Will Nasa accellerate a shuttle replacement?

[charrison]

NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

Not with constant budget cuts.

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

Not with constant budget cuts.

Maybe they can put the old ones on Ebay...

 

[optoman]

I would think 2010 would be a little optomistic. Not much will change in the program after today. They will find the problem and fix it and keep using the shuttles for at least another 10 years.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

Not with constant budget cuts.

Maybe they can put the old ones on Ebay...

Well NASA has had to resort to buying spare parts off ebay. Shuttle electronics are 20+ years old now and it is becoming harder to find spare parts.

 

[shiner]

Hopefully. I seem to remember reading something once that said the shuttle was originally designed, back in the 70's, to only have a lifetime of 20 launches per each vehicle.

Like I said in the official thread......we need a space truck of some sort, but it shouldn't be our every mission launch vehicle. It should only be used for satellite repair trips, etc.... Leave launching satellites to heavy lift rockets and develop a more simple craft for getting people and supplies to the ISS. Both would be much cheaper and easier to operate thus freeing up more funds for getting us back to the moon on a permanent basis and then on to Mars.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: optoman
I would think 2010 would be a little optomistic. Not much will change in the program after today. They will find the problem and fix it and keep using the shuttles for at least another 10 years.

What if the problem is age?

 

[ElFenix]

is it something even possible at the moment? a single-stage to orbit vehicle with no boosters? i know there were working models of designs but the working models couldn't get to orbit either.

endeavor isn't that old. a decade or so.

 

[optoman]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: optoman
I would think 2010 would be a little optomistic. Not much will change in the program after today. They will find the problem and fix it and keep using the shuttles for at least another 10 years.

What if the problem is age?

Maybe they will overhaul all the shuttles at a certain point. They are really going into uncharted territory and no one knows the answers. We do have our best uber-geeks working on it.

 

[BillGates]

I hope they don't make any replacement.... Too much money is wasted in the space program IMO. It seems like every other month there is some 500 million dollar unmanned rocket destined to take pretty pictures of something 4820240 light years away blowing up on the launch pad. I wonder what percentage of an individual's taxes go to NASA?

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: optoman

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: optoman
I would think 2010 would be a little optomistic. Not much will change in the program after today. They will find the problem and fix it and keep using the shuttles for at least another 10 years.

What if the problem is age?

Maybe they will overhaul all the shuttles at a certain point. They are really going into uncharted territory and no one knows the answers. We do have our best uber-geeks working on it.

It might be cheaper to scrap them and build news ones than to take them apart and completely rebuild them.

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: BillGates
I hope they don't make any replacement.... Too much money is wasted in the space program IMO. It seems like every other month there is some 500 million dollar unmanned rocket destined to take pretty pictures of something 4820240 light years away blowing up on the launch pad. I wonder what percentage of an individual's taxes go to NASA?

The cost of enlightenment is no small sum.

EDIT: Maybe if more money was 'wasted' on the Space Program, we wouldn't have these sorts of problems.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

The shuttles were meant to last for 100 flights. This was the 28th flight of Columbia.

That being said, it is possible that the Shuttle will never fly again. It is getting old, it is expensive, and a replacement is needed. Perhaps we'll use Russian spacecraft to service the Space Station until a replacement for the shuttle comes online.

Hopper

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: BillGates
I hope they don't make any replacement.... Too much money is wasted in the space program IMO. It seems like every other month there is some 500 million dollar unmanned rocket destined to take pretty pictures of something 4820240 light years away blowing up on the launch pad. I wonder what percentage of an individual's taxes go to NASA?

14.5billion. drop in the bucket of a 2.2 trillion budget./

 

[Yomicron]

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

What were they going to replace the shuttle with? I belive the VentureStar was supposed to enter service around 2010, but wasn't that project scapped in 2001?

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: Yomicron

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

What were they going to replace the shuttle with?

I would like to see Mercedes build a shuttle... it'd be the ultimate advertising.

"Look, we built a machine that can transport 6 humans beyond the outer atmosphere, and return them safely to Earth... Could Ford do that?"

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: Yomicron

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

What were they going to replace the shuttle with?

I would like to see Mercedes build a shuttle... it'd be the ultimate advertising.

"Look, we built a machine that can transport 6 humans beyond the outer atmosphere, and return them safely to Earth... Could Ford do that?"

Well GM owned Hughes which did satellites and stuff...

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: MacBaine

Originally posted by: Yomicron

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

What were they going to replace the shuttle with?

I would like to see Mercedes build a shuttle... it'd be the ultimate advertising.

"Look, we built a machine that can transport 6 humans beyond the outer atmosphere, and return them safely to Earth... Could Ford do that?"

Well GM owned Hughes which did satellites and stuff...

Halfway there!

 

[lowtech1]

NASA would get a lot more done if Bush sr or jr divert a small portion of the money from their war budget to the research fund.

 

[SuperTool]

I think we need some sort of Soyuz like rocket. Cheap and simple human transporter.
Keep the shuttle for heavy payloads and payload recovery.

 

[BD2003]

Yeah, NASA is way underbudgeted. Why did we even stop going to the moon? The shuttles were designed back almost 20 years ago, that is like flying around in apollo 13 by today's standards. We should get with the program.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: charrison
NASA was planning on replacing the shuttle starting in 2010. This these plans will be accellerated now?

The 20 year old shuttles are probably getting near the end of the usable lifecycle.

Not with constant budget cuts.

Actually under the Bush administration NASA's budget has gone up quite a bit. Hopefully he'll give more funding so that we can replace them.

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Yeah, NASA is way underbudgeted. Why did we even stop going to the moon?

The Vietnam War.

 

[katka]

Astronomy is great, but WHY do we really need to go into space? To spy on people? If we find intelligent life are we going to give them a bible tell them lies and take their land and then engage ourselves in a galactic war?

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: BD2003
Yeah, NASA is way underbudgeted. Why did we even stop going to the moon? The shuttles were designed back almost 20 years ago, that is like flying around in apollo 13 by today's standards. We should get with the program.

Try 30 years ago.