Moonshot - short films about Google Lunar XPRIZE

[fredinno]

13 hours ago, UmbralRaptor said:

11.5 years and counting for something that Virgin Galactic claimed would take 3. Meanwhile, most-all of the other competitors have quietly vanished. As for those that haven't, consider that XCOR is in much the same endless development with no launch service.

 

Between the X-Prize's post-winnings fizzle, the similar fizzle by Armadillo Aerospace, and the way the GLXP deadlines have been repeatedly delayed so someone can actually claim it* (5 years so far, and government lander-related penalties conveniently vanished just before Chang'e 3/Yutu's launch), I no longer trust the competition/prize model for increasing space access.

The X-Prize people admitted the Lunar X-Prize was a mistake and too ambitious, but didn't want to cancel it as it was already up and running.

 

And I honestly think Virgin Atlantic made itself take too long to get running by using a 100% new spaceport in the middle of nowhere (and the legalities and construction a result of that) instead of leasing the use of a non-essential coastal airport (possibly a regional airport), and expanding from there.

If they didn't need to make so much infrastructure, I'd doubt it'd take more that 5 years. So that'd just be more like bad business choices than anything else.

[DerekL1963]

8 hours ago, fredinno said:

And I honestly think Virgin Atlantic made itself take too long to get running by using a 100% new spaceport in the middle of nowhere (and the legalities and construction a result of that) instead of leasing the use of a non-essential coastal airport (possibly a regional airport), and expanding from there.

0.o  

What does the location of the spaceport have to do with the difficulties they're having with the engine and airframe?

[fredinno]

2 hours ago, DerekL1963 said:

0.o  

What does the location of the spaceport have to do with the difficulties they're having with the engine and airframe?

The creation of the spaceport took away from money and manpower they could have used for the vehicle.

[kurja]

14 minutes ago, fredinno said:

The creation of the spaceport took away from money and manpower they could have used for the vehicle.

It seems unlikely that the manpower used to build a hangar & runway could have contributed much to developing a rocket & airframe.

[fredinno]

31 minutes ago, kurja said:

It seems unlikely that the manpower used to build a hangar & runway could have contributed much to developing a rocket & airframe.

It's more money than manpower, TBH.

[DerekL1963]

10 hours ago, fredinno said:

12 hours ago, DerekL1963 said:

0.o  

What does the location of the spaceport have to do with the difficulties they're having with the engine and airframe?

The creation of the spaceport took away from money and manpower they could have used for the vehicle.

0.o   The spaceport was provided gratis by the state and county governments.   And the minimal personnel they have there are unlikely in the extreme to have effected the development and construction of the engine and airframe, doubly so since the types of personnel are completely different.

[tater]

10 hours ago, fredinno said:

The creation of the spaceport took away from money and manpower they could have used for the vehicle.

My state ponied up the money for the dumb spaceport, not Virgin. Governor Richardson likely had a buddy in the construction business down there, that was how he rolled.