Can Spaceflight Innovation Survive Deep Budget Cuts?

[LongTomH]

PASADENA, Calif. — A U.S. space industry stuck with the "tyranny of the rocket equation" faces tighter budgets and possibly several decades without a major revolution in spaceflight technologies.

Those sobering conclusions came from spaceflight industry experts in the opening talk here at the Space 2012 conference by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics on Tuesday (Sept. 11). Space systems such as weather satellites, GPS satellites, and communications networks have become necessary to sustaining the lifestyle millions of Americans take for granted — but the U.S. faces the challenge of maintaining such capabilities while investing in new innovations aimed at cutting costs rather than necessarily boosting space technologies.

"I predict that the next 30 or 40 years for the sustainability of space is about driving more efficiency and economics into the technology we have today," said Roger Krone, president of network and space systems at Boeing.

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Krone referred to the "tyranny of the rocket equation," a quote by NASA astronaut and flight engineer Don Pettit, that describes the laws of physics that still rules over spaceflight and keeps launch costs high. A true revolution in spaceflight might find a way to break that "tyranny," but until then Krone said that innovation would have to focus on making existing technology better and cheaper.

Read more at Space.com: http://www.space.com/17560-spaceflight-innovation-budget-cuts.html

[sakabatou]

1. Hopefully the Tea Party/Republicans will let go of the strangle hold they have by being booted out

[cbrer]

2. It IS surviving

In China, Russia, and Japan.