Henry Spencer wrote:
On Mon, 17 Feb 2003, Ian Woollard wrote:
...quite a lot
of new aeroplanes are starting to be unpiloted, or capable of being
flown that way anyway right now.
And their reliability record, so far, makes expendable launchers look
wonderful. And it's not because people haven't been trying hard.
I don't believe that this is going to be true in the long run. I draw an
analogy to early compilers. Also if you design a vehicle now, it won't hit
the market for several years, the state of the art is very probably going
to improve in that time.
Nor has this escaped the notice of the regulators. Kelly eventually
added pilots to their reusable first stage because the FAA situation
was looking impossible otherwise.
Yes, but that's a winged vehicle. It makes a lot of sense to pilot winged
vehicles. DC-X style vehicles are much less clear.
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
-Ian
Motto: "You're Not Authorized to Know Our Motto." -Nova Express
