I believe OTA is merely a report-generating organization, whereas
Congress
makes its decisions on political and economic faxctors which may or may
not be related to the OTA analyses. It therefore does not surprise me
that
the Big Dumb Booster never got off the ground!
- Leon Bush
- None (Retired)
OTA was a well-regarded organization. In their day they produced
very
superior reports in a wide range of technical subjects. Because of the
way they treated minimum cost design and the Big Dumb Booster, I felt
it
imperative that I discuss in detail my relationship with OTA, and with
OTA’s relationship with Congress. I hope that many more readers have
recognized
that Congress, for economic and political reasons, saw to it that this
work would be downplayed, if not maligned, as much as possible. I wish
more readers would care to express their thoughts in these Columns.
Their
thoughts need not coincide with mine. I am sure there are viewpoints I
have been blind to or have omitted and should be aired.
- Art Schnitt
- Consultant
I just got through reading the report. It was very interesting, and
raised many questions in my mind. I was particularly interested in the
fact that graphite-epoxy tanks could be that efficient while still
being
relatively cheap. Also, you could really "cook with gas" if you got
some
RTM and fillament winding setups with the capability of making an "all
composite" MCD ELV. Lighter than most, cheaper than almost all of
them....Still
like the idea of using an ablative phenolic insert in place of active
cooling.
Heck, make the thing even lighter and easier to build -- use shperical
tanks. The DC-X proved that you can build an egg shaped rocket, so why
not just make an ELV version. Maybe as you suggest see if the first
stage
is realistic to recover. All in all, it looks fascinating. They did
sound
rather pessimistic, but oh well.
- Jonathan Goff
- Brigham Young University