Launch Costs

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Ian Woollard"
wrote:
>
> You were talking about cities in California, not towns a few miles
from the pad.

no. i said it COULD be half way to california. also if the buisness
ppl have their way, they could likely be launching from california.
>
> The Shuttle could conceivably hit a town close to the pad, but the
> range safety would kill it before it reached that. There would be a
> big bang in mid air and lots of debris flying off at the speed of
> sound, and I would not want to be in the area at the time.
>
with nasa in charge of the rockets safety, which includes how they
are built, yes. but put big buisness in charge, and the range safety
officer might not even be around because they would expect him to be
doing more that babysitting a switch that is never used.

>
> That's what range safety is for. To protect those towns.
>

with nasa in charge, yes.

>
> Yeah right. Actually the range safety is the responsibility of the
> range I believe, so even if civilian launchers ran from there, the
> range safety would stop that. If the range safety isn't happy- you
do
> not launch.
>

you dont seem to realise how much pull big buisness would have. as
long as they are just launching from cape canaveral and as long as
its nasa in charge of it. there is little likely hood civilains are
going to be hurt. BUT along comes the daily launching of rockets, and
the cape cant handle it anymore, so the big buisnesses arange with
congress to have their own launch sites. next thing you know, one of
the rockets hits a town and everyone blames someone else.
>
> You're not listening. If it hasn't left the atmosphere, it's not
going
> far- it's got to get somewhere before it runs out of fuel. To go
large
> distances it would have to go hypersonic. But rockets can't go
> hypersonic in the atmosphere; they crumple up due to structural
loads-
> the atmospheric drag would be enormous; many, many tonnes on the
nose
> cone.

they dont need to get supersonic to reach a town.
>

>
> Yeah right the NIMBYs would really stand for launch vehicles
launching
> next to cities. The law courts would shut it down faster than you
can
> countdown from 5.
>
> But it's not about politics; there are real practical issues that
> preclude launch vehicles from launching close to habitation. And
> insurance. The insurers would laugh at you. For civilian flights
it's
> the FAA (AST) we're talking about; the FAA don't mess about. The FAA
> turn a blind eye to really obscure failures, but basic safety, you
> can't bribe the FAA.
>
it would not have to be the FAA. congress would write laws that would
enable them to. and dont even suggest that congressmen cant be bribed.