(no subject)

[winneganfake]

OK, so check out some really cool shots of our upcoming replacement for the shuttle plan- the Ares .


That's right. I said Ares. The rebuild of the old Saturn project designs.

Y'know, when we heard promises of going to the Moon again, and ultimately to Mars, I really didn't think we'd be doing it on the same design as the first moon flights.

I mean seriously- we've got video phones. Electric cars. Cloning. Why the fuck aren't we getting a little bit more futuristic with our space travel? Like, oh, orbital construction and launch platforms? Maybe magnetic-boosted launch rails? Hell, even the old spaceplane designs from the 90's make more sense than Ares does. I mean, it certainly doesn't have to space elevator type system (we're definitely not going to be capable of that for a while), but can we at least go for design concepts that aren't 40 years old?

Comments

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Saturn is an excellent design for large-payload, high-orbit insertion, and we still can't beat solid boosters for thrust. Ares is far more sophisticated that Saturn; we're using those 40 years of experience to improve the implementation. Just 'cause it doesn't look like what science fiction taught you to expect, doesn't mean it's a step backwards. The Shuttle is a fucking abortion and I'm glad it's going away.

Orbital construction is ridiculously hard to do, and cost-ineffective, because our robotics aren't there yet and supporting humans in space is, frankly, a waste of resources. Spaceplanes are impractical because of the multiple flight regimes involved, and a railgun system even more so.

[mundivagant.livejournal.com]

Orbital launch is a horrible idea for a lot of reasons. I think the reason we're reusing the Saturn system is that it's the last thing we did that actually worked...