🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <72958@cup.portal.com> BrianT@cup.portal.com (Brian Stuart Thorn) writes:

>    Excellent news about Soyuz ACRV, but even considering Shuttle
>    launch costs, it seems cheaper to launch by Shuttle or Russian
>    booster instead of Titan or Atlas. 

For station logistics, we should use Atlas(Titan)/Soyuz for crew transfer
and Zenith Star HLV's for material. This will save us $2 to $3 billion
per year (we can start on the Lunar base with the savings) PLUS produce
significant reductions in overall US launch costs.

>    Neither is man-rated, and

There is no need to man rate. It adds cost but doesn't affect
safety. If it where your money would buy the $70 million 98% safe
Atlas or the $90 million 98% safe Atlas?

>    If it is your contention to replace Shuttle with Atlas-Soyuz, that's
>    another matter. I think it would cost too much to reconstruct Atlas
>    manned launch facilities for just two or three launches per year,
>    and I think manned Titan III/IV is now a pipedream.

As I said, there is no point in man rating. Facilities costs can be paid
with the interest on the savings. In addition, I assume we would be looking
at 10 to 20 launches per year.

If you want to refute, let's see some concrete numbers.

   Allen

-- 
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Allen W. Sherzer | "A great man is one who does nothing but leaves        |
|  aws@iti.org     |  nothing undone"                                       |
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