The Air Force Wants Reuseable Rockets

By -
The Air Force has stated that it wants a reusable launch platform, and hopes to cut costs about 50%.

First the bad news:
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/assets/space_shuttle_sonic_boom.jpg

Yeah, it has not worked out before. A big reason we built the Space Shuttle in the first place was for the Air Force, but when payloads got too expensive, the Air Force stopped using it.

Now they want their own, automated version.
http://news.discovery.com/space/air-force-reusable-rockets.html

I would love it if this works out - I just have to caution that we have been down this road before. Personally - I would like to see other options - like a giant gun for shooting satellites into space. I'm not kidding, more to come later.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Ways to Not Suck at Driving

By -
Image
There are a lot of shitty drivers out there. Actually, most people are shitty drivers. They don't really know anything about cars, about driving, about limits of adhesion, how to react when things go badly, or what snow does to your ability to drive. In fact, most people think that driving slowly, regardless of what lane you are in, whether you are merging onto a highway or holding up 50 cars behind you, means "being a good driver." Just because you have spent many years driving in the left lane at 65mph does not make you a good driver, in fact, just the opposite. A good driver means you know how to drive, not that you have gotten lucky or simply average for the past 10 years. Personally, I would love to see a class in high school devoted to driving. I think it could be fun and informative while greatly reducing the number of accidents (especially fatal ones) on the roads every year. Right now, the driving exam is basically a joke, it means that you know what the pedals...
Read more