Russian engines are no longer an option, thanks to Congress, unless one procures a waiver. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/without-russian-rocket-engines-america-will-rely-even-more-on-spacex
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-ula-spacex-idUSKCN0S22Y920151008 Interestingly, SpaceX doesn't even file patents, Musk says, because “we try not to provide a recipe by which China can copy us and we find our inventions coming right back at us.” Read more: http://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-spacex-changing-the-rocket-equation-132285884/ On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 12:33 PM, P.J. Alling <[email protected]> wrote: > Actually their issue seems to have been with their engines, and that > technology hasn't changed all that much in 20 years, we're still using > designs from the 50's and 60's in most cases, manufactured in Russia... > > > On 12/22/2015 1:20 PM, Darren Addy wrote: >> >> On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 12:11 PM, P.J. Alling >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> The sad thing is that the DC-X was doing something like that 20 years >>> ago. >>> NASA proved to be incompetent at producing a rocket that took off and >>> landed >>> on it's tail, just as Heinlein, intended, and we lost 20 years. >> >> I wouldn't be too hard on NASA. It is difficult to compare technology >> accomplishements of different ages. 20 years ago may not seem that >> long ago, but think what can be done now making use of GPS satellites >> that weren't available then (to consider just one such technology). 20 >> years ago would have been the Before-GPS-Age. >> >> >> Life is too short to put up with bad bokeh. >> > > > -- > I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve > immortality through not dying. > -- Woody Allen > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- Life is too short to put up with bad bokeh. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.

