Priorities in government and space

On Jul 30, 2006, at 3:26 PM, Robert wrote:

> how about the savings over extra trips in overaged vehicles that are
> becoming more unreliable with each trip. thats what the thing is
> about. If we dont finish the structure on time, it will require using
> the shuttle more after the time they should be retired. those
> experiments can be carried up in the new shuttle after they are built.
> If they dont cut back on the experiments, they would have to cut back
> on the launches. or something else which might be even more vital.

Has anyone heard or read a reasonable cost estimate of the new Space
Shuttles, err... I mean Orion's cost per launch? The STS was supposed
to cost $20 million per launch and fly something like 100 times per
year. Obviously it missed both projections.

While I don't expect "Orion" to be the cost effective solution to
enable space settlements, If saving money now gets us to a more
affordable, reliable system sooner, then I guess I'm all for it.

The real problem is, these are supposed to be one year temporary
cuts, but how do we know they won't be even deeper next year? And the
year after that.....

doug