Space Shuttle replacement Constellation Program has ...

[jukio02]

instead of nonesense wars, we should be putting money into shit like this. dammit, if we concentrated all our effort and money on this, we could have been living on mars by now, actually we could have been living on mars 200 years ago,lol

[PlaneAU]

@jukio02 if people were as smart as the smartest greek all throughout history and religion wasn't involved, we could have been on mars in the middle ages..... 600 years ago

[jukio02]

@PlaneAU ya probably, stupid church and religion had to ruin everything!

[thereluctantspaceman]

@PlaneAU Intelligence doesn't make a good man. Adolf was probably the one of the smartest men in Germany in his time and look what his intelligence accomplished.

[o2me2]

Awesome video. Thank you.

[rckn4ever]

The gov't is not spending the money because they already have secret technology far surpassing the old rocket propulsion idea that has been twinked to the extremes. Nasa needs to forget about rockets and get into electromagnetic anti-gravity systems.

[moonus111]

@rckn4ever I have one sitting in my back yard, maybe you can come over and we can drink some beers and figure out how to work this flying saucer. I had this guy who looked like RFK come drop it off in a dump truck. It appears that it works in the opposite way anti-gravity works.

[rckn4ever]

@moonus111 Ha Ha...it is funny because 20 years ago if I had of told you there were jets that flew undetected by radar systems you would have told me you had that plane in your backyard as well.

Gee...if I told you also that there were flying robotic machines that could find you in the dark, hidden behind a wall or under a roof and blow you up to pieces you would think I was even more crazy.

[spacevidcast]

@rckn4ever 20 years ago the F-117 existed and even attended air shows, as did the B-1 and SR-71. 50 years ago was a different story though.

[EpiDemic117]

@rckn4ever THERE IS NO ANTI GRAVITY LOL! there is anti matter though.

[rckn4ever]

@EpiDemic117 Sure Buddy and the world is flat.

Pursuing rocket technology has already maxed out. It is like making a better sail rather than inventing the propellar. Nothing wrong with a new improved sail but if man really wants to go to the Stars he will need a better type of propulsion system that travels close to light speed. You will never be able to do that with rockets.

[EpiDemic117]

@rckn4ever i'm not disagreeing with an alternative propulsion system. And rockets sure as hell won't make space travel economical or affordable.

[EpiDemic117]

@rckn4ever Alot of people though don't understand the costs of R&D. That's what makes up for most of the price.

[kimo57]

I bet the Black Triangle that people has been seeing at night is the test craft for the shuttle replacement not a UFO

[DeuteriumDrones]

The Russian Energia, Buran I and II can each lift 5,300,000 lbs/payload. Russian physics FTW.

[p9i7]

wow still in the dark ages.You would thibk that by now they would have developed something similar to the shuttles of 2001 or the eagles from space 1999.

[trujames2693]

is it reusable?

[airpower123]

LOL NO.

does that module look like the 5000 ton rocket that took off the ground? its only to top tip of it. its designed to go to the moon. not the a 200km above the earth into low orbit.

[trujames2693]

k, why is nasa replaceing te space shuttle in the first place, this thing doesnt even look like it can exit and reenter the atosmosphere. looks like a piece of shit compared 2 the space shuttle.

[pacificguitarist]

The space shuttle can't leave Low Earth Orbit. The Constellation system is far more advanced and can reach the moon... and even ultimately Mars.

[numantunak]

@trujames2693 it is what the russians use, and what we used before the shuttle, anyways, the shuttle cant go any farther than the ISS, it just isnt built that way.

[URProductions]

Actually it's the space shuttle that's the piece of shit. It can't even go to the moon. Really it can't, doesn't have the thrust to get outta Earth's gravity well. This thing here is small, compact, no wings, no bells or whistles, just the plain jane shit you need to get the job down.

And it's a big, son, let me tell you.

[EpiDemic117]

@URProductions Are you kidding me? The space shuttlle was a MASTERPIECE OF ENGINEERING! you try building something as complicated as that!

[URProductions]

@EpiDemic117 I built the Millenium Falcon, bitch.

[wiseguygabriel]

NASA is an old dog that needs to be forced retired yesterday.

They are just disgracing themselves with each new attempt to send a gian sewer pipe into space.

The future is in the hands of space privateers.

[mashersmasher]

in case you didn't know the US is in a recession. you'd be amazed how the Phoenix lander turned out considering it was built out of 10 year old spare parts and equipment from an abandoned rover project. give nasa a break!

[PDohm123]

Oh yes... let's give private companies more ways to make money, and influence our future, or lack there of.

Yes, very smart move.

[rottingpig5]

I think that if we beat the Russians to the moon once we can do it again

[a4ol]

I dont understand why a large private company can't make a space shuttle 100% better then the current one?? where is Martin or Boeing where are the Chinese, Japanese? unless space is not that important after all.. or am i missing something here?

[fuadali16]

virgin enterprises (bad spelling) made a better ''shuttle''

[mashersmasher]

space technology is just not all that profitable. for instance there's only something like 2 factories that produce the fuel that the shuttle uses and i don't think they replaced the one that exploded a while back.

[PDohm123]

yeah, considering it costs around $10 billion to build 1 shuttle, to build a replacement shuttle for a program who's retirement was in the foreseeable future, would've been a waste of major taxpayer money.

[PDohm123]

Uhm, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were both given the chance to produce vehicles for the space program.

Lockheed Martin won, and is developing the Orion series of crew and cargo modules...

[passycot]

sorry for the spelling but thats what happens when you press submitt before you are finished.

[passycot]

where is the international space station being built.? I find it amazing that by the time man lands on the moon again it will have been he best part of 5o years sinse they were last there. Mans explorration of space is pathetic when you think about it considering the vastness of space,. i feel the shuttle program should have been doneawy with atleast 10 years ago.

[Cino1]

NASA has wasted billions on bureaucratic bungling. Our space program should be privatized by competitive builders like Boeing and Lockheed.

To find the US in a position where we can't provide our own access to Space is a disgrace.

The Shuttle is 1970's technology. The next Shuttle must be built with cutting edge 21st century tech.

[MokomaSusi]

Wings are dead weight in space.

[DarkAlex174]

Uh, space is 0 gravity. But I see your point it takes more power to move them right? :P

[MokomaSusi]

Sorry, a bit bad choise of words.

[passycot]

You're right the US government has interfered with the space program for long enough. So is this definetely the technology that is set to replace the shuttle program. Makes the shuttle look very antiquated. And it appears to be much afer aswell. How exactly does the constellation work?

[britishareawesome69]

it's not that the us government doesn't like nasa, they just don't have the money!

[nilbud]

Yeah they have to keep building nuclear air craft carriers in case someone wants to refight WWII.

[Doctor699]

@britishareawesome69 thats what it all comes down to!

[Ronsmytheiii]

The fact of the matter is that the current NASA administrator has forced an inadequate launch vehicle down the nation's throat, lets cut our losses and get rid of Ares

[dcb1138]

WOW, our country really sucks now. We can't build old technology in the same time it took to built it in the 1960s. Pathetic guys.

[spacevidcast]

Well, I'm not pleased with Constellation, but they are trying to do a pinch more than what we did in the late 60's early 70's. Rather than a 1 day venture on the moon, we're actually setting up a lunar colony. That requires a lift vehicle that can carry a LOT more weight.

[joshgigantino]

Fact is it can all be done in 20-30 ton pieces using existing rockets. Instead of developing the payloads NASA is focusing on the "First mile" of the problem while ignoring existing solutions like Delta, Atlas, Ariane, SeaLaunch etc.

[7711082]

@spacevidcast

The heavy lifting capacity of Aries V is needed because the lunar lander is very heavy. It has to have a thick radiation shield to protect the crew when they are beyond low earth orbit and on the moon.

[spacevidcast]

@7711082 We're aware of the reasons, but there are better alternatives. A LOT of money is needed to build Ares V, because pretty much ALL of the infrastructure would need to be replaced. The Vehicle Assembly Building would need a taller roof and stronger floor, the launch pads need replaced, other facilities for assembly and building need big modification, the path for the crawler to get to the pad, a new launch tower, etc. That's a VERY expensive undertaking.

[circusboy90210]

@spacevidcast yes very expensinve but expense has nothing to do with the most important component of construction, time. there are better welding techniques that are faster, stronger. bigger cranes to assemble with. engineers no longer need drafting tables & slide rules(turns out that technology is superior, or we just don't have proper engineers they let the computer do all the thinking)we have super computers . there is no reason for this undertaking to occur over such a long time span .

[cptnemo20kl]

@circusboy90210

The problem is that time is money and - what few people recall - money is time. Reducing the cost of the program to reasonable limits is to dedicate funds to particular systems piece-wise. If money was no obstacle, billions could be poured into infrastructure, software, hardware, propulsion, and biological necessities immediately and the process can be expedited.

The supercomputers can 3d model a rocket, but I wouldn't go in it if it was never tested over time.

[circusboy90210]

@cptnemo20kl I keep telling a friend of mne that computers are not everything & that we had doen far better intheh past with slide rules & a human being('s). he seems to forget that a computer does not have original thought nor are theh models used (currently) accurate. another probability is technology is being supressed, it's a sad state of affairs that the 3d modelling techniques are killing real engineers, technology is being relied on too heavily.

[cptnemo20kl]

@circusboy90210

In a way, the capabilities of engineers to create 3d models and have accurate analysis is astounding in the that a myriad of potential designs can be debunked before producing a prototype. The rub is that the reliance on computers can make people complacent, while the inherent inaccuracies of just slide-rule calculations meant that everything was done twice with higher factors of safety. Trust and safety comes from people. Kudos to you.

[circusboy90210]

@cptnemo20kl don't feel aas if slide rules are in accurate. the tables used for trig are known to be innacurate. the slide rule has none of these baad tables it's always correct. but yes we agree to a certain degree. computers do allow one to see things before they are built easier than a drafting table and as it's being drawn not after in a prototype. this is why prototyping is better now. still no reason to take 12 years to get back to the moon. we've already been there. tech is mortal?

[cptnemo20kl]

@circusboy90210

Tech truly isn't mortal, but the humans making the decisions are.

The reason for having the program take more than 12 years is two fold:

1. Because technology has advanced, people are trying to put more and more complicated concepts and ideas into them, requiring R&D.

2. Lack of drive (such as beating the Soviets) causes second-guessing, micro-management, and back-seat engineering from committees and managers.

If it were up to engineers, we'd be on the moon in 5 years.

[circusboy90210]

@cptnemo20kl definatly committees and managers are making things take much longer than nec. tech is mortal n the sense that when certain engineers die they take that knowledge base with them. (their family's get rid of alll their stuff, the kids don't follow inthe footsteps etc.) why can't we make the saturn V type motors anymore?? we have "superior" technology , but we are not able to even reverse engineer these immensly powerfull rockets. nuclear rockets are superior in a sense though.

[spacevidcast]

@circusboy90210 NASA has lost some of the blueprints and drawings of the Saturn V design. For whatever reason, they didn't think that making backups of that stuff was quite important enough at the time.

[circusboy90210]

@spacevidcast nasa is full of "losers"(unwanted type of people??? joke) amazing they lost moon footage too. what else has nasa "lost" by lost it's in a warehouse somewhere in a building so large it's unacounted for , or oh my god I dropped it on the highway lost????? or lost like hard drives that were found behind a copy machine after it was discovered they were missing(highly sensitive data) & that bill clinton had recieved large campaign donations. (chinese intern blamed.)

[Kawagi1]

That is disaster in fact, or coverup or something like conspiracy, fact remains that Russia and China have a very good chance to equalize technologies.. Even India, EU and Japan are starting tu budge, the old Terrestrian Zombies!

[iamben69]

Similar to how we (Britain&France) killed Concorde. A shame. Why is the Shuttle being de-commissioned, anyway?

[radiospirit]

They are an aging system. However, they may be forced to continue on with the current shuttles. Go with what brung ya...

[circusboy90210]

@iamben69 cost bottom line. they were not bilt properly to design. one piece heat shield would have eliminated many concerns, one piece booster rocket would have prevented disaster. giving contracts to theh lowest bidder a big part of the problem, the tax payer is done a severe injustice by not getting the best for the money even if it means spendingn more.(also more jobs in high tech that spread wealth)

[NovemberKat]

w00t!!!!

Very cool story Gooey.

Keep up the great work.

Also nice job C.

~ Kat