A few years ago NASA did arcjet testing for Kistler's thermal protection system. George Mueller is chief executive officer for Kistler Aerospace. Years ago Mueller was administrator for NASA and then later ran the System Development Corp. (a company that employed me before I went back to school). Mueller is very well connected amongst the aerospace industry's inner circle. Kistler Aerospace also has some semi-retired old NASA guys doing design work (I presume Mueller brought them with him). Old NASA guys (provided they're still sharp) are among the best aerospace engineers in the business (most of their experience is undocumented). I believe most of the metal for their test vehicle has already been cut. I know they bought a bunch of ex-Soviet liquid rocket motors and had the Aerojet Corp. recertify them. Using old Soviet hardware is good idea provided they have lots of spares. Kistler also did some smart things in terms of locating their launch facilities. They had one site in southern Nevada near the old nuclear weaons test area and another at Woomera, Australia. Beale Aerospace got torpedoed over their launch site choice by environmentalists and blood sucking lawyers. Blood suckers won't try to sabotage Kistler if they know that Kistler can dodge them by running to Australia (no money in it for them).

NASA's decision to keep Kistler Aerospace alive is a smart thing to do.

Gary