3 ms·

It seems so bizarre that we're using 40 year old, Russian-made engines. I'm sure there are plenty of smart folks who will say not too worry, but I wonder.

by pbreit 12y ago

CmonDev 12y ago
Most of those smart folks are probably retired now - need more immigrants: http://xkcd.com/984 http://xkcd.com/984
- seanflyon 12y ago
  We have at lots of immigrants doing great work, such as Elon Musk.
Gravityloss 12y ago
It is a fascinating case of uneven technological development. The Soviet Union went so far with staged combustion engines in the sixties that that level of technology has not yet been reached elsewhere. USA, Europe and Japan went with hydrogen staged combustion but that's quite different. The ULA/Blue Origin decision about new indigenous US first stage engine development gets a huge boost from this problem. It's just what can be reached when you put resources into it. Coming from the IT world it might seem strange that the investment has not lost its value, but it has not. It might be quite a lot easier to duplicate nowadays, but not child's play at all. Sometimes it's chilling to think what kind of still secret projects were funded by the huge US defense budgets during the cold war. There are some public sides and declassified parts on things like very good glide ratio hypersonic vehicles, but officially they never went far and the space shuttle was the thing. ( http://www.456fis.org/THE%20B-52/FS-011-DFRC_popup6.jpg http://www.456fis.org/THE%20B-52/FS-011-DFRC_popup6.jpg )
- pbreit 12y ago
  I'm sure the core rocket technology is sound but I've gotta think the sensors and computational capabilities are literally decades out of date. Which is really where SpaceX has a commanding advantage, for example, being able to abort a launch at T-0 and reschedule for later that day having identified and corrected an anomaly.

It seems so bizarre that we're using 40 year old, Russian-made engines. I'm sure there are plenty of smart folks who will say not too worry, but I wonder.

by pbreit 12y ago

It seems so bizarre that we're using 40 year old, Russian-made engines. I'm sure there are plenty of smart folks who will say not too worry, but I wonder.

CmonDev 12y ago

Most of those smart folks are probably retired now - need more immigrants: http://xkcd.com/984 http://xkcd.com/984

seanflyon 12y ago
We have at lots of immigrants doing great work, such as Elon Musk.

Gravityloss 12y ago

It is a fascinating case of uneven technological development. The Soviet Union went so far with staged combustion engines in the sixties that that level of technology has not yet been reached elsewhere. USA, Europe and Japan went with hydrogen staged combustion but that's quite different. The ULA/Blue Origin decision about new indigenous US first stage engine development gets a huge boost from this problem. It's just what can be reached when you put resources into it. Coming from the IT world it might seem strange that the investment has not lost its value, but it has not. It might be quite a lot easier to duplicate nowadays, but not child's play at all. Sometimes it's chilling to think what kind of still secret projects were funded by the huge US defense budgets during the cold war. There are some public sides and declassified parts on things like very good glide ratio hypersonic vehicles, but officially they never went far and the space shuttle was the thing. ( http://www.456fis.org/THE%20B-52/FS-011-DFRC_popup6.jpg http://www.456fis.org/THE%20B-52/FS-011-DFRC_popup6.jpg )

pbreit 12y ago
I'm sure the core rocket technology is sound but I've gotta think the sensors and computational capabilities are literally decades out of date. Which is really where SpaceX has a commanding advantage, for example, being able to abort a launch at T-0 and reschedule for later that day having identified and corrected an anomaly.