Who else thinks we should continue to use the Space shuttles?
I have done a lot of homework on this topic and just can’t put it all here but its time we use the Shuttles and the space station for “Real Deal” work to directly benefit our situation, keeps people working and do some real good. NASA has been tasked to tell the Gov. what options its has for a future. Well, here is the deal. The shuttles still have life and we have tones of nuclear waste to get rid of. We have 3 working shuttles, one space station and I know form experience we can fly them like a UAV. We have piles of stored Minuteman 2 rocket stages and the second stage will do the job and we have the sun. Do you see the big picture yet? We also have tested/proven transport containers for NW. First, strip down the shuttles to a flying gas can and fly remote like UAV. Build a cheep platform at the space station for loading. Fill and use second stage MMII for boost into the sun. Simple, uses up materials on hand and just mothballed. Uses our current technology. Keeps the shuttles, NASA and people working for long time. Just get the stuff off earth and into the sun and we have all the tools NOW to do it. Let me repeat I have researched all this and WE can do it with our current equipment. We don’t need to collect moon rocks of the moon we need to free our earth of NW and not stick it in a hole in NV that no one wants.
Only real thoughts!
cheers
June 29th, 2011 at 9:34 am
No, just no. The risk of an accident putting nuclear waste into the high atmosphere it too great. Just stop using so much damn power!
Anyway, using space shuttles doesn’t really create jobs. Top scientists and engineers are not losing jobs. Joe Autoworker is losing his job. I don’t want Joe Autoworker flying a space shuttle full of nuclear waste into the sun. Have you seen Idiocracy?
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June 29th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Use for what purpose — a taxi for taking astronauts to the space station?
let other countries do that. Our goals should reach MUCH farther than 200 miles. And the space shuttle is NOT going play a vital role in exploration of the moon or mars.
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June 29th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
I don’t think that Gary read your question details.
The shuttles have a limited range. They can not even go as far as the moon, let alone the sun. They will not be used “to collect moon rocks” as you say because they can’t get to the moon. They were designed to go into the Earth orbit to deploy satellites and to go to the International Space Station, then return to the earth and be REUSED for another mission.
Interesting note is that this week is the 25th anniversary of the first shuttle launch. That’s 25 years of service for these vehicles. No piece of equipment of any kind is designed to continue to be used for an indefinite length of time. In all reality, we are near the safe end of the shuttle life expectancy.
While I can understand that maybe their last mission could possibly be used to fill the cargo bay with expended nuclear waste and send it as far as the shuttles will take it by remote control, they will not be able to reach the sun—or even come close for that matter. They would end up as radio active junk heaps drifting around within our inner solar system. Also, we have so much of this nuclear waste already on the planet that there would be such a small percentage removed from the planet, that it wouldn’t even make a dent in the waste stored here. This doesn’t even begin to mention the cost associated with sending a shuttle into the earth orbit, or beyond, or the incredible risk that would be placed on the entire planet should one of these aging ships tragically explode raining nuclear waste on the surface for hundreds or thousands of miles.
No, this really is not the best of ideas.
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June 29th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
The Space Shuttle is one of the biggest blunders/boondoggles in history. It should never have been built and should have been cancelled after the first one blew up. It can’t be made safe, so you are simply suggesting we keep using them till the last two blow up? We’ve lost decades of time because of the shuttle, allowing China, Russia, and Europe to catch up with us:
http://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/lost-in-space-2/
As for sending nuclear waste into the Sun:
1. Your proposal is mind numbingly expensive and dangerous.
2. The amount of nuclear waste dwarfs our capacity to send it into space.
3. Nuclear waste will eventually become incredibly valuable as we learn how to process it.
4. The Sun is the most fuel intensive destination in the Solar System, it requires vast amounts of fuel to hit the Sun compared to any of the planets.
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