This was featured in Slate magazine. I read it years ago. It is a damning critique of the Space Shuttle written before the first Shuttle flew:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/8004.easterbrook-fulltext.html Many people consider the Shuttle a technical triumph. I always had my doubts, and after the first accident I thought they should scrap it. This article shows that may people were aware of the shortcomings. The problem with the Shuttle was that it was a leap too far. They tried to accomplish too much in one generation of improvements. There have been many similar failures in the history of technology, such as the IBM Stretch Computer. The Stretch caused no harm. It lost a lot of money, but within a decade IBM recouped the loss by using most of the technology developed for it in other machines. Rossi has tried to make far too big a leap. His megawatt reactor reminds me of the flying boats with multiple engines of the 1930s such as the Dornier Do X: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Do_X And the Caproni Ca. 60, probably the most ambitious and worst airplane ever built: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.60 Come to think of it, the Shuttle also had multiple engines of different types. That is a hallmark of bad technology. - Jed
