A very good overview of the current state of affairs by Stewart Money over at The Space Review. It’s a mess, and it’s not going to change until we start to take more COTS-like approaches throughout, not just for NASA but DoD as well.
4 thoughts on “EELV And The Launch-Cost Problem”
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Amtrak in spaaaaaace!
Check out the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article on Amtrak at http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/administration-wants-to-keep-train-base-plans-on-track-despite-cost-rc4gmet-142164293.html
Sounds familiar?
High Speed Space Rail?
Falcon 9 is between Delta II and Atlas V in capability, and could perform all of the old Delta II missions (including GPS launch) with its eyes closed.
It used to be that everyone wanted Delta II capability, and they liked the price. But ULA and/or Boeing couldn’t afford to keep the 260 person standing army in business through all of the lean times. Perhaps that’s why Paul Allen, et al, have chosen the Delta II market for Stratolaunch.
Just imagine if Newt gets an annual $1.7b in various x-prizes.