re shuttle defects bizarre dc x in article sp beo hsc usc edu khayash hsc usc edu ken hayashida writes well spenz what can i say you ve attacked my beloved vehicle if i may offer a constructive criticism perhaps you should decide if you love vehicles or the use they are put to i myself think the f is a beautiful aircraft but rest assured i wouldn t even think of flying it in combat today most of us want access to space and judge vehicles on how they perform we see zero defects operation in many area s of life not to this degree calling shuttle flight characteristics bizarre in the same post as touting dc x is interesting why dc x will also have similar zero defects issues am i wrong your wrong the dc approach is very tollerent of failure it also has the advantage of far greater reliability do to its reusable nature shuttle isn t reusable it s salvagable i am thinking of how dc x will deploy a chute or reverse orientation at supersonic speeds the flip over happens at a very low speed not supersonic if the dc x shows the flip over works it will work unless the laws of physics change how much in dc x is redundant that s the real question the final dc will have fully intact abort throughout the entire flight envelop upon re entry for example it can loose about of available thrust and still land safely everything we do in life has zero defects issues at times agree everything can suffer from catastrophic failure but that s not the same thing shuttle simply isn t a fault tolerent design ssto is as a doctor i can not error in my diagnosis and treatment recommendations you don t put your patients in conditions where there is no way out you wouldn t for example give a patient a drug and not monitor them for harmful side effects would you while dc x s r d program makes good sense i am less optimistic about dc x as you and apparently others are you are very much in the minority if the dc series fails to make orbit it will still be a very worthwhile effort it will show us exactly what we do need to do to build ssto but dc x will still have failures it is the nature of aerospace r d again refering to the dc it will provide fully intact abort theroughout the flight envelop shuttle doesn t dc is fault tollerent shuttle isn t it s successors are not slated to be passenger carrying not true build a passenger pallet a fairly easy thing to do and it will carry passengers the impression i had when i visited macdac huntington beach s open house was that the payload space was limited and the man ratable version was decades away i would suggest you talk to the dc x crew themselves their original schedule had an operational dc flying in shuttle is the only method in the free world of orbiting large life sciences and medical related packages as for now it is our only ticket into space and has my support your ignoring the dammage it does mannes space has a reputation for being unreliable and hugely expensive shuttle supporters only make it easy for opponents of manned space to kill it you could change my view on dc x if you could prove the following the only way to prove those things is to build it allen lady astor sir if you were my husband i would poison your coffee w churchill madam if you were my wife i would drink it days to first flight of dcx
