NASA has just announced the shuttles successor and the possibility of manned deep space missions

Apparently NASA made an announcement yesterday in which they have revealed their plans for the retired shuttle's replacement and giving themselves once again the capability to send astronauts into space.

Yesterday, the agency announced plans to build the most powerful rocket in history

However, this new space faring capability will not be available until around 2017 at the earliest when it's scheduled to go into test phase.
Initially, the new vehicle will be capable of lifting 70 tonnes into orbit but plans are already being made to improve the lift capacity by almost doubling it up to 130 tonnes.

Interestingly enough, NASA's release mentions that this new vehicle with it's improved lift will be capable of sending astronauts BEYOND low earth orbit.

... and be capable of launching humans beyond low Earth orbit

so does that mean that a visit to an asteroid or two is now a distinct likely-hood ? And I guess that a manned mission to Mars has also just moved one or two steps closer to reality.

I guess that NASA weren't too thrilled about having to be permanently reliant on hitching rides with the Russian or European space agencies

Way to go NASA.

We will have a new launch system ready for test flights in SIX YEARS. To replace the already retired space shuttle.

We have to give them kudos for thinking so far ahead, I suppose.

Good to hear and I am also looking forward to the NASA announcement at 11.00 am PDT.


.

for the love of god.....
cant they just die with dignity, why torture us with their cover-ups and lies. im so sick of nasa.
from highly suspect moon landings to no-fly zones on the moon. when will this stop

That's all well and good, but if they go to Mars and find anything their not going to tell us about it. We pay the bill and they get the thrill.

***There is still Earth combined SPACE AGENCY / NAVY*** Maybe its just getting down to more serious things these days where commercial / science exploration may be unsafe for a lil. Thinks of Russian cargo attempt to ISS that didnt make it.

I guess NASA's new announcement is expected any time. I eagerly await it. Hopefully it will be more interesting than their usual boring stuff. This is good. However, I find myself asking, "Why"

More rockets....

I bet its not even Plasma rocket

Originally posted by jazzguy
for the love of god.....
cant they just die with dignity, why torture us with their cover-ups and lies. im so sick of nasa.
from highly suspect moon landings to no-fly zones on the moon. when will this stop

Well I for one would love for there to be a space program. The scientists and engineers working hard to create the next space episode for our generation are not part of this cover-up, or part of any lies. They are genuine hard working people doing their job to bring us to the new frontier of space.

It's not really meant as the shuttle's successor. Entirely different role.

Interestingly enough, NASA's release mentions that this new vehicle with it's improved lift will be capable of sending astronauts BEYOND low earth orbit.

Asteroids, the Moon, Mars. It doesn't matter. What is wanted is a heavy lift vehicle that can be used for a variety of missions.

I don't see it getting funded any time soon though.

Originally posted by Phage
It's not really meant as the shuttle's successor. Entirely different role.

Interestingly enough, NASA's release mentions that this new vehicle with it's improved lift will be capable of sending astronauts BEYOND low earth orbit.

Asteroids, the Moon, Mars. It doesn't matter. What is wanted is a heavy lift vehicle that can be used for a variety of missions.

I don't see it getting funded any time soon though.

edit on 9/15/2011 by Phage because: (no reason given)

I dunno..
I'm of the persuasion that Space is the next area of commercialism, NASA, world govts. etc, have been looking for a way to fund/benifit finacially from it.
They need a big payoff.. which with a prob nearing an astroid, and talks of "catching-and-releasing asteroids in and out of orbit"..
My cash register goes off screaming mineral mining.
Could be worth countless trillions.
one helluva payoff.

We wont spend budget going to space to look for life.. but we will gladly blow gazillions if there's a chance of a huge meineral payoff....Hmmm.....
yeah they'll get funding IMHO.

Originally posted by BadNinja68

We wont spend budget going to space to look for life.. but we will gladly blow gazillions if there's a chance of a huge meineral payoff....Hmmm.....
yeah they'll get funding IMHO.

Spending a pretty penny on this:
mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

Scheduled to launch on Nov. 25, 2011, 7:21 a.m. PST (10:21 a.m. EST). The launch window is between Nov 25 - Dec. 18, 2011, Mars Science Laboratory is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's "habitability."

reply to post by Phage

It's not really meant as the shuttle's successor. Entirely different role.

Okay. Of course it will have a different role, it is an entirely different design. It can be used for lifting large loads into low earth orbit though.

But our (the U.S.) current 'manned' space program is the X-37 B. X usually stands for experimental. It is the Air Forces' toy though not a NASA project that will be dropping off suitcases at the ISS.

We are at a standstill as far as a manned exploration program goes. Robotics are valid systems to use, but if we intend to leave this rock at some point, we don't need to be 'sitting on our hands' as far as a manned program is concerned. IMVHO

reply to post by butcherguy

X-37B is a little too cozy to be considered manned. Little people maybe. But it's not self-propelled


I think Space-X will be picking up the slack for LEO before too long.

I thought that NASA was looking at remote space missions. Why bother sending man out when a camera can do the work for you?

Seems backwards to me. Let Richard Branson do the commercial, and let NASA send out deep space probes.

The manned portion is known as the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and has been in the works quite a while.

Orion is the manned capsule portion-- very Apollo-like in its appearance and design, but all new, bigger, better.

A Press Release several days ago included the first welds on the first capsule intended for space-- the others have been for other tests.

The initial development began as the "Constellation" project, with the Orion vehicle (but not the booster) retained from that in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010.

Last thing I heard was waiting for all bids and designs to come in before award on the booster.

would someone care to tell me why nasa wants to keep using rockets to get into space? wouldn't it be cheaper to do what virgin galactic is doing? obviously their craft is too small for carrying a good ammount of cargo into space at once but the flights can be done over and over with ALOT less fuel used up in the process

reply to post by butcherguy



These projects are expensive. They have been cutting back the budget for years. I wonder where the funding will come from and when? 6 Years to develop a new rocket seems like a very short amount of time.

I think they have had some of this tech lying around already.

Originally posted by Phage
It's not really meant as the shuttle's successor. Entirely different role.

Allow me to disagree ...

The prime reason for the shuttles existence was to give NASA the capability of getting it's astronauts into space. With the permanent mothballing of the shuttle's, this capability no longer exists.
Therefore, ANY new hardware on the drawing boards that has the capability of once again lifting humans into space is by definition, deemed a successor.

Two months after the final flight of the space shuttle, NASA has decided on a replacement that can take humans into space.

suc·ces·sor/səkˈsesər/
Noun: A person or thing that succeeds another.

re·place·ment/riˈplāsmənt/
Noun:
1. The action or process of replacing someone or something.
2. A person or thing that takes the place of another.

So yes indeed, this announcement by NASA of a "replacement" is also a "successor" to the previous hardware.

reply to post by tauristercus

The SLS will (may) succeed the shuttle in regard to lifting astronauts. In that sense, the Russians will also be the successors. In that sense private enterprises will probably also be the successors to the shuttle.

The space shuttle was purpose built as a reusable platform; a space truck consisting of a unified launch, landing, payload, and life support system. It was unique. The SLS is a launch system. That's it. While it may take on one of the roles which the shuttle fulfilled, it is a different machine entirely. That is what my point was.