Joshua Bell wrote:
>
>X-33 and X-34 have been scrapped.
>
>http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/x33_cancel_010301.html
>
>Crud. In hindsight, this makes the decision to go with VentureStar instead
>of DeltaClipper look even worse. Oh well.
>
There are good reasons for that, mainly that chemical thrusters are still
very inefficient - in order to reach orbital speeds, the fuel expendidure
is much bigger than the payload you put into orbit.
A reusable rocket is simply a waste of fuel.
This might only be justified if the fuel was much more cheap than the
circuitry etc.
>
>(Who still is betting on uploading vs. physically getting to orbit.)
>
Upload to *what*? Something must be on orbit...
Alberto Monteiro
