Unless you have documentation showing otherwise, I don't think that was the calculus used.
I too remember how many core they could produce in a year. It was at least two or three per month with multiple shifts and enough people. This was brought up in the Direct threads. If Direct was selected, multiple launches could be made for more payload to LEO. The more cores manufactured, the lower the cost per each. This was at least 10 years ago or more.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 05/19/2018 04:21 amUnless you have documentation showing otherwise, I don't think that was the calculus used.It's in the old threads and was written by a person of authority. It may have been posted before you joined the board, but I'm not going to take the time to look it up for you. You are free to believe it or not.
They chose to optimize it for one core per year. Could it go faster? Yes. But it would not be operating at its optimum efficiency in relation to the way it was originally set up.
In order to speed up, they'd need to bring in temporary laborers who are not skilled in the task at hand.
They'd have to ask suppliers for increased deliveries, and those suppliers would have to make similar adjustments for labor, raw materials, etc.
Now if a flood of new money became available, sure, you could re-optimize your materials and labor arrangements. You renegotiate the amount of materials you want delivered and on what schedule. You train new line workers and bring them up to speed on what they are to do. Re-optimizing requires some adjustment.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 05/18/2018 10:58 pm...And don't get too hung up on this production capability, there are likely no real barriers for ramping up to 3-4 per year. But talking about more than one/year is fantasy at this point anyways... There is no way that 16 RS-25Es will be made in a year. Current plan is for 2 engines per year.Mobile launcher and pad can maybe stretched to handle two per year, as probable four boosters can be prepared(till they run out of casings). At the moment, these seem to be the only pieces capable of supporting better than one flight per year.
...And don't get too hung up on this production capability, there are likely no real barriers for ramping up to 3-4 per year. But talking about more than one/year is fantasy at this point anyways...
People (not just you) appear to be confusing "production rate" with "production time". It is perfectly possible to configure operations such that 16 (or more) RS25Es or 1.5 (or more) SLS rockects can be rolled off the factory floor in a year, while each takes much longer than a year to produce.
Good move retiring STS.I'd rather be stuck in LEO, than stuck on the ground.
Quote from: Hog on 05/24/2018 01:06 pmGood move retiring STS.I'd rather be stuck in LEO, than stuck on the ground.Get used to it. We're only half way there (seven years down, seven years to go), if you are waiting for SLS/Orion.
Quote from: AncientU on 05/24/2018 08:09 pmQuote from: Hog on 05/24/2018 01:06 pmGood move retiring STS.I'd rather be stuck in LEO, than stuck on the ground.Get used to it. We're only half way there (seven years down, seven years to go), if you are waiting for SLS/Orion.EM-2 (manned lunar flyby) is still officially scheduled at 5 years out I thought?
Quote from: AncientU on 10/28/2016 07:28 pmThis really locks them into a three-year or so gap between EM-1 and the subsequent launch. Can't start modifying the ML until EM-1 flies, no matter how late it slides into 2019 or 2020. (Once you start the mods, a 'cargo' launch can't fly using a second ICPS -- don't know if that was the plan, though.) Probably pushes the first manned flight to 2024/2025. There was talk of compressing the big interval between EM-1 and EM-2 (so that the manned flight -- EM-3 -- wouldn't also slip), but now that seems unlikely.Where do you get this non-sense? I have never seen any documentation that shows 2024/2025 as EM-2. In fact, most documentation shows 2021, which exactly corresponds to the 36 months it will take to modify the ML for EUS after EM-1.
This really locks them into a three-year or so gap between EM-1 and the subsequent launch. Can't start modifying the ML until EM-1 flies, no matter how late it slides into 2019 or 2020. (Once you start the mods, a 'cargo' launch can't fly using a second ICPS -- don't know if that was the plan, though.) Probably pushes the first manned flight to 2024/2025. There was talk of compressing the big interval between EM-1 and EM-2 (so that the manned flight -- EM-3 -- wouldn't also slip), but now that seems unlikely.
This whole situation is one big cluster-frakk! How long will it be until this is universally acknowledged and dealt to?
Mid-2022 is the target date for the next SLS Block 1 launch using ML-1
From the Verge article."Block 1B is designed with a much more powerful upper stage, allowing it to carry about 287,000 pounds (130 metric tons)." Is that statement true? I thought Block-II was good for 130 tonnes? Is their graphic(below) obsolete?