Comments on: ULA today stated that they have enough Russian engines in stock to complete the 36 launch U.S. military bulk buy.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Fri, 16 May 2014 23:39:06 +0000

In reply to Eric. Interesting indeed. I have posted this on BtB. Thanks for the tip, and good luck!

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 16 May 2014 23:10:14 +0000

In reply to Robert Zimmerman.

I should have posted a direct link, sorry.

http://hackaday.io/prize

By: Kelly Starks

Kelly Starks — Thu, 15 May 2014 18:18:31 +0000

In reply to geoffc. From the Wikipedia list it looks like the Atlas-V has been launching 4-5 a year. So yeah 3.5 years would come out to that many. But why would they be expensive to hold?

By: geoffc

geoffc — Thu, 15 May 2014 13:46:53 +0000

Do we know the breakdown of Atlas vs Delta boosters in that bulk buy? Assume half/half. I recall that several of the buys were for Delta4-Heavy’s which need 3 cores each. So assume 3 Heavys, that is 9 of the 36 cores. Assume the remaining 27 go half/half Delta/Atlas. They are saying they have 13 or 14 engines in stockpile? That seems pretty large to hold, just from a cost of storage perspective.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Thu, 15 May 2014 02:15:38 +0000

In reply to Eric. Hi Eric. Is there a link to this contest?

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 15 May 2014 00:46:21 +0000

Hi Bob,
I looked for some link to email you directly, not finding one I decided to comment on this article, since it’s remotely related to my subject. I am a regular listener to John Batchelor, and thoroughly enjoy your commentary.

I wanted to alert you to a space related contest – put on by hackaday.com and is called the Hackaday Prize. Entrants are invited to post projects of a future looking nature, and some metric of popularity and judging is to award one lucky entrant with a Trip To Space. You would know better than me who would be providing this prize, but apparently the winner won’t be riding a Russian engine. (there’s the remotely related part).

I entered the contest, and they also asked that we spread the word around. They had some suggestions, but since I get my Space related news form you via John Batchelor (sometimes C2C) and Hackaday encourages innovation and an open, collaborative approach to development, I thought you might like to discuss the contest.

I’m afraid my project is not a rocket engine that seems to be in demand all of a sudden, but it’s “out there”.

Thanks again for the great commentary !

Eric