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Next NASA prize announced
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Space Station Member  
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:12 am
Posts: 321 Location: Melbourne, Australia 
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 Posted on: Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:50 pmUm, a 100th scale Sea Dragon (in terms of weight) would launch 4.5 tonnes to LEO. Maybe a little less as some parts wouldn't scale down, and air drag would be proportionally greater. If the price scaled too, it would probably cost a couple of million dollars.
I think a group like Armadillo could mange a 1000th scale version at 18 tonnes GLOW. But that small, the performance might drop off too much to make orbit. Could still prove the cost structure though. |
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Moon Mission Member  
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:38 pm
Posts: 1361 Location: Austin, Texas
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Posted on: Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:27 pm Since we are assuming that payload weight does not scale linearly with gross launch weight, I would think that the payload would be less than 4.5 tons. But if it were "only" 1 ton for two million dollars, then how about scaling down 1,000 times instead. Linearly that would be 200 pounds to orbit for $200,000. Assuming it still didn't scale linearly, maybe it would "only" be 100 pounds to orbit for $200,000. That would be well within the capability of Armadillo or any number of small groups. The price per pound to orbit would still be $2,000, but the claim that simpler is cheaper would be validated, given that the cheapest cost to orbit PER LAUNCH right now is millions.
Actually, Armadillo is basically working on that now. Their vehicle is pressure fed and very simple. |
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Space Station Member 
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:34 am
Posts: 450
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Give Simplicity a Chance! Posted on: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:01 pm I agree wholeheartedly that simple (pressure fed) launch vehicles should be tried. This technology worked for all Moon landings and takeoffs. If a small “low costâ€
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Space Station Member
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2005 12:34 am
Posts: 450
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Re: Next NASA prize announced Posted on: Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:35 pm Andy Hill wrote: NASA has announced its next centennial prize. They want someone to build a machine to produce 5kg of Oxygen in a 8 hour period from simulated lunar regolith. The competition is worth $250k to the winner and runs until June 2008. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20 ... onair.html I think that this is a good idea and should lower costs when they eventually get back to the moon. Very Old News: but did anyone ELSE waste the time to actually look at the MoonROx competition rules? This “minor†|
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Moderator 
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:23 am
Posts: 3745 Location: Hamburg, Germany
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Posted on: Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:41 pm What about the orbital fuel depot-prize under the aspect of the article gaetanomarano refers to in the Technology section - "Space Gas Station Would Blast Huge Payloads to the Moon" ( www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4224660.html ) ?
Might Boeing be going for that prize? Might this cancle the prize alternatively? I am not sure if the Centennial Challenge for the depot is open already - if not may Boeing's plan mean a cancellation of that Centennial Challenge? ... Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist) |
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Space Station Commander 
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:25 am
Posts: 887
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Posted on: Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:42 pm It would be far easier for them to make a big sturdy LV than a lander. The electronics are more than adequate for the former.
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