Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Wednesday, August 27, 2003, at 06:53 PM, Randall Clague wrote: The biggest problem with publicly funded space projects is the perceived need to keep the public happy. Well the public isn't happy, they're apathetic. There's an apropos column in the Washington Post this morning:

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Wed, 2003-08-27 at 06:37, Alex Fraser wrote: > How would ERPS behave with a $10,000,000,000 budget? Quit our day jobs, move closer to a licensed spaceport, work on rockets and rocket infrastructure full time. Oh, and do whatever our benefactor wanted. :-) Dave -- David Masten <[EMAIL

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

--- Alex Fraser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > How would ERPS behave with a $10,000,000,000 > budget? Sure be neat > to find out. Those who provide what funds I've been able to scare up are very clear on this. If ERPS needed ten billion dollars to make significant progress, it wouldn't see a

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

Randall Clague wrote: The biggest problem with publicly funded space projects is the perceived need to keep the public happy. Well the public isn't happy, they're apathetic. So publicly funded space projects are in trouble. That's because taxpaying folks have figured out that NASA has decided t

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:37:41 -0400, Alex Fraser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >How would ERPS behave with a $10,000,000,000 budget? Carefully. :-) 1) Hire an investment manager 2) Invest $9,990,000,000 in a low yield municipal fund 3) Hire XCOR to do the propulsion system 4) Hire Armadillo to

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 00:24:32 -0700, David Weinshenker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Oh yeah, wasn't "2-stage vehicles" >another of those "things that ERPS >didn't do"? (I'm still agnostic on >the "staging" issue myself.) Yep. SSTO was the only thing worth thinking about; all else was heresy. I

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

My original thought hadn't considered ERPS's ideology affecting its engineering practice. The same development path could have occurred under any social mode. The reason for following that path would only have had a different explanation. The Washington post's front page top head line was

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

Randall Clague wrote: > Lo and behold, it turned out that some of our ideology was misplaced - > we *needed* the operational experience we got from KISS and KISS beta > - and some of it was premature. The silver screens that we know for a > fact are not good enough for PROTO, are more than good en

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 23:02:17 -0700, David Weinshenker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >You're talking about the "we don't do >solids / pinecone tests / silver screens etc." >era? I think I mainly missed out on that Silver screens, and dumb rockets, we wouldn't even consider. We wanted to develop

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

Randall Clague wrote: > That said, ideology can indeed hinder science, but it can *really* > bollix up engineering. Some years ago, ERPS kept itself ideologically > pure, at the cost of flight testing. It wasn't fun, and I dare say > it's over now. You're talking about the "we don't do solids /

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 23:59:17 -0400, Alex Fraser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >There are those that believe that huge government projects are not >he way to go. The belief is that small business and competition will >spawn innovation and make space travel cheaper and more accessible to a >larg

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 09:38:19 -0400, Alex Fraser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >To >date the only private space ventures with half a chance are projects >using money made else where or those fighting for a prize. I disagree, but then, I've been assimilated. :-) -R -- Son: Dad, I have a question

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

I added a quote from Sean at the bottom under your clipatised quote. It probably is what triggered a cascade of neurons in my brain. These neuron cascades travel down paths worn in my brain by me reading, experiencing, creating and perceiving the world, that is they are unique to me. I find it

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Tue, 2003-08-26 at 06:38, Alex Fraser wrote: > OT is good till the sparger works ;-) > > There is no magic about the "market". The market causes Who said anything about the "market"? I stated a moral principle, nothing more. Dave -- David Masten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> signature.asc Des

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

--- Henry Spencer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, 25 Aug 2003, Adrian Tymes wrote: > > Also keep in mind: the main cost of the mission, > and > > practically all missions like this, is merely in > > launching the pieces into Earth orbit... > > Alas, not so, at least not directly. Launch cost

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003, Adrian Tymes wrote: > Also keep in mind: the main cost of the mission, and > practically all missions like this, is merely in > launching the pieces into Earth orbit... Alas, not so, at least not directly. Launch cost is typically only a modest fraction of the total cost of s

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

OT is good till the sparger works ;-) There is no magic about the "market". The market causes just as much inefficiency as other forms of organisation and depending on your yard stick even more. So some will say the market in its pure form wouldn't act so, tis the regulators that mess it u

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:55:57 -0700, David Masten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >If you really want to send something to Pluto, I'd be happy to donate to >a *voluntary* fund raiser to get such a mission going. If everyone pays for it, it's less than $2.00 apiece. If only the people that really want

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:59:32 -0700, David Weinshenker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> If you really want to send something to Pluto, I'd be happy to donate to >> a *voluntary* fund raiser to get such a mission going. > >What's the delta-V requirement (with and without the gravity assist)? With the

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

--- David Masten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Before I continue on my comments, I wish to stress > that ERPS has no > official position on NASA, Congress, or anything > else resembling > politics. All of my comments below are my personal > opinion. > > On Mon, 2003-08-25 at 20:26, [EMAIL PROTECTED

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

On Mon, 2003-08-25 at 20:55, David Masten wrote: > Before I continue on my comments, I wish to stress that ERPS has no > official position on NASA, Congress, or anything else resembling > politics. All of my comments below are my personal opinion. ERPS is devoted to *private* exploration of space.

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

David Masten wrote: > If you really want to send something to Pluto, I'd be happy to donate to > a *voluntary* fund raiser to get such a mission going. What's the delta-V requirement (with and without the gravity assist)? -dave w ___ ERPS-list mailing l

Re: [ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

Before I continue on my comments, I wish to stress that ERPS has no official position on NASA, Congress, or anything else resembling politics. All of my comments below are my personal opinion. On Mon, 2003-08-25 at 20:26, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Before leaving for its August vacation, the House

[ERPS] Probably very OT...Indulge me?

Today, Tuesday 26 August 2003, the CAIB Report is to be unveiled, and NASA will be ripped a new orifice (unlike the one ripped in the left wing of Columbia...). But I don't want to talk about that right now.  I want to talk about Pluto. Before leaving for its August vacation, the House passed an