Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Ares' Continued Technical Problems And Money Troubles: Guest Analysis


From Popular Mechanics:

Space analyst Rand Simberg argues here that last week's test flight of the Ares I-X rocket, NASA's planned, vaunted crew-launch system, did little to stem the controversy over the program. The space agency claims that the flight was a success, providing data needed to retire some of the risk in the development of the eventual booster. But the flight was hardly flawless, Simberg says, and may have uncovered a previously unknown (or, at any rate, undiscussed) risk. Even with all of its technical issues—thrust oscillation, reduced performance margin, a gantry collision risk and now a risk during stage separation—the real problem of the program, Simberg argues, remains how much it will cost.

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