Those of you holding out false Hope for a quick puff of white smoke out of the D Street chimney have probably turned blue, dropped over, and well, probably are not reading this. The rest of us, who know that the more things change, the more they stay the same, also know that our beloved space program is not very high on leadership radar, except for the month preceding a close election. Once the White House is in the bag, the priority level falls to generally the same level as keeping campaign promises.
And so the wait continues.
Being headless, however, the minions are not waiting to push on up the trail to ignomy. Parts are now arriving at KSC for the upcoming ARES-1X debacle. Of course, the parts are arriving now because they were bought off the shelf in a fire sale and are being applied to tasks for which they are not qualified. Give them credit, they didn't waste our taxpayer dollars on something that won't matter in the upcoming spectacle. And if you don't have to qualify the systems, you can certainly skip that part of the schedule, too.
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8 comments:
and the rockets red glare, the booster bursting in air, gave proof through the night that the design was not there……
As understand it, if the rocket gets out of CNN camera range it is a success. That seems like a reasonable spec to me.
If NASA really wants to cover their asses on ARES I-X they should definitely launch on July 4. But I highly recommend one of those concussive flash-bang fireworks be added- those are real crowd pleasers.
Understandably the impending implosion of the global economy is slightly further up the President's agenda than a Federal agency that, and let's be brutally honest here, hasn't really been a significant political issue since the 1970s.
I think that the continuing work on Ares-I-X is a good real-world example of inertia in action. I don't think that any but the most eager of Ares enthusiasts can actually see a point to this flight, given the hardware and performance differences bewtween it and anything intended for the production Ares-I. However, without a hand on the tiller, the ship of the space agency just drifts along in its last given direction.
The interim Admininstrator is going to do precisely what Obama asks him to.
Its actually a very savvy way to get around Sen. Nelson's veto threat intended to ensure a pro-Ares-I guy replaces Griffin.
This is a great way to circumvent that sinkhole and still get what the Administration really wants done, done.
'Course Nelson's screwed himself (and his whole state) in the process. Typical Flori-duh behavior - I've got a great idea, why don't I play chicken with the new President who has an >80% approval rating.
That's plain stupid of him. Especially as the President is of the same party. Idiot.
The key thing to find out with Ares 1-X is " if the shockwave traveling back up the stack at launch kills the GN&C capability".
That would be a deal breaker for Ares 1. Far worse than Ttttthhrrruuuusstttt oooosssccccilllllaaattttiiiooonnnn.
NASA admitted again that the station will reach the end of useful life in 2015. At that point they will have no real use for the facility. That is twice, from two sources that this trial baloon has been floated with no objections.
The current Ares 1 schedule calls for Earth to Station capability in 2015. Strange that just as the facility is of no further use, we just happen to develop a rocket that will get there!
How long will it be before some politico puts 2015 and 2015 together and comes to the conclusion that Ares 1 has no place to go?
"How long will it be before some politico puts 2015 and 2015 together and comes to the conclusion that Ares 1 has no place to go?"
Won't happen. They're too busy sticking their heads in the sand and humming real load so as not to have to worry about it, blindly believing Ares will save them. If they look up they might get smacked upside the head with a little bit of truth. And we can't possibly have that now, can we?
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