Comments on: An expensive Frankenstein in space

By: Tom Billings

Tom Billings — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:28:14 +0000

Certainly the old trick, attaching NASA’s “reliability in cooperation” to a project may help prolong SLS. That won’t help at all if it’s the ESA that has to pull out first, however. As bad as our budgetary problems are, the EU’s are much more tipsy.

This is a gamble, that our budget will come under pressure sufficient that we hear the cries on the floor of the House to kill SLS/Orion before the Europeans see a collapse precipitated by the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain), whose stability depends on buying voters with borrowed money. The hope is that somehow we will recover enough by the time the ESA’s budget gets slashed or dumped completely that in the hope of another false “recovery” the full budget of Orion/SLS will be picked up by a Congress funding NASA. Even that is putting the hope of the SLS faithful in “kickin’ the can down the road”.

The PIGS have been screwing around long enough to create plenty pork. If the PIGS end up toes up, however, it SLS bacon that may be fried fastest.

By: Pzatchok

Pzatchok — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:23:44 +0000

Building modules for the Orion should be any harder.

They already do it for aircraft. Making space craft can’t be that much harder.

But we need those same companies to keep building the modules and parts. It can not be a one time affair just for fun.

Mass production will be the future of space craft.

By: Pzatchok

Pzatchok — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:18:57 +0000

I like the idea of a bunch of entities building modules for the station.

It sort of forces a standardization of parts, power, and hookups.

By: Patrick Ritchie

Patrick Ritchie — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:57:47 +0000

This may be a play to start building the case for keeping Orion (and by association SLS). Much in the way the space station freedom was ‘saved’ by turning it into the ISS and getting help from the Russians to build it.

By: wodun

wodun — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:04:47 +0000

A commenter over at space politics was saying that ESA would only foot the bill and construct the first one and that any subsequent modules would have to be constructed here but to their standards. No idea how accurate that is but everything about SLS seems fishy.