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BWhite

Member

From: Chicago, Illinois

Registered: 2004-06-16

Posts: 2,635

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

http://64.78.33.215/document_library/me … p.pdf]Link

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Give someone a sufficient [b][i]why[/i][/b] and they can endure just about any [b][i]how[/i][/b]

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Sound like having a Federally Funded Research Center (FFRC) near the University of Maryland would be in the right direction that JPL has taken.

Conflict at Space Confab 

It sounds like it was a good decision not to bid but how many other companies are out there that could provide the spiral solutions that Nasa wants before the giants of the industries timeframes?

Although Transformational Space, or t/Space, has chosen not to bid for the contract to replace the shuttle, the company nevertheless hopes to beat big aerospace companies to orbit with a four-person crew transfer vehicle, or CXV, that NASA can use to send astronauts to the International Space Station and beyond.

It would seem that tspace is asking Nasa to give them contract funds to meet milestones of achievement.
I wonder if they could go to the source (congress) of the Nasa money instead?

Instead of bidding for the full amount ($500 million) it needs to develop the ship, as the primes will do, t/Space is asking NASA for small increments of development money in exchange for achieving significant milestones.

I am glad they are taking notice but put the cash where you want to really be..

NASA is sitting up and taking notice; the space agency has already awarded t/Space $6 million for developing the CXV concept and building flight-test hardware that Scaled Composites will fly this week.

What a twist of fate this would be if the underdog should win out...

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Aren't they shooting themselves in the foot with using pictures of a huuuuge moonbase?

Who's going to take that serious?

Fledi

Member

From: in my own little world (no,

Registered: 2003-09-14

Posts: 325

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Cool moonbase, bulldozing away the surrounding mountains will probably be the hardest part.

Commodore

Member

From: Upstate NY, USA

Registered: 2004-07-25

Posts: 1,021

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Aren't they shooting themselves in the foot with using pictures of a huuuuge moonbase?

Who's going to take that serious?

People who want to be inspired.

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"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane

idiom

Member

From: New Zealand

Registered: 2004-04-21

Posts: 312

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

There are only ~6 major building in that picture. Any serious moon effort needs to be thinking in terms at least that big. Otherwise  its just flags, footprints and an outhouse that maybe doubles as a souvenir shop. ("I went to the moon and all I got was this $4,000,000,000 T-Shirt")

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Come on to the Future

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Even though Nasa has chosen not to give funds out willy nilly to untested propaganda of give a little and we will do it. Tspace has still gone on to it proposed Next-Generation Space Vehicle Tested in Pacific Ocean Drop.

NASA chose Transformational Space Corp. ("t/Space") in September 2004, along with seven other aerospace companies, to develop concepts for the next generation of NASA vehicles. t/Space won a $6 million contract with a promise to go beyond paper design studies to actual hardware prototyping.

Today's test focused on a proposed Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV) to ferry astronauts to the Space Station at lower cost and risk than the Space Shuttle. The Drop Test Article (DTA) representing the CXV was full size (14.75 feet long by 14 feet diameter) and full weight at 8,100 lbs.

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

So they threw a big scale model of their glossie, itself just a copy of a proven design, full of sand bags into the ocean. Big deal.

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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]

srmeaney

Member

From: 18 tiwi gdns rd, TIWI NT 0810

Registered: 2005-03-18

Posts: 976

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Rxke wrote:

Aren't they shooting themselves in the foot with using pictures of a huuuuge moonbase?

Who's going to take that serious?

People who want to be inspired.

Wrong Building

el scorcho

Member

From: Charlottesville, VA

Registered: 2002-11-01

Posts: 61

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

So they threw a big scale model of their glossie, itself just a copy of a proven design, full of sand bags into the ocean. Big deal.

Yes, it is a big deal. What's wrong with a proven design? If it's proven, then it's proven to work...safely. Besides, it's a lot more than anything any of the other NASA contractees are doing.

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"In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."

-Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Space firm scans Valley

Metro Phoenix is one of three Western cities in the running for a next-generation space shuttle company that also someday could launch private space travel.

Transformational Space Corp. of Reston, Va., is scouting the Valley, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs for the site of its design and manufacturing operations. The company would build a Crew Transfer Vehicle that would ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station starting in 2010. It also would take paying customers into space for an initial estimated price of $5 million.

Lots of goals and hopes in this article riding on getting contracts for cargo delivery for the ISS.

publiusr

Banned

From: Alabama

Registered: 2005-02-24

Posts: 682

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

So they threw a big scale model of their glossie, itself just a copy of a proven design, full of sand bags into the ocean. Big deal.

You said it.

GCNRevenger

Member

From: Earth

Registered: 2003-10-14

Posts: 6,056

Re: t/Space & the media - Marketing in part of the deal

Say, I went and forgot about this thread... anyway, to correct my negligence:

"Yes, it is a big deal. What's wrong with a proven design? If it's proven, then it's proven to work...safely. Besides, it's a lot more than anything any of the other NASA contractees are doing."

Its not a big deal to just show off to everybody what we already know works. Emphasis on "showing off." This nonsense about "hey look, we built real test hardware!" is stupid, because they aren't really accomplishing anything worth showing off. NASA contractors wouldn't stoop to degrade themselves thusly. The dishonesty of their celebration and press releases is enough to shake my even limited faith in them and their ability to suceed if given a (very expensive $500M) chance.

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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]