Even politics can't save SLS once commercial vehicles prove they can exceed its capabilities. Right now it's easy to call the other vehicles paper rockets that will never fly, and drum up support for SLS as something that NASA needs. Much harder to do that with other vehicles flying.
True, but the reasons that Musk backs off from challenging the SLS directly are equally true for Bezos.
BO does not needs NASAs money for anything.
B. that's not how federal funding works. If Congress cancels a project, that money isn't redistributed, it's just gone.
Quote from: hkultala on 02/13/2018 09:19 pmBO does not needs NASAs money for anything.Yep, amazingly they're capable of going slower than NASA without NASA's help.
Quote from: QuantumG on 02/13/2018 09:24 pmQuote from: hkultala on 02/13/2018 09:19 pmBO does not needs NASAs money for anything.Yep, amazingly they're capable of going slower than NASA without NASA's help.Rocket Science is hard, I guess - that's why they call it Rocket Science. But I too admit some pauzzlement as to why some of their aspirations are taking so long.
How do you think the successful flight of Falcon Heavy will impact SLS? Will there be consequences? Will development of the rocket continue as planned, will the status quo will be maintained? Or is there any chance for the Adminstration to redirect the Lunar efforts to Falcon Heavy?
Quote from: Svetoslav on 02/07/2018 12:34 pmHow do you think the successful flight of Falcon Heavy will impact SLS? Will there be consequences? Will development of the rocket continue as planned, will the status quo will be maintained? Or is there any chance for the Adminstration to redirect the Lunar efforts to Falcon Heavy?I do not think the Falcon Heavy flight will effect the SLS at all. The SLS is a much more capable rocket and should continue to move forward as planned.
SLS maiden launch slips to 2020. That's three years to the right, at a cost of about $7 billion. For comparative purposes, NASA could buy nearly 80 Falcon Heavy launches for that price. SpaceX might even give 'em a bulk discount.
Quote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 09:56 amQuote from: Svetoslav on 02/07/2018 12:34 pmHow do you think the successful flight of Falcon Heavy will impact SLS? Will there be consequences? Will development of the rocket continue as planned, will the status quo will be maintained? Or is there any chance for the Adminstration to redirect the Lunar efforts to Falcon Heavy?I do not think the Falcon Heavy flight will effect the SLS at all. The SLS is a much more capable rocket and should continue to move forward as planned.Is it?https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/963493015091326977QuoteSLS maiden launch slips to 2020. That's three years to the right, at a cost of about $7 billion. For comparative purposes, NASA could buy nearly 80 Falcon Heavy launches for that price. SpaceX might even give 'em a bulk discount.
Quote from: jpo234 on 02/14/2018 10:16 amQuote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 09:56 amQuote from: Svetoslav on 02/07/2018 12:34 pmHow do you think the successful flight of Falcon Heavy will impact SLS? Will there be consequences? Will development of the rocket continue as planned, will the status quo will be maintained? Or is there any chance for the Adminstration to redirect the Lunar efforts to Falcon Heavy?I do not think the Falcon Heavy flight will effect the SLS at all. The SLS is a much more capable rocket and should continue to move forward as planned.Is it?https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/963493015091326977QuoteSLS maiden launch slips to 2020. That's three years to the right, at a cost of about $7 billion. For comparative purposes, NASA could buy nearly 80 Falcon Heavy launches for that price. SpaceX might even give 'em a bulk discount.Yes, I think so.If Wikipedia is correct, the SLS has more than double the payload capacity to LEO. Falcon Heavy does not compete in lift capacity.
Quote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 10:36 amQuote from: jpo234 on 02/14/2018 10:16 amQuote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 09:56 amQuote from: Svetoslav on 02/07/2018 12:34 pmHow do you think the successful flight of Falcon Heavy will impact SLS? Will there be consequences? Will development of the rocket continue as planned, will the status quo will be maintained? Or is there any chance for the Adminstration to redirect the Lunar efforts to Falcon Heavy?I do not think the Falcon Heavy flight will effect the SLS at all. The SLS is a much more capable rocket and should continue to move forward as planned.Is it?https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/963493015091326977QuoteSLS maiden launch slips to 2020. That's three years to the right, at a cost of about $7 billion. For comparative purposes, NASA could buy nearly 80 Falcon Heavy launches for that price. SpaceX might even give 'em a bulk discount.Yes, I think so.If Wikipedia is correct, the SLS has more than double the payload capacity to LEO. Falcon Heavy does not compete in lift capacity.Imagine NASA purchasing 5 FH launches for $500mln and spending the remaining $6.5bn on payloads for them. They could fund and launch 5 missions in the Cassini/New Horizon/Juno class just from the current budget.
And it's not a very fair comparison to compare the entire development cost of the SLS to the speculative per launch cost of the Falcon Heavy.
If I'm putting people on a round trip to Mars, I want to do that with as few launches as possible. Launches are risky, and I like as few risks as possible. Especially in human spaceflight. I'd go with the SLS.
Quote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 11:26 amAnd it's not a very fair comparison to compare the entire development cost of the SLS to the speculative per launch cost of the Falcon Heavy. It's kind of cute that you think the $7bn are the "entire development cost of the SLS". Program cost until 2017 were about $12bn. And this doesn't include Orion...
Quote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 10:36 amQuote from: jpo234 on 02/14/2018 10:16 amQuote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 09:56 amQuote from: Svetoslav on 02/07/2018 12:34 pmHow do you think the successful flight of Falcon Heavy will impact SLS? Will there be consequences? Will development of the rocket continue as planned, will the status quo will be maintained? Or is there any chance for the Adminstration to redirect the Lunar efforts to Falcon Heavy?I do not think the Falcon Heavy flight will effect the SLS at all. The SLS is a much more capable rocket and should continue to move forward as planned.Is it?https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/963493015091326977QuoteSLS maiden launch slips to 2020. That's three years to the right, at a cost of about $7 billion. For comparative purposes, NASA could buy nearly 80 Falcon Heavy launches for that price. SpaceX might even give 'em a bulk discount.Yes, I think so.If Wikipedia is correct, the SLS has more than double the payload capacity to LEO. Falcon Heavy does not compete in lift capacity. Tell me... When was the last time there was a 130 MT payload ready for SLS. Or a 105 MT payload? Or a 70 MT payload?The answer is never.
Quote from: jpo234 on 02/14/2018 11:44 amQuote from: Deep_Space_Housecat on 02/14/2018 11:26 amAnd it's not a very fair comparison to compare the entire development cost of the SLS to the speculative per launch cost of the Falcon Heavy. It's kind of cute that you think the $7bn are the "entire development cost of the SLS". Program cost until 2017 were about $12bn. And this doesn't include Orion...Human expeditions to Mars are not cheap. No matter what some might tell you.
What does that mean? We have delays in development? So what? Falcon Heavy was 5 years late. Welcome to the space business.