News and information on space tourism, the X-Prize, and CATS (cheap acess to space). Other important space exploration news and information as well.
As this weblog leans more towards analysis than news, there may or may not be daily updates and changes, I will however keep the non-space material to a minimum.
One of the most derided standing armies is the one supporting the Space Shuttle at Cape Canaveral, thousands of people supporting a small handful of vehicles flying a few missions a year. Somehow the equally large armies maintained by US Air, Southwest Airlines, etc. go unnoticed or at least unmentioned. Yet, the fact that they exist indicates that they cannot be dispensed with. (This should be obvious from first principles; if you are operating a vehicle, someone needs to kick the tires and check the oil level now and again.)
The key difference between the two armies is this; while those at the Cape support a few flights a year, those with the airlines support hundreds if not thousands of flights a day. There are two terms to the equation that determines how ground personnel affect your total costs, the first is their gross numbers of personnel, the second (and often ignored by the CATS folks) is how many flights per diem or per annum that they support. The bottom line of a tourist or transport operation is affected by both terms. One ignores this at peril.
Another issue, well known in many engineering and accounting communities, is that turn around time isn't the only criteria. Any vehicle participating in extended operations will also require both occasional repairs and routine periodic maintenance. Engineering cleverness that reduces weight, construction costs and turn around times must be balanced against its impact on day to day safety, maintenance, and operations. The key is to reduce the total cost of ownership not just the daily and per flight costs of operation.
Don't fear the standing army. Fear the impulse to concentrate on one facet of an issue while ignoring other aspects. A startup tourist or transport company would do well to hire an engineer and a CPA who aren't dreamers about space and who can serve to provide balance to the corporate viewpoint.
However, the flight also demonstrates the reason why incremental testing is viewed as a requirement by the space access community. Monday's goal was 107km to meet the record previously established by the X-15), without carrying the ballast required to meet the X-Prize requirements. This would have established that Spaceship One had sufficient performance to reach the required altitude in an actual X-prize attempt. They fell short of this goal because of control system problems of currently unknown origins. Had this been an actual Prize attempt (as many believed it should have been) the attempt would likely have failed, doing significant damage to the reputation of the Prize. However, the emphasis on reusability inherent in the Prize saved the day, Astronaut Mike Melvill was able to continue the flight and land safely. SpaceShip One will fly another day once the issues from Monday's flight are resolved and once the system is proven functional, take a shot at the Prize.
Monday's flight has also obscured another important point; the real goal of Cheap Acess to Space lies much higher - in low earth orbit. As Robert Heinlein wrote "If you can get into orbit, then you're halfway to anywhere".
The name Spaceship Summer comes from several sources. It's in honor of the first manned civilian spaceflight on the first day of summer 2004, as well as the classic science fiction short story 'Rocket Summer' by Ray Bradbury. It's also an allusion to the eternal sunshine of outer space.
Alert readers will note that I've now released the contents of this website under a Creative Commons license. I feel that this issue is every bit as important as CATS. (Don't worry about your comments though, they remain your property.)
As this weblog leans more towards analysis than news, there may or may not be daily updates and changes, I will however keep the non-space material to a minimum.
