40 Ton Cargo carrying SSTO 1969

[TeeGee]

http://falsesteps.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/servmurp-chryslers-space-truck/

Again, why wasn't this the chosen design for the space shuttle????

Can somebody explain the rationale behind this?

[Ralathon]

Because hindsight is always 20/20.

At the time a lot of different people wanted a spaceship that could do a lot of different things. That's what made the spaceshuttle into the hodgepodge of features that it is. At the time the shuttle seemed the best option, even if the re usability costs where vastly underestimated. Besides, doesn't look like that design ever got much further than a feasibility study. I suspect that if we would have used that we'd run into loads of other unforeseen problems.

In that alternate universe we'd have threads going "Why did we ever use this?! The space shuttle looks so much better, that way you can have a lifting reentry so we don't have to replace the bloody heatshield every launch!".

Edited April 3, 2014 by Ralathon

[Brotoro]

Cool Ship, Bro.

As for your question about why this wasn't chosen, the article explains:

"Any project at NASA needed a broad constituency, and the SERV failed to make it off the drawing board because its peculiarities turned every possible supporter against it. NASA’s management had come to the conclusion that a large spaceplane was the way to go, and had only allowed other arrangements as a sop to due diligence. NASA’s astronauts didn’t like that the SERV (as ultimately envisioned in the Phase B proposal) could fly unmanned, cargo-only missions. And NASA engineers were concerned about the SSTO/Aerospike engine approach, which is very sensitive to weight and thrust. Marginal failures to meet the proposed engine characteristics or rocket weight can radically reduce the payload that can be carried to LEO, or even keep the craft from reaching orbit at all."

[Whoozy]

Somebody probably knew somebody and pushed the issue to use the space shuttle when they made the final decision as well.

[TeeGee]

Somebody probably knew somebody and pushed the issue to use the space shuttle when they made the final decision as well.

That's always the story isn't it... people suck.

[Red Iron Crown]

That thing would be awesome now, let alone forty years ago.

[jwenting]

the shuttle was designed to use components from as many congressional districts as possible. That was more important than whether it could fulfill its stated mission (which it obviously couldn't, its stated mission was to provide rapid launch capability and seriously reduce cost to orbit).

[Kryten]

Why is everybody assuming this thing would have worked? We can barely get aerospike engines to work even now, and a shortfall of a few percent ISP in them would render the whole rocket practically useless.

[Red Iron Crown]

Why is everybody assuming this thing would have worked? We can barely get aerospike engines to work even now, and a shortfall of a few percent ISP in them would render the whole rocket practically useless.

Because it's fun to think about, and it's a design that's different from most other spacecraft.