Re: starship-design: NASA wants space plane, new shuttle

[KellySt@aol.com]

A very outdated couple of designs, but at least they are suggesting shuttle 
replacement.

A more interesting article was that NASA contracted GE to test a demonstrator 
for a turbo jet based system (like the one used on the SR-71's) that go go up 
to mach 4.5.  GE hoped to be able to deliver a 15 to 1 thrust to weight ratin.

Now that would do a nice job in a first stage TSTO.

;)



In a message dated 11/14/02 6:39:46 PM, lparker@cacaphony.net writes:

>Legal Pad StationeryNASA wants space plane, new shuttle
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>Thursday, November 14, 2002 Posted: 1:39 PM EST (1839 GMT)
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>WASHINGTON (AP) -- NASA is proposing to spend $2.4 billion over the next
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>four years to design a new orbital space plane to ferry astronauts between
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>Earth and the International Space Station.
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>In an amendment to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's
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>proposed 2003 budget, agency officials for the first time set a firm figure
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>of $6.6 billion for completing assembly of the basic orbiting space station.
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>That would bring the U.S. share of the international project to less than
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>$25 billion, officials said.
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>The precise cost of the space station, a project started during the Reagan
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>administration, has been an unsettled issue for years between NASA and
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>Congress. After the agency announced last year that it faced cost overruns
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>that could reach more than $600 million, Congress put a $25 billion cap
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>the project.
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>Sean O'Keefe, a former federal budget officer, was named NASA administrator
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>in January with specific instructions from the White House to define and
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>control the costs of the space station and other NASA programs.
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>The core components of the plan
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>In the budget amendment proposal, O'Keefe describes what he calls a "new
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>integrated space transportation plan" that would complete the core
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>components of the space station by 2004; extend the life of the aging space
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>shuttle fleet; complete design of a new orbital space plane; and continue
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>development of a new, reusable spacecraft and launch system to replace
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>shuttle.
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>He said the amendment would not add to the proposed NASA 2003 budget of
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>billion, but would redirect some funds.
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>O'Keefe said his plan inserts a "systemic approach" into NASA's space
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>transportation activities, instead of having each element of space
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>transportation acting as a separate program.
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