Privately funded space flight?
 

Having read about Richard Branson's private venture, is anyone seriously working on a private venture commercial passenger carrying craft that could go into orbit, or even further? Richard Branson's craft won't go as high as the Space Shuttle, but like the Shuttle it's designed to be re-usable. Maybe more important, it could give a lot of useful data to help further development. Why wait for government money if seriously rich individuals can fund things like this privately?

It's Sunday. Today I do things in the house, then drink beer and watch TV. And have daft ideas.

Dunno about the beer but daft ideas aplenty.

I've an idea.

Have NASA go on teevee and claim that they've discovered a race of aliens on the moon who, while not overly bright, wish to buy a new house.

The bankers and mortgage brokers would find a way to get there within a week.

Chas

rotflmao:d

:confused: Beer doesn't help or hinder; the daft ideas come from deep within :>) But is it such a daft idea that private enterprise could do this? Richard Branson is smart. It was private enterprise stepping in to invest that got Virgin records turned from a single shop in Notting Hill to what it is now. If they see that money could be made doing privately what costs billions of £ to do publicly, why would they not go for it?

Now if the man could invent a washing machine that lets you open the door less than a minute after the drum stops spinning, he'd be up there with Bill Gates.

Get a top loader, open the lid and it stops the drum.

Damn Rob, you washing machine must be as ancient as yourself.

I installed a Kenmore stackable in a former pantry for a woman last year, and it locked the lid on the washer as soon as you turned it on. She didn't like that feature, and I neglected to tell her that that I could disable it due to the fact that it was still under warranty.

Buddy of mine just bought a new washer and he claims it doesn't have an agitator. He also claims it doesn't get his clothes clean, but I suspect that's because they've removed the phosphates from the detergent.

I need to buy some TSP as my dishwasher no longer cuts the mustard. Wouldn't hurt to add some to the washer either. It's a Maytag top loader clone, probably the best washing machine ever made.

It's an Admiral, purchased from Monkey Wards...if that gives you any idea how old it is.

Chas

Ummmmmm.....

Looks like "government money" put man into space almost fifty years ahead.
So, I don't know what you're waiting for.

Dave

The washing machine we bought maybe five years back, a Maytag Atlantis with a big stainless steel tub. Bought a GE diswaaher same day, huge interior but only about 5" of clearance underneath, hookup was a royal PITA.

The new front loaders don't need an agitator they claim they use less water as well.

Can't buy TSP here anymore, I used to use it to clean the electrostatic air filters back when we both smoked. Now all I need to do is vacuum the filters.

Our Admiral has a plastic tub, but after 14 yrs of heavy use it hasn't failed, so I guess it's pretty well made. Other than that, it's a Maytag through and through.

All dishwashers have very little clearance under them anymore, or at least Whirlpools & Bosch...I'm familiar with them. And the other latest improvement is they've removed the brass fitting for the water intake and replaced it with a garden hose type fitting with a plastic male fitting on the bottom of the dishwasher. It's like working on a frickin' RV.

I think you can order TSP from Amazon or buy it at paint stores.

Chas

Yes, but have you flown to the moon in your Admiral?

Dave

Lol!

I hope someone can get up there. We need a beatup old simple longbed pickup, with a straight six, manual windows and a vent door, not the station wagon Ferrari we've been using.

Pete

The governments proved it could be done, but at a hideous cost. Recent advances in technology plus a bit of lateral thinking seem to have brought the costs down. Why don't I do it? How many firework rockets tied together would it take to get a man off the ground?

Your OP sounded like you were waiting for government to catch up. To who? Been there, done that. Waiting for private industry to catch up. See?

Dave

I'm not waiting for private industry to catch up. "Richard Branson's craft won't go as high as the Space Shuttle, but like the Shuttle it's designed to be re-usable" makes it clear that the Shuttle was there first. The idea of a rocket being launched from a mother ship goes right back to the X15 so there's nothing new there either.

There's a problem with logical progression; what you make now based on and influenced by what was done previously doesn't encourage 'blue sky' thinking. A much smaller company with a "how can we do this" rather than "how can we improve this" attitude might achieve something that the bigger company misses.

We've spent too much on reusable space vehicles (i.e., the Space Shuttle) at the expense of allowing our rocket launch capabilities to suffer. Let Branson stroke his own ego while we reestablish a reliable (and much cheaper) rocket launch capability.

I picked up somewhere, it was actually cheaper to forget the external fuel tanks on the Shuttle. Retrieving/reusing them was for the publicity.

The Shuttle is just so much cooler than a standup rocket though :)

Pete

Also avoids being charged with littering.:rolleyes: