Lockheed wins NASA contract

👍

And what should lockeed do with the money from that contract?

hms_endeavour wrote:

And what should lockeed do with the money from that contract?

For the benefit of those who niether watch nor read the news, it is for development of the next manned moon mission space craft and launch vehicle.

should have given it rutan!

hinch wrote:

should have given it rutan!

No way.

Thanks alot CG. I though it might be something like that, pretty awesome!
Indeed, I heaven't watched tv all summer, i only got 3 channels with a bad reception up in the wilderness this summer. Now, these last days in germany they didn't even show anything about it 😕 😞

CrashGordon wrote:

hinch wrote:

should have given it rutan!

No way.

but they would have gone to the moon in a giant smiley face or something! is mr rutan dead though? good old scaled composites then. love them.

They are going with a re-entry capsule that will set down on land instead of water, carry a larger crew. But don't look for any moon landings before 2014. It is a government project, after all. 😂

During the week, I watch CNBC to keep track of the stock market, and found out about it as soon as the contract was announced. Lockheed Martin beat out Boeing for the contract, but the same day, Boeing's anti-missle system had a successful test, so shares of both companies went up. That made me quite happy. 😀

CrashGordon wrote:

hms_endeavour wrote:

And what should lockeed do with the money from that contract?

For the benefit of those who niether watch nor read the news, it is for development of the next manned moon mission space craft and launch vehicle.

Ah, great. The same company that built the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Observer spacecraft is going to be building manned spacecraft.

What a good idea. 🙄

Ed

Guest Ed wrote:

CrashGordon wrote:

hms_endeavour wrote:

And what should lockeed do with the money from that contract?

For the benefit of those who niether watch nor read the news, it is for development of the next manned moon mission space craft and launch vehicle.

Ah, great. The same company that built the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Observer spacecraft is going to be building manned spacecraft.

What a good idea. 🙄

Ed

Not to mention the Mars Climate Orbiter; Lockheed built that one and delivered the famous english-instead-of-SI data that doomed it.

Can you tell Lockheed is not my favorite aerospace company? 😉

Ed

We have a history of developing systems that are overly complex. We spent an outrageous amount of money developing pens that would work in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils with no development costs. I wonder how many redundant sytems exist on the space shuttle that share a common power source which renders those rendundant systems useless.

If they get rid of all the bells and whistles, they will have a system that actually works, regardless of which company does the work.

CrashGordon wrote:

We have a history of developing systems that are overly complex. We spent an outrageous amount of money developing pens that would work in zero gravity. The Russians used pencils with no development costs. I wonder how many redundant sytems exist on the space shuttle that share a common power source which renders those rendundant systems useless.

If they get rid of all the bells and whistles, they will have a system that actually works, regardless of which company does the work.

I think this pen vs pencil business is a myth; I've seen it on the internet many times, but never with any evidence that it is true.

There is a very good reason not to use pencils in space-- the graphite breaks off and floats around. Graphite is an electrically conductive material.

Guess what happens when a piece of conductive material floats into one of your electrical circuits? ZAP!!!

I'd guess that the Russians were smart enough to figure that out, too.

Ed

Did NASA invent those pens where the bikini dissapears when you turn it upside down?

Affirmative. That's why we had a whole generation of youngsters lining up to become astronauts at one stage.

Here's a link about the pens vs. pencils in space business:

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

As I suspected, it is a myth.

Ed

Except that in zero gravity, there is no upside down.

How are the cockpit instruments powerd in space shuttles if they are sealed to protect against superheated gasses?

Guest Ed wrote:

Here's a link about the pens vs. pencils in space business:

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

As I suspected, it is a myth.

Ed

I'll have to send a nasty-gram to the writers and producers of the West Wing. 😂

Hope all goes ok, when is it supposed the module be ready for next trip to the moon?, maybe 2020?...