In the news
posted by Jen | 4:34 PM
It's official. NASA and the Russian Space Agency are no longer the only game in town as far as manned space flight goes. This morning, Burt Rutan and Scaled Composits won the $10 million X-Prize. They sent a spacecraft capable of carrying 3 people above Earth's atmosphere twice in one week. Only one pilot was onboard - there was extra weight to simulate the other two people required for the X-Prize. More...
How do I feel about this? Mostly - great! It is an amazing accomplishment, and something I honestly didn't expect to see happen for a couple more years. I'm also quite glad to see that he's setting his sights on a new goal now, making his design safe enough for the general public.
There were some interesting comments on the television broadcasts about the difference between what Scaled Composits did, and what the US manned spaceflight program does. For one, there was a gratifying recognition of the difference between orbital and sub-orbital flight. There was a comparison of the attitude toward risk taken by the two programs - "NASA is risk-adverse" was part of the quote. I have to agree with that, but I also would like to point out that a public agency is usually what the public makes of it. I remember one particular comment by a CAIB member that they wanted to be sure that "this never happens again". It's going to be impossible in the long run for any agency, or company, to meet expectations if the expectations are a perfect record.
Many people have used the argument that a private endeavor is allowed to take more risk because it isn't spending public money. But what's the difference, really? That money comes from somewhere, and all money originates at the same place. Ultimately, the public either buys a product that supports the private research efforts or pays taxes to support the public research efforts.
One of my friends sent an application to one of the X-prize companies. I don't remember exactly how the feedback was worded, but essentially she was told she was tainted because she'd worked for the government. It's like they think that people that have worked in this system are incapable of being creative or innovative. Personally, I think that is a load of crap. Sure the system stiffles some of the more radical ideas out there, but that doesn't make the individuals in the system any less capable of coming up with those ideas.
Anyway, congrats to the SpaceShip One team. Maybe we can all go to space before we die.
How do I feel about this? Mostly - great! It is an amazing accomplishment, and something I honestly didn't expect to see happen for a couple more years. I'm also quite glad to see that he's setting his sights on a new goal now, making his design safe enough for the general public.
There were some interesting comments on the television broadcasts about the difference between what Scaled Composits did, and what the US manned spaceflight program does. For one, there was a gratifying recognition of the difference between orbital and sub-orbital flight. There was a comparison of the attitude toward risk taken by the two programs - "NASA is risk-adverse" was part of the quote. I have to agree with that, but I also would like to point out that a public agency is usually what the public makes of it. I remember one particular comment by a CAIB member that they wanted to be sure that "this never happens again". It's going to be impossible in the long run for any agency, or company, to meet expectations if the expectations are a perfect record.
Many people have used the argument that a private endeavor is allowed to take more risk because it isn't spending public money. But what's the difference, really? That money comes from somewhere, and all money originates at the same place. Ultimately, the public either buys a product that supports the private research efforts or pays taxes to support the public research efforts.
One of my friends sent an application to one of the X-prize companies. I don't remember exactly how the feedback was worded, but essentially she was told she was tainted because she'd worked for the government. It's like they think that people that have worked in this system are incapable of being creative or innovative. Personally, I think that is a load of crap. Sure the system stiffles some of the more radical ideas out there, but that doesn't make the individuals in the system any less capable of coming up with those ideas.
Anyway, congrats to the SpaceShip One team. Maybe we can all go to space before we die.
2 Comments:
Don't forget China :) (yes, I know, being a wise ass here...)
I stand corrected. Still, all the others are government-sponsored.
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