Subject:
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Re: Some good news for a change, maybe?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 23 Jun 2004 13:11:10 GMT
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Viewed:
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1031 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> All of the Saturn tooling is no more.
>
> NASA admitted they did that on purpose to "focus efforts on the shuttle".
> Arguably the Saturns would have been really great Big Dumb Boosters if heavy
> lift was something that NASA was really interested in.
Well of course they did. Is there any reason to spend money to preserve and
maintain the tooling viability for a rocket that can no longer be launched? All
the existing Saturn launch infrastructure was modified for shuttle use. The
launch towers are gone, the mobile service structure, extensive mods in the VAB,
and a bunch of other geek level stuff. Even if you could push a button and
restart Saturn V production today, it would take years and major investments to
rebuild the launch facilities. Since you've got to redo the facilities anyway,
you are probably better off designing a new (and more efficient) heavy lift
vehicle from scratch. NASA didn't dump the Saturn tooling as part of an effort
to force us to use the shuttle exclusively. Without continuing the Saturn
program it didn't make much sense to keep it. Of course continuing the Saturn
program would mean we didn't need the shuttle in the first place (perhaps a good
argument).
Spencer
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Some good news for a change, maybe?
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| (...) (I should have said 'and infrastructure') (...) Nope. But if you get rid of one element then it becomes easier to justify getting rid of the rest. The tooling was just the last thing to go in a whole sorry parade of wanton waste and (...) (20 years ago, 23-Jun-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Some good news for a change, maybe?
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| (...) All of the Saturn tooling is no more. NASA admitted they did that on purpose to "focus efforts on the shuttle". Arguably the Saturns would have been really great Big Dumb Boosters if heavy lift was something that NASA was really interested in. (20 years ago, 23-Jun-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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