The future is (almost) here!
And this certainly helps complete the picture ;-)
The ability to abort launch all the way to orbit will change the way people go to orbit, and the way risk is perceived: this paves way for the first wave of colonization of the solar system. Finally!
2 comments:
But but but... I thought the shuttle was supposed to revolutionize space travel and make it cheaper! Why are we going back to 'apollo' design, unless the space shuttle was actually a pointless 30-year detour?
True, but space is hard. And it too that many years for the commercial era of space-travel to dawn. The Space Shuttle built the ISS, which has provided the starting point for Space-X. Lot's of technologies invented by NASA went to true production rockets and spaceships now being built by Space-X.
Also, Falcon 9 IS reusable.
You can argue Falcon 9 could have starter in the 70s. But without the modern computers, Falcon 9 would not be as cheap as it is today, built by a few 100 people!
Just like the euphoria over commodity video-conferencing subsided after the first color TVs came out, only to be fulfilled by modern internet era only in the early 21st century, the euphoria over brute-force moon landings came to end when the now-frustrated baby-boomers were growing up, only to be fulfilled NOW.
Remember the Apollo capsules had a very high failure rate, no ability to abort all the way to orbit, a computer that kept crashing and almost killed the Apollo 11 astronauts, and cost a percentage or two of national GDP.
With modern tech and highly experienced engineers, Space-X is repeating the same at a 100 times lower cost; everything they have done so far has cost ONLY the price of one robotic mission to Mars! And they are already getting close to being able to launch humans to Mars...
This does not negate what Elon Musk's enterprunial energy has caused to happen; I guess no one had the guts to try this in the 70s, not to mention the above reasons... there is ripe time for everything, and things just don't magically happen before their time, no matter how much of wishful thinking we might commit to...
Glad to know that the time is ripe for one big change now.
Post a Comment