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E.P. Grondine — (archived)

Hello Phil -

Do you have a reference to hard numbers? I think you're exagerating - obviously X-33 would have been capable of very high speeds, though lower than the original specifications -

As for the cancellation, you have to remember that the proposal was for PRIVATE money to develop the RLV - and given the current launch market, no private firm would invest that money, as there is no short-term payback -

Those same markets are why all those CATS folks have their hands out looking for taxpayer cash. And they're the reason why MacDouglas is no longer an independent firm - If it made market sense, MD could have done DC-X on their own, way before the RLV competition ever took place - they didn't.

Another thing to remember is that Goldin had in place a back-up team of engineers working on the North American design for the RLV - that is, he had it in place until the Congress killed it - (the rumor is that Lock-Mart helped this process along, but we'll see)

So that's 2 designs that were rated better than DC-X - MD had a fair shot in the RLV competition, but just didn't make the cut - maybe if they'd have worked more on designing the abort systems, and less on lobbying, they could have been the back up team -

Now do you blame Goldin or the Congress for killing the North American back-up?

In the old days, of course, the Congress would have given NASA money enough 1) to see that the composite tanks could be developed, and 2)have funded the North-American back-up team - but the old days when NASA was 5% of federal spending are long gone -

EP

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