It’s a good response shy of one critical factor. He didn’t address Boeing being ‘ahead.’
I think he does address it, Ken. He’s pointing out that the metric an engineer would use to define “further ahead” (i.e. hardware flying in space, TRL9) is not the metric a congressman or senator would use to define the same term. Boeing is much further ahead in terms of navigation inside the Beltway.
Ed, I’ll grudgingly buy that. BTW, Mars One doesn’t seem to have an email for contact on any of their new pages. I’m trying to save them $5.8 billion (click my name and criticize with abandon) but it seems you must donate or purchase to get any access now.
My hope is that the hybrid of new space and old space will have enough new space in it to settle some part of the solar system that’s more than 100 km away from Earth.
I get a chuckle out of the comments. Especially this gem from a “26-year veteran”:
The government tells us what they want, and we give it to them or we don’t get paid. How exactly does this make us a sinister company?
I would call that a company that does not innovate and just produces dreck using mostly staid technology. Nothing prevents Boeing from proposing innovation at either the proposal stage or even later in the process (that’s what change orders are for…)
another from the same commenter:
Space X should retain ownership and operations of its vehicles and sell its services instead.
Gee, that sounds like the CRS contract…..
or this one …
If Space X wants to avoid getting into the same kind of business, and they probably should, then they should avoid seeking government contracts.
So can someone hop into their time machine and ask Bill Boeing the same question?
Here’s a gem from someone replying: It’s like the author wants to totally discount what Boeing understands after being in the space industry for 40+ years
It is like the “Boeing has built all the manned spacecraft for the US” comment. For the record I see the following: Mercury – McDonnell Aircraft (purchased by Boeing), Gemini – McDonnell Aircraft (purchased by Boeing), Apollo – North American Aviation (purchased by Boeing), LEM – Grumman (Not purchased by Boeing), Shuttle – North American Rockwell (purchased by Boeing), Orion – Lockheed Martin
Better to say that “Boeing has purchased all the manufacturers of US manned spacecraft”, assuming you ignore the existence of the LEM. I discount Quest, Destiny and Unity since they are not actual spacecraft themselves, just parts of ISS. They cannot autonomously operate on their own. Thales has built more of the USOS than Boeing has…
The Boeing employee never mentioned Boeing lobbying efforts, like when they lobbyied against inflatable technology that transhab was doing and congress passes a law banning NASA from working on it. Gosh what a coincidence that Boeing was building the metal modules that Transhab hoped to replace.
I guess some people might think NASA is more than a distraction for government and private bureaucracies and the NASA is not merely a vehicle for politicians in some political districts to buy votes.
So in the theory would be that NASA should do things which are in public’s interest, and this not limited to interest of bureaucracies and careers of some politicians which are but a seqment of the public- and are purportedly are to serve the public interest rather than be the placeholder for the public’s interest.
He still appears to be thinking NASA liked CST-100 better and therefore gave it more money, when in reality SpaceX simply quoted a lower price. That’s quite a fundamental point to miss. I’m curious what SNC’s price was, I suspect but don’t know for sure that it was higher than SpaceX but lower than Boeing. If so, that suggests that NASA did like CST-100 (and Dragon) better than DC.
How does SpaceX bidding lower justify giving more to Boeing for the exact same service. By that logic they should give me $10b because I’m behind both.
SpaceX bidding lower doesn’t justifying awarding a contract to Boeing as well, but wanting two suppliers and Boeing making a better offer than SNC does.
We don’t know that Boeing made a better offer than SNC.
It’s a good response shy of one critical factor. He didn’t address Boeing being ‘ahead.’
I think he does address it, Ken. He’s pointing out that the metric an engineer would use to define “further ahead” (i.e. hardware flying in space, TRL9) is not the metric a congressman or senator would use to define the same term. Boeing is much further ahead in terms of navigation inside the Beltway.
Ed, I’ll grudgingly buy that. BTW, Mars One doesn’t seem to have an email for contact on any of their new pages. I’m trying to save them $5.8 billion (click my name and criticize with abandon) but it seems you must donate or purchase to get any access now.
My hope is that the hybrid of new space and old space will have enough new space in it to settle some part of the solar system that’s more than 100 km away from Earth.
I get a chuckle out of the comments. Especially this gem from a “26-year veteran”:
The government tells us what they want, and we give it to them or we don’t get paid. How exactly does this make us a sinister company?
I would call that a company that does not innovate and just produces dreck using mostly staid technology. Nothing prevents Boeing from proposing innovation at either the proposal stage or even later in the process (that’s what change orders are for…)
another from the same commenter:
Space X should retain ownership and operations of its vehicles and sell its services instead.
Gee, that sounds like the CRS contract…..
or this one …
If Space X wants to avoid getting into the same kind of business, and they probably should, then they should avoid seeking government contracts.
So can someone hop into their time machine and ask Bill Boeing the same question?
Here’s a gem from someone replying:
It’s like the author wants to totally discount what Boeing understands after being in the space industry for 40+ years
It is like the “Boeing has built all the manned spacecraft for the US” comment. For the record I see the following: Mercury – McDonnell Aircraft (purchased by Boeing), Gemini – McDonnell Aircraft (purchased by Boeing), Apollo – North American Aviation (purchased by Boeing), LEM – Grumman (Not purchased by Boeing), Shuttle – North American Rockwell (purchased by Boeing), Orion – Lockheed Martin
Better to say that “Boeing has purchased all the manufacturers of US manned spacecraft”, assuming you ignore the existence of the LEM. I discount Quest, Destiny and Unity since they are not actual spacecraft themselves, just parts of ISS. They cannot autonomously operate on their own. Thales has built more of the USOS than Boeing has…
The Boeing employee never mentioned Boeing lobbying efforts, like when they lobbyied against inflatable technology that transhab was doing and congress passes a law banning NASA from working on it. Gosh what a coincidence that Boeing was building the metal modules that Transhab hoped to replace.
I guess some people might think NASA is more than a distraction for government and private bureaucracies and the NASA is not merely a vehicle for politicians in some political districts to buy votes.
So in the theory would be that NASA should do things which are in public’s interest, and this not limited to interest of bureaucracies and careers of some politicians which are but a seqment of the public- and are purportedly are to serve the public interest rather than be the placeholder for the public’s interest.
He still appears to be thinking NASA liked CST-100 better and therefore gave it more money, when in reality SpaceX simply quoted a lower price. That’s quite a fundamental point to miss. I’m curious what SNC’s price was, I suspect but don’t know for sure that it was higher than SpaceX but lower than Boeing. If so, that suggests that NASA did like CST-100 (and Dragon) better than DC.
How does SpaceX bidding lower justify giving more to Boeing for the exact same service. By that logic they should give me $10b because I’m behind both.
SpaceX bidding lower doesn’t justifying awarding a contract to Boeing as well, but wanting two suppliers and Boeing making a better offer than SNC does.
We don’t know that Boeing made a better offer than SNC.