Author Topic: United Launch Alliance (ULA) Statement in Response to SpaceX Lawsuit  (Read 64110 times)

Offline Sean Lynch

{trimmed}
Just trying to be helpful...
I think a lot of us want to be helpful. For the most part we're like space "Sports Fans."
We want our guy to win, but we don't want the other guy taken out by self inflicted injury.
Mixing sports metaphors...
Controversy surrounding a team can damage a sport. I want to see the space industry thrive and grow like the IT industry did in 2000.
"Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others."
-JFK May 25, 1961

Offline Jim

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I don't think that it logically follows that SpaceX lack of contracts is due to SpaceX unsuitability. After all, there is a legal action pending right now that makes far different allegations.


not for NASA contracts.

Offline Jim

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"What says any company is doing "best practices"?"
I could go on and on about QA, QC, SPC, ERP, MRP, CM, RA, PM... but "results" should be sufficient.
Results in terms of cost, quality, and development time. With best practices you optimize for all three.
Without best practices you are forced to choose any two at the expense of the third without knowing the outcome before hand. The beauty of science lies not in discovery, but in the prediction of results.

"Obviously many gov't customers don't (see lack of Spacex gov't contracts)"
What Lar and Space Ghost 1962 said.

You still haven't answered it.  What results?  See the lack of contracts.

Offline AncientU

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What says any company is doing "best practices"?  Obviously many gov't customers don't (see lack of Spacex gov't contracts)

I don't think that it logically follows that SpaceX lack of contracts is due to SpaceX unsuitability. After all, there is a legal action pending right now that makes far different allegations.

ULA is flailing. That WashPo interview won't score any points. They need better PR.

What they need is to say, "We are confident enough in the value of our product that we are ready, willing, and able compete for every launch, starting with those in the block buy."
"If we shared everything [we are working on] people would think we are insane!"
-- SpaceX friend of mlindner

Offline Sean Lynch


"What says any company is doing "best practices"?"
I could go on and on about QA, QC, SPC, ERP, MRP, CM, RA, PM... but "results" should be sufficient.
Results in terms of cost, quality, and development time. With best practices you optimize for all three.
Without best practices you are forced to choose any two at the expense of the third without knowing the outcome before hand. The beauty of science lies not in discovery, but in the prediction of results.

"Obviously many gov't customers don't (see lack of Spacex gov't contracts)"
What Lar and Space Ghost 1962 said.

You still haven't answered it.  What results?  See the lack of contracts.
I'm not sure how your questions apply to the context of my original post1 and subsequent post?
I'm having to guess at the meaning of your questions (please use more words Jim).
"You still haven't answered it.  What results?  See the lack of contracts."
What is "it" Jim?
I assume you mean USG contracts, as the "retail" side of the SpaceX launch manifest is pretty full.
As I recall SpaceX has two contracts with the USAF...

Are you talking lack of contracts as a function of USG consumer confidence?
NASA is trusting the lives of the ISS crew and 100b station to safe operations of the SpaceX Dragon.
I'd hypothesize Dragon deliveries require a measurable degree of mission confidence based upon a risk assessment which would provide some hard numbers.

---
1
Another round of tit for tat press conferences recently. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/ula-chief-accuses-elon-musks-spacex-of-trying-to-cut-corners/2014/06/18/a7ca0850-f70d-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html?tid=hpModule_a2e19bf4-86a3-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394
Hopefully this ends soon.  I'm not sure that this "publicity" approach is working for ULA.  Read the last three or so paragraphs for an example.

 - Ed Kyle
Thanks for sharing Ed, interesting read.   
I hope it ends soon too. It's painful to watch ULA management caught so off balance:
Quote from: (from the article) CEO Michael Gass
“We also want to make clear that there is a big distinction between a company that has a 100-year combined heritage in successfully delivering satellites into orbit and a company that is not yet even certified to conduct one launch.”
"100-year combined history" doesn't convey a "state of the art, forward leaning, best practices" message to taxpayers or shareholders of parent companies. Worse yet, average readers may perceive the "combined history" statement as a blatant distortion.
"Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others."
-JFK May 25, 1961

Offline Jim

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Are you talking lack of contracts as a function of USG consumer confidence?
NASA is trusting the lives of the ISS crew and 100b station to safe operations of the SpaceX Dragon.
I'd hypothesize Dragon deliveries require a measurable degree of mission confidence based upon a risk assessment which would provide some hard numbers.


Not the same people that deal with launch of spacecraft.  Also, Dragon is carrying anything not really of worth on individual launches.

Offline Sean Lynch

Okay Jim. I respect your experience, and usually follow you pretty well, but we're drifting off topic and getting boring.
:)
"Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others."
-JFK May 25, 1961

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