Picking up a slightly old thread here: Randall Clague wrote: > David Anderman once said on the CATS Prize Board that static tests > don't count. HPR doesn't count,
Hmm... the more I think about this remark, the more it bothers me - and _not_ out of any thought of how it applies to me personally. (My interests in rocketry are not driven by the thought of being "somebody in the CATS world"...) What bothers me about it is that I'm wondering how many of those intending to attempt CATS flights: 1. Had no HPR or equivalent experience 2. Were discouraged from acquiring same by such comments 3. Might have had a better chance of success if they _had_ done some smaller-scale rocketry first, if only to have a better idea of what they were up against. > static tests don't count, Tell that to XCOR... :) > viewgraphs don't count Now _this_ I agree with... one of the comments in the Columbia report was that a lot of what the investigation board received in response to their requests for information was PowerPoint slides... "doesn't anyone actually write technical papers anymore?" (It appeared to them that everybody had been more interested in defending preconceived policy positions at meetings than in honestly and analyzing and discussing substantive technical issues...) > even bench proven hardware doesn't. To really be > somebody in the CATS world, you have to fly something you made > yourself. I got all bent out of shape - then asked myself why. It > was because he was right, and that meant ERPS, which had only ever > done static tests and a lot of facilities maintenance, IMHO, infrastructure work (facility construction/maintenance etc.) _does_ count, because it's _necessary_. One comment made during the Apollo program, regarding the various facilities projects: "The road to the moon is built of steel and concrete here on earth." > didn't count. That was not acceptable, and thus was born KISS. -dave w _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
