A thought on Columbia

[mdlbear]

The investigators will, in all likelihood, come up with a pretty good idea of what caused the shuttle to disintegrate on reentry. The sensor readings and computer readouts all point to problems with the tiles on the left wing. They may even be able to determine whether the tiles were damaged on liftoff, or whether the cause was further back: a design flaw or maintenance problem.

But they're unlikely to finger the real problem: the shuttle is a disastrously flawed, obsolete system that should have been replaced a dozen years ago. We knew this when Challenger exploded. We knew it even before that. From the moment of Columbia's first launch, we should have been designing her ultimate replacement. We should have learned what was good about the shuttle design, what was bad, and above all what problems were built in because of budget limitations, engineering expediency, and political ideology.

By now we should have had a fleet of commercial, single-stage-to-orbit vehicles -- possibly even laser-launched cargo carriers -- that would have made space travel as routine as air travel. Instead, NASA chose to spend what little money Congress gave them on "cutting-edge" (i.e., impossible) projects like the aerospace plane, while putting obstacles in the way of any possible commercial programs, instead of funding anyone with a better way to get into space.

One can hope that this time will be different, that we will honor our gallant dead by working to replace the dangerous machine that killed them. But I'm not very hopeful.

Comments

[chaoswolf]

Think about it for a second, papa-bear. With all the shit that's happened to this country throughout the last 3 years, do you think that NASA had the time or the brains to produce more space shuttles? The government is full of idiots, Dad. You need to remember this. It is because of Bush that we don't have more space shuttles under construction. If Gore were voted in, we probably would've had more progress made on a shuttle fleet.

[mdlbear]

We've had quite a few presidents along the way: the Shrub, Slick Willie, the Bush, Ronnie Ray-gun, ... None of them has done much for the space program. And NASA isn't part of the solution, it's part of the problem.

Don't kid yourself: if Gore had been voted in -- well, he did get voted in, he just didn't get enthroned selected by the Supreme Court -- he might have spent less on Star Wars but he probably wouldn't have spent any more on space.

Re:

[chaoswolf]

At least he would've been a better bet than the Shrub JR. You have to admit that much at least. G'night, Dad.

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

The engineering of spaceflight is easier than the politics of spaceflight.

IMHO, we need more spaceflight period . . . In my LiveJournal I suggested several simultaneous approaches to developing reliable space transport, with each of the armed services and two more government agencies each getting a big chunk. Briefly:

SSTO / DC-X / DC-Y US Navy (launches off the back of a ship, at the Equator)
"big dumb booster" US Army (engineers who do rockets)
Pegasus and other air-launch US Air Force (it flies)
spaceplane DOT / FAA (commercial development)
electromagnetic catapult DOE (big power, long shot)
shuttles! (old or new) NASTI (ahem, NASA)

and last but not least:

Orion (nuclear) US Marines (requires crazy people to fly it)

At least this would break the stranglehold that NASA holds on spaceflight.