

Renovations aim to streamline space operations for the Orion Project.







Lockheed Martin
 is currently the prime contractor to NASA for the Orion Project.

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RE: I'm sorry...
By cyclosarin on 9/24/2010 9:16:13 PM , Rating: 2
Where on earth did I mention STS in my post? Please, tell me, where?

This is such a joke, I feel sorry for our future generations. What a giant leap backwards.

If it's a giant leap backwards, from where are we leaping back? The last SLV we had before the STS was Apollo. So please enlighten me, how are we stepping back from ANYTHING if you aren't referencing anything.

Your entire inept counter-argument seems to be you attempting to suggest that your original argument was about the Orion in a vacuum...and I can see now you were entirely unprepared for any conversation about the subject.

I'm not talking about cargo, now am I? I'm talking about room inside the vehicle! This is a small capsule. This isn't a ship, it is a capsule with no engines other than some nozzles for maneuvering on it. This is also about the closest I can to referring to the shuttle but I didn't. I want a spacecraft that is large, self-sustaining and has room inside of it far greater than a "capsule." It might have an engine behind the blast shield, but the schematics I see don't suggest one.

How is it that you manage to have the gall to even write your original post when you don't even understand the basic principles of the spacecraft or program?

The CEV is comprised of a crew module and a service module. The crew module is only ever separated for re-entry or abort.

The cargo capacity of each launch system directly relates to what and how many experiments you can take to LEO and beyond. On top of the vast difference in raw weight the Ares V has the largest shroud diameter of any rocket ever. This would allow for new payloads that could never have been launched before. Ares V can put a module into LEO that would make the Orbiter look like a sardine can.

Regarding your child-like thought process regarding chemical engines; I wonder if you think we should simply not do anything until we develop the mythical nonexistent engines you want us to use for the sake of them being anything but chemical. Nuclear thermal engines aren't going to happen any time soon due to ignorance just like yours of spaceflight. Ion thrusters are just short of useless for orbital flight and likely so for trans-lunar flight as well. They may very well be useful when developed to a larger scale and used for long distance flights such as Mars. But that's 20+ years out and we need to learn to survive on away from Earth before we go running out on a year long trip to Mars.

You want NASA to dream up some magical Starship Enterprise to fulfill your childhood fantasy. It isn't magic, it's physics. DIRECT was the only other meaningful suggestion from mostly ex-NASA people...and it still used the Orion spacecraft it simply replaced the Ares family of rockets with the Jupiter family.

Please do us all a favor and keep your uninformed opinions to yourself.

