Its incredible to see the Dream Chaser being a contender. Is essentially a small-ish space shuttle and designed to be mounted as-is on top of a larger rocket. Its surprising to see continued interest of a lifting body in space, but I guess the DoD is fond of the X-37B's shuttle-eque design.
It does seem like a waste of resources considering Orion is being developed as well as the Dragon capsule. Do taxpayers need to pay for a shuttle clone? I'd rather see a new robotic mission or telescope instead of yet another human vehicle design that will never see space.
NASA needs multiple winners so they will never be dependent on a single vehicle again. The multi-year standdowns after the shuttle accidents and being dependent on Russia for astronaut transportation are both pretty highly undesirable, to say the least. They could have picked only two winners, but there's a risk one of them could drop out. Boeing has said they might shut down their program if NASA doesn't address their liability and indemnification concerns, for example. Having two leaders plus a back-up is a sound strategy.
The real waste of resources is Orion. NASA is spending more on Orion than all these other spacecraft combined, yet despite Lockheed first beginning development on Orion 6 years ago, it won't do an unmanned flight until 2015, three years after SpaceX. The total cost will be almost $10 billion. That's why the Obama Administration tried to cancel it... but Congress had other ideas.
Variations of transportation vehicles can provide a better cost-optimized solutions for different scenarios.
If they can reuse the shuttle a couple of times in space before they have to take it back to earth - that could be a cost saver. They use the dragon capsule (or boeing equivalent) to take people up to the station and use the shuttle to transport them around them in space.
Judging from the shape of the SpaceX capsule, it seems pretty like it has a limited maximum re-entry velocity, whereas orion is designed pretty explicity for a high speed re-entry.
I think when space-x says that dragon is capable of returning from the moon, they intend on using the capsule draco thrusters to enter the atmosphere as slowly as possible.
The acquisition price for Instagram has been falling with Facebook's stock. The budget for these spacecraft is bound to be much, much higher than initial estimates (based on historical precedent).
FWIW I am not complaining about the budget for these or the virtually guaranteed overruns. I think a strong space program is essential if the US is to remain technically relevant over the next 50 years.
I know it's a few days after the "Who's Hiring" thread, but for those of you interested in being a part of this stuff first-hand, we're hiring at Blue Origin: http://www.blueorigin.com/careers/careers.html
It's truly an amazing thing to be a part of and we're always looking for the best and brightest. I'm head of software development, but of course we're recruiting for other disciplines as well.
Given that Boeing does not have a flying (in space) version of their capsule yet, I find it a little surprising that they are receiving more funding than SpaceX, who have demonstrated their vehicle already. Perhaps it's driven by the stage of development?
It is too bad that Blue Origin isn't in the list.I would much prefer that they were in rather than two 'good-old-boys club' contractors and one new entrant. The politics in this process which are really not serving either NASA or the people of the US well, really suck.
[+] [-] drzaiusapelord|13 years ago|reply
It does seem like a waste of resources considering Orion is being developed as well as the Dragon capsule. Do taxpayers need to pay for a shuttle clone? I'd rather see a new robotic mission or telescope instead of yet another human vehicle design that will never see space.
[+] [-] adastra|13 years ago|reply
The real waste of resources is Orion. NASA is spending more on Orion than all these other spacecraft combined, yet despite Lockheed first beginning development on Orion 6 years ago, it won't do an unmanned flight until 2015, three years after SpaceX. The total cost will be almost $10 billion. That's why the Obama Administration tried to cancel it... but Congress had other ideas.
[+] [-] velodrome|13 years ago|reply
If they can reuse the shuttle a couple of times in space before they have to take it back to earth - that could be a cost saver. They use the dragon capsule (or boeing equivalent) to take people up to the station and use the shuttle to transport them around them in space.
I can see a lot of cost savings doing this.
Less weight = less fuel = more money saved.
[+] [-] zevets|13 years ago|reply
I think when space-x says that dragon is capable of returning from the moon, they intend on using the capsule draco thrusters to enter the atmosphere as slowly as possible.
[+] [-] miahi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] georgemcbay|13 years ago|reply
FWIW I am not complaining about the budget for these or the virtually guaranteed overruns. I think a strong space program is essential if the US is to remain technically relevant over the next 50 years.
[+] [-] jlgreco|13 years ago|reply
If I am not terribly mistaken, this is more money than they have received either from NASA or Elon so far. Pretty significant.
[+] [-] mcpherrinm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thematt|13 years ago|reply
It's truly an amazing thing to be a part of and we're always looking for the best and brightest. I'm head of software development, but of course we're recruiting for other disciplines as well.
[+] [-] velodrome|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spartango|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] natep|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jsumrall|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zevets|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
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