Back to the future

The future of manned space flight.
The space shuttle, pride of man’s space fleet, is obsolete and dangerous. The fleet is powered by technology less powerful than the computer I am writing this from and 40% of all shuttles that have ever flown in space have been destroyed with the loss of all hands. Even before the Columbia disaster NASA knew it was time for a new workhorse, but in 2001 the prime candidate, the X-33 VentureStar spaceplane, was cancelled. Instead, NASA will be using a pair of rockets to do the same job; one for crew and a second for cargo. In addition to taking over shuttle duty, the new rockets will be capable of returning man to the moon, a necessary first step towards eventually putting people on Mars.

I’ve discussed this with some online acquaintances and the consensus among most of them is that this is a step backward. Too much like Apollo, not inspiring enough, etcetera. I disagree. It may not be as futuristic as VentureStar would have been, but it is infinitely more practical. Here is a quote from the second link above:

A main advantage is that the big rocket could lift five or six times as much cargo as the shuttle... it would be strong enough to haul into orbit whole spaceships destined for the Moon, Mars and beyond.

That’s a big deal, folks. These rockets may not be particularly innovative, but they will allow us to put bigger, better ships into orbit. That’s pretty exciting.

Read the full entry for a diagram showing what the new spacecraft will look like and how large they will be in relation to the shuttle…

Tags: space technology