Is there still room for a S.I.D. prototype?
NASA firms up Space Launch System nanosat manifest
NASA has announced three more CubeSats which will travel on the first mission of the Space Launch System (SLS), slated for lift-off in 2018. A total of 13 CubeSat berths are available aboard Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), which is primarily intended to dispatch an Orion capsule "to a stable orbit beyond the moon to …
COMMENTS
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Friday 27th May 2016 10:43 GMT ChrisInAStrangeLand
20kg payload on a 90,000kg rocket to nowhere.
It's been twelve years since project Constellation was launched by President George Bush Jr and NASA still has not been appropriated funding for any payloads other than a lunar flyby with a dummy capsule. And it's looking like they won't be before the test flights conclude and the rocket is cancelled.
What a collossal and criminal waste of $30B.
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Friday 27th May 2016 17:58 GMT Ugotta B. Kiddingme
actually, Lars, I'm hoping we can use one of said rockets to send the current leading presidential candidates on a lovely vacation, exploring the wonders of... er... anywhere other than THIS planet. I hear the Orion capsule is quite roomy. Perhaps we could send a few other current or potential heads of state along as well.
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Friday 27th May 2016 11:27 GMT Beachrider
Constellation was cancelled...
After the 2009 test of the Ares rocket development, Constellation was stopped, altogether. Ares is nowhere to be found. Orion was resurrected with SLS, but the funding was shifted to Commercial lift. Commercial cargo has been working since 2012. Ares wouldn't have been ready until 2017, at best. Commercial manned lift is on track for manned testing in 2017 and ISS deliveries in 2018.
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Saturday 28th May 2016 00:48 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: 20kg payload on a 90,000kg rocket to nowhere.
It's not for nothing that SLS is often called the Senate Launch System - it has kept a lot of pork going to vulnerable congressional districts for the last few years.
A much better Senate Launch System might be one that puts both houses into orbit.
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