Jonathan Goff has a lengthy post in which he analyzes the good and bad points of NASA’s COTS program, which is funding the development of commercial orbital space vehicles.
Orbital Sciences Corporation and SpaceX are each developing new rockets and freighters designed to deliver cargo to the International Space Station under the program, which is being jointly funded by the space agencies and companies involved.
Goff’s post is rather lengthy and nuanced, so it’s difficult to summarize. I personally think we won’t know the value of the program until these companies actually fly their vehicles. We will know then whether this public-private partnership is a good model for orbital spaceflight.
Similar Posts:
- Will Florida Lure Orbital’s COTS Program Away from Virginia?
- Dinerman: Private Companies Not Up to the Task of Human Spaceflight
- CSF Lays Out Rationale for Commercial Human Space Effort
- Raytheon Joins Commercial Spaceflight Federation
- Move over Canaveral, there’s another Cape in town
.
the entire COTS program and its goals are (simply) WRONG and should be changed as explained in my articles here:
http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/020wrongcots.html
and here:
http://www.ghostnasa.com/posts/042moneywasted.html
.