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I guess I would not like to land like that in a Soyuz space capsule returning from the ISS, that would be a disaster as was the shuttle.
I hope we can learn more about why the pyros did not go off. This could also be sensor and programming caused ( metric,english translation of units).
It also has given Nasa the chance to maybe change what does happen with the Stardust probe in 2006 if possible before another such failure.

Part of what I think the sustanablity portion of the equation is being discussed under the topic NDSS National Department of Space Settlement, We've explored, now let's occupy! and another part of this is making it affordable under How to lower launch costs, Calling our techie gurus. . ., Space Initive Launch Vehicle,  Delta IV Heavy and Beyond , and Post central for information on CEV 2.
All these topics are inter-twined with Nasa's new vision of space exploration but with the strings of budgetary concern and the burden of the past as a hinderance going forward.

If it were not for existing treaties it just might pan out that way.

Like you noted demand is everything but so is price and currently that is stopping demand. Your case of the auto was a prime example sales of Taurus versus a Cadilac or even a porche.

Just another way to do aircarfts but a very interesting concept.

WHIRL-A-DRONE BEGINS TO SPIN

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001098.html

You sort of hit the edge of the fence with regards to Manufacturing because known sales will be there and contractual agreements to provide a fixed quantity.

In Manufacturing for mass production not only must material cost be low but the overhead of labor as well, automation is usually seen as the answer but that entails capital expenditures and that eats away at profits.

Under contracts though there is no need to reduce manufacturing cost because it is garenteed money in the hand upon delivery for the manufacturer goods. No one cares to try to eek out a little more profit since it is already fat.

One of the proported failures of possibility for why the pyros on the Genesis probe did not go off is the batteries.

a link sort of discounting the effects of heat on that style of batteries (lithium-dioxide) . But if this truely is the cause maybe a battery pack of mixed types might be in order for the Rover design.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/r … 1_214.html

The temperature of the lithium-dioxide battery is currently at 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit), within the range anticipated by spacecraft designers. A radiator device intended to shield the battery is not working as well as expected, however, and the battery is likely to heat up to 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit). Mission managers consider this temperature to be within acceptable limits. They note that similar batteries have been maintained at 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 months without impairing their performance. Ground tests are being conducted on lithium batteries to measure their durability at various temperatures.

The problem with a winged space vehicles like the shuttle is that it is the wrong size for crew tranportation, much to large and for cargo why use wings at all, this case may be most true for the ISS.

Star Dust link
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/s … 40102.html
Once the spacecraft reaches nears Earth in 2006, it will jettison a sample canister that will enter the atmosphere and parachute down to the desert floor of the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range.

Nasa home page for Star Dust
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html
Question could they not jetison the canister and have the probe enter earth orbit?

Let a Thousand Reactors Bloom
Explosive growth has made the People's Republic of China the most power-hungry nation on earth. Get ready for the mass-produced, meltdown-proof future of nuclear energy.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.0 … _tophead_7
Snipet:
Physicists and engineers at Beijing's Tsinghua University have made the first great leap forward in a quarter century, building a new nuclear power facility that promises to be a better way to harness the atom: a pebble-bed reactor. A reactor small enough to be assembled from mass-produced parts and cheap enough for customers without billion-dollar bank accounts. A reactor whose safety is a matter of physics, not operator skill or reinforced concrete.

Web cast WATCH NASA TV Press conference at 2:30 PM EDT
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/webcast/genesis/

Well if Nasa did not already have it bad enough with the funding issues and with the storms.

NASA may 'move' west

Shuttle shop needs home after Frances
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413 … 54,00.html

NASA is considering using Boeing's Palmdale facility to manufacture protective thermal tiles for the space shuttle fleet after Hurricane Frances heavily damaged the tile shop in Florida.

Now news of Russian budget for space comes along.
Russia to Spend Less Than $1Bln on Space Programs in 2005
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2004/09/08 … dget.shtml