From Don Nelson
The expendable launched orbital spaceplane is dead before the ink is dry on the first contract (23 November, p 11). Like the X-33 VentureStar, the DynaSoar X-20, the Hermes/Ariane and others, all past expendable launch projects have failed.
As a member of NASA’s 1993 Access to Space launch systems team, I reviewed hundreds of expendable launch vehicle configurations. We discovered that existing expendable launch vehicles are not compatible with new designs for crew and cargo spacecraft, especially those with winged or lifting-body configurations. For anything except capsules that fit into the payload shroud, the structural problems are horrendous.
The proposed Delta 4 launch vehicle will cost around $130 million per flight and provide the same launch functions as the shuttle’s solid rocket booster, external tank, and main engines, which cost only $125 million per flight. So where are all the savings? Why doesn’t NASA consider automated flight to reduce the operational costs of the spaceplane? How about automating the International Space Station and eliminating the need for seven crew members and the spaceplane? But then automation is the word not spoken by management in NASA’s human space programmes.
Alvin, Texas, US
