Rockets rock Nothing like lighting the fuse on $50,000,000 of fuel that's spent in 37 seconds (this statement is pure beeb speculative bs numbers but you get the idea)
The fuel is actually a relatively small cost. The big cost is in letting cutting edge rocket motors and spaceframes burn up in the atmosphere and fall in the ocean instead of flying them again. I watched it, too, it was bad ass. Too bad NASA is such a pathetic, underfunded, and risk averse organization, they could've accomplished so much more than they have. The fact that they've had 50+ years to build nuclear powered spacecraft and are still fooling around with these stupid solar panels, RTGs, and chemical rockets for interplanetary spacecraft is amazing, and sad.
NASA can't build nuclear spacecraft for the same reason we can't dispose of radioactive material in space. What happens when your nuclear motor blows up at 10k feet over Florida? Bad news for a long time.
Not true. NASA has been sending Pu-238 into space for years in the guise of RTGs. Spacecraft with nuclear electric drives lack the power to weight ratio to make orbit and would require launch by chemical rockets, just as spacecraft with large amounts of Pu-238 are launched today. Oceanic launch could also eliminate the possibility of radioactive contamination over populated areas. The reason we abandoned plans for a manned mission to Mars was NASA's failure to continue development of nuclear thermal rocket technology. The fact is that NASA and it's political masters have no balls or vision. A Mars lander is great, but not befitting as the height of interplanetary science for the world's greatest country. Where the fuck is our submarine for the Europan ocean?
Well you know a lot more about it than I do. That's just what I was told when I said why don't we just shoot that crap off into space. I just know we have to be extremely careful with Florida. If something happened where could we hold the coveted daytona 500? If I couldnt watch cars go left in a circle for 4 hours I might actually die!
Not Nasa related, but funding for the Blue Angels might force them to shut down that program. That would be a shame:down:
I would think that Energy falling out of the sky would be a Texan's dream come true. I'm going to call chunks of fissionable material hitting the ground a win-win, because then Gov. Perry can get more Federal dollars for the cleanup all the while acting like a conservative. Too bad there isn't some other kind of radiation hitting the ground on a regular basis. *H8R chuckles to himself* I wonder if Gov. Perry would ask for federal dollars for that cleanup as well.
when the shot switches in the posted vid....ehem....at about 140....is that filmed from an aircraft?? awesome on board shots huh? gopro?? haha.
With the amount of money NASA has spent [wasted?] we cound have sent a 1969 style mission to the moon every 6 months since 1969. I could be wrong--it could be every 6 weeks [I'll look it up for cite nazis] http://pjmedia.com/blog/nasas-shuttlyndra-a-massive-waste-of-tax-dollars/?singlepage=true
Not sure how this helps the esteem of Muslims or global warming There is plenty of items with nuclear payloads