The Speculist

Category 1: Sensible

Rand Simberg writes:

Shuttle didn't have to be the way it is, and it's not the platonic ideal of a reusable (or even partially reusable) launch system, that allows us to extrapolate its flaws to any conceivable space transport. It was a program that was compromised early in its development by the same need to save development costs that seem to be turning the latest plans into another budding disaster, at least from an operational cost standpoint.

He may have a point, there. Read the whole thing and decide for yourselves.

Category 2: Daring

Jerry Pournelle writes:

NASA spends a billion and can't fix the problem of foam dropoff. Give me a billion and 3 years (and exemption from the Disabilities Act and some other imbecilic restrictions) and I'll have a 700,000 pound GLOW reusable that will put at least 5,000 pounds in orbit per trip, and be able to make 10 trips a year for marginal costs linearly related to the cost of fuel. Give me $3 billion and I'll have a fleet of the damn things. Once they're flying we can work on getting the payload weights up. Give me $5 billion and I'll have the fleet plus one that's set up to go Earth orbit to Lunar Surface and return to Earth orbit as often as we like (each trip costing about 10 flights Earth to Earth orbit to refuel it). Costing: 700,000 pounds of fuel at $2 per pound times 4 as a guess. Throw in other stuff and the marginal costs are maybe $10 million a flight Earth to Earth orbit, so about $100 million to go back to the Moon.

Yeah, baby. I say we give the man his three billion!

Heck, if you ask me, he deserves that much just for his half of The Mote in God's Eye.

Category 3: More than Just Slightly Unglued

Jack Handey writes:

I came here in peace, seeking gold and slaves. But you have treated me like an intruder. Maybe it is not me who is the intruder but you.

No, not me. You, stupid.

And there's much, much more. Read the whole thing.

(Hat-tip: Blacknail.)

UPDATE:

Contributing in the Sensible category, Homer Hickam writes in today's Wall Street Journal (link requires paid registration):

As that great American philosopher Kenny Rogers once said, "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." That's not just smart poker. That's smart engineering, too. When your design stinks, Engineering 101 says admit your mistakes and go back to the drawing board. I would like all top NASA managers to read the following words very carefully: The space shuttle is a Rube Goldberg contraption that is never going to be reliable no matter how much money, time, and engineering careers you throw at it. Thank you for your attention.