Last week's devastating blows to commercial spaceflight raise the question of just how viable these enterprises really are,and whether too much confidence has been placed in them.Perhaps it is too early the history of space exploration to rely on commercial vendors to provide cargo flights to the International Space Station,let alone astronaut or civilian transport.It must be realised,however,that many of the engineers at these companies came from NASA itself and are fully qualified to do such work.It is just that we forget how complex and dangerous space exploration is after a good run of successful missions.*
These disruptive accidents are bound to occur,delaying the programs involved until full investigations are completed and reforms carried out.Look at our personal experiences with technology as comparatively primitive as pcs or mobile phones.Even such simple appliances have their aggravating failures.Space technology is much more complicated than these everyday devices.As in the past with the Apollo and space shuttle accidents,the Ariane rocket problems or Russian mishaps,the Orbital Sciences and Virgin Atlantic space programs will eventually regain their footing.Their leadership and staffs,bolstered by previous achievement,are committed to commercial space enough to do this,although the fallen personnel will never be forgotten.*
Orbital Sciences(ORB)
No comments:
Post a Comment