Space Forum / Space Policy / August 2003

they can't even launch a tin can into orbit and get it back in one
piece without turning the astronauts into char-B-Q?

Everyone at the moment is considering what NASA should be doing
post-columbia. With Mars at its closest approach in 60000 years, shining
brightly overhead - is it really so hard to put two and two together?
Nathan Rogers

Boeing may be in trouble with the Government, but it sure
knows how to put on a show.  Tonight's third Delta IV launch,
the first during daylight, was waayy cool with the slooowwwwly
rising rocket, the startling flashes caused by ice shedding

According to an article in the Economist the shuttle won't fly till
2010, as the investigating commision says the shuttle has to have a
re-flight worth inspection down to the last bolt.
Christopher

100 REM    Material        Strength     Density
110 REM    ========        ========     =======
120 REM    Steel Wire      340-2100MPa   7.8
130 REM    Carbon Fiber    3000MPa       2.0

My first ideas are:
1) An Automated Transfer Vehicle  similar to ESA design but probably bigger
do to our larger needs. This would allow supplies and experiments up and
trash down. This seems by far the easiest and could be done in a few years.

Considering how the CAIB report gouged Dan Goldin there was an
interesting article here:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/08/27/goldin_set_to_lead_bu_cite
d_for_role/

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/hubble-03a.html
What cha think?

Any comments of Section 5 of the CAIB report?
In particular Sections 5.3 – 5.8 ?
In the conclusions there is the statement :
....................

Today Mars is a mere 34,646,418 miles away, and it'll be 60,000 years
till its as close again.  60,000 years ago humanity was living in
caves.  Anyone care to have a guess what human society will be be like
in 62,003 AD?  I for one hope we are spread through this galaxy with a

In the past I have heard newsgroup posts about the Titan II first stage,
that it had a gross mass of 269,000 lbs and an empty mass of 9000 lbs,
which would give it a mass ratio of over 29! See a posting by Mitchell
Burnside Clapp at:

Space programs perish.
I have a take on the Gehman report, over at National Review:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-simberg082803.asp

Why doesn't NASA get automatic budget increases equal to the rate of
inflation to prevent it from becoming overburdened and overstressed  by the
withering of its budget. Lawmakers could then focus on real budget increases
(or cutbacks) with subsequent redefinition of NASA's goals. ...

http://www.investors.com/editorial/issues.asp?v=8/27
"Do we really need this agency? If so, for what? Those questions lurk
between the lines of a tough report on the Columbia space shuttle disaster.
"In 1986, it was O-rings. In 2003, it was insulating foam. Beyond this

According to an article in the journal Science (Aug 15), the Russians are
planning
for a manned flight to Mars in 2018. They pick that year because of
the combination of planetary alignment and low solar activity. The person who