Cancelled NASA Crew Transportation Systems

NASA cancels most crew transportation systems mid-program. Here's a depressing look at some of them.

Music: http://www.youtube.com/user/jeunedotus

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• nasa
• space
• piano
• depressing
• OSP
• DC-X
• X-30 NASP
• X-33 Venture Star
• X-34
• X-38
• Ares I
• Space Launch System
• sad

[thisisnotajoke]

Great work quantumQ, that's a real treasure trove of old animations :)

Personally I was the most baffled about the X-33. Yes, they had problems (like any project), but it was almost ready for test flights when funding was canceled...

Silver line at the horizon: the Orbital Space Plane will hopefully fly in the not so distant future under its new name: DreamChaser :)

[quantumG]

@thisisnotajoke the X-33 was a failed program from the beginning. They never even got the engines working. In the end they blamed the new cryogenic tanks for all their troubles and everyone who knew something about making carbon-fiber tanks had to live under that storm cloud for decades.

[thisisnotajoke]

@quantumG As far as I know, the XRS-2200 (single) engine tests conducted before the end of the program have been quite successful and there are pictures of dual engine runs available on the web. So saying that they never got the engines working just isn't true.

Composite cryo tanks on the contrary are far from dead (they even demonstrated a working LH2 tank after the X-33 was cancelled) while pretty much nobody ever touched aerospikes since then. :(

[quantumG]

@thisisnotajoke ahh.. you're not aware of the history. There's a big difference between an early test engine and a flight weight engine. When they started the project they figured it would be easy to find materials that were light enough to build a linear aerospike from, while withstanding the high heat (direct impingement of rocket plume).. by the end they were considering active cooling systems, and reconsidering toroidal aerospike (the only type to ever fly).

[thisisnotajoke]

@quantumG Where can I find detailed (as far as ITAR allows...) information on the XRS-2200 and the problems encountered? I have never even heard, that they ever considered toroidal aerospikes for the X-33 or VentureStar.

Or better, you should ask Ben to let you publish a blog/article on spacevidcast to enlighten us about all that stuff that you know about such projects. maybe a small series about canceled projects, each article focusing on one? :)

[quantumG]

@thisisnotajoke it's very hard to find. The XRS-2200 was based on the J-2S.. so if you look for information about the J-2X you can often get a peak at the X-33 numbers. That happened at an Ares 1 Industry Day in Huntsville back in 2006.

J2S - 265 Klbf, 436 sec, 3800 lbm.

X-33 - 261 Klbf, 419 sec, 7500 lbm.

J2X - 274 Klbf, 448 sec, 5360 lbm.

So it was over twice the mass.. apparently there was an earlier engine that had ramp burn through.

[Membrane556]

DCX and the HL-20 should have never been canceled.

[701shep]

another 15 to 20 years before your flying your own space craft again.

i take no pleasure in this i thought you would have been to mars by now

[701shep]

its got to be inbarasing to be behind the russians again

[c1cl0ps]

Good compilation!

As Churchill said: "Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities."