"EELV's are big boosters. They are bigger than anything the Russians have."
Not disputing that. That is true now--after how many years of smaller vehicles? EELVs came a bit too late with Proton/Ariane 5 with a solid hold over he market
"The build it and they will come doesn't work."
R-7 and Proton (and RD-180) . They built it--and we came. And now we need the Soyuz fix.
They had big gov't money and supported boosters, and privatized them later--keeping them protected from market forces until needed.
EELVs are also having to be propped up, same as STS. The same can be true for HLLV provided the push is there and the institutional inertia keeping STS alive is pushed to CaLV.
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publiusr - 5/5/2006 2:19 PM"EELV's are big boosters. They are bigger than anything the Russians have."Not disputing that. That is true now--after how many years of smaller vehicles? EELVs came a bit too late with Proton/Ariane 5 with a solid hold over he market "The build it and they will come doesn't work."R-7 and Proton (and RD-180) . They built it--and we came. And now we need the Soyuz fix.They had big gov't money and supported boosters, and privatized them later--keeping them protected from market forces until needed.EELVs are also having to be propped up, same as STS. The same can be true for HLLV provided the push is there and the institutional inertia keeping STS alive is pushed to CaLV.
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T-IV was a big booster too.
R-7 was a weapon first, just like the US's LV's. Atlas is the R-7 equivalent and it has served the US just as well
Proton was built with a mission in mind.
EELV's are gov't programs, they were going to be supported by the gov't one way or the other.