up knowing adults that worked on the NERVA project; my Dad worked at BAPL and a lot of the NERVA folks either came from Bettis or went back to Bettis after NERVA was cancelled. As a grade-schooler, I'd question them incessantly about the project whenever they'd wind up at one of my parent's parties. They got a chance to brag and would be happy to go on about it. I was a lucky kid.
  
Gravatar # re: When Will They Ever Retire The Space Shuttle?
by Braden at 8/13/2007 11:20 AM
Thanks for the clarification, Rob.

By the way, what is your opinion on the current space shuttle design? Do you think it's outdated? Or do you think we can continue to use the current design for the next 5 years? Isn't it true NASA is looking to retire the space shuttle fleet by 2012 or 2013?
  
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