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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: "StuntShipOne":  Bell's Criticism

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-04v.html]Click

--Cindy

::edit::

"Of all the players currently in the running, Elon Musk is the only one who seems to have both the right technical concept and a sufficiently deep pocket to perfect that concept without outside investors.

The problem with Musk's Falcon boosters is that they aren't sexy spaceplanes. They are just regular boring rocket boosters that look like storage tanks. The cheap construction and recovery features are invisible and don't make exciting stories that will appeal to the technically illiterate."

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: "StuntShipOne":  Bell's Criticism

I've been saying as much all along... SpaceShipOne, or derivitive vehicle, would have to be several hundred times bigger to make it to orbit. Somthing the size of the Russian MAKS spaceplane riding the An-225.

Its also unclear if Elon's little rocket will work at all, and is still a few generations off from being big enough to do anything but launch satelites.

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[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

clark

Member

Registered: 2001-09-20

Posts: 6,362

Re: "StuntShipOne":  Bell's Criticism

I suggest GNC, that you go to spacex.com, take a look around at the updates.

They are working on the second generation design now, the Falcon V. They have plans for third generation.

Considering what the military wants to do in space (Airforce 2025), they will keep all the rocket comapanies busy.

Bigelow will keep em busy since he needs heavy lift to make his business plan work.

Once Elon can prove that his rockets are safe enough, what's to stop him from buying some Soyuz or CEV derivitive in the future?

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: "StuntShipOne":  Bell's Criticism

*I can give Bell some credit for this article, unlike the others of his I've read.  At least he sounds more well reasoned.  In his other articles he generally comes off as high-handed, jeering, trying to be cute and talking down to the reader, as though he's just a tad bit smarter than everyone else and is writing to "smarten up the chumps."  Maybe he's gotten some well-deserved feedback from people tired of his belligerence and arrogance.

GCN:  Yes, I remember your previously expressed opinions.

--Cindy 

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)