Launch Disappointment
By Jane Dudley | Friday, March 4th, 2011 | Catch-AllDisappointment all around as the attempted launch of a climate-monitoring satellite failed early Friday morning from Vanderberg Air Force Base. From Mashable,
“This is especially bad news for Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp, makers of the Taurus XL rocket that lifted the spacecraft to near-orbit. According to the AP, a similar problem occurred in 2009 with a Taurus XL launch vehicle, where a fairing stayed on a satellite and the launch failed, with its satellite ending up in roughly the same place in the South Pacific near Antarctica.
Why is this a big deal? Besides the loss of $424 million of space hardware, Orbital Sciences is one of the private companies NASA is counting on to lift cargo to the International Space Station when the shuttles are retired.”
This launch failure will put a lot of pressure on Orbital Sciences. The reality is that space flight is still expensive. Orbital Sciences will have a problem if the perception becomes that it is “too expensive.” Gov. McDonnell has encouraged commercial space industry in Virginia and he will, as any governor would, want successes in that area to show off. Those successes bring jobs, and high-tech jobs at that, which for Virginia is all positive.
Related:
From Nature
Orbital’s news release on the launch
Some figures from Orbital’s 2009 Annual Report
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About the author
Jane Dudley has enjoyed conservatism and photography for over 30 years. After looking around at the mediocre state of affairs of political photography as it exists on the right, she decided to start making better images, to document Virginia Republicans and to inspire them to make more of an effort to put a fine face on their fine ideas. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and works in new media.
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7 Responses to "Launch Disappointment"
Sadly, the only thing NASA is counting on these days is more funding for Muslim outreach and fighting to the last fanatic on global warming. Space is a complete afterthought. Expect increasing amounts of foulups which the left will use to its advantage. Maybe it should be privatized?
Who would buy a rocket called a Taurus and expect it to work?
Val,
Most of NASA is already privatized and its critics maintain that is part of the problem. The space shuttle program, for example, is a largely government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) run by a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin called United Space Alliance. This program is similarly run by Orbital, as Jane points out. I find it interesting that Orbital is in the ground booster business since the company was started on a concept of launching low earth orbit (LEO) satellites from L-1011 aircraft at 50,000 feet using cruise missiles. Maybe that is why they are having problems–they are operating outside of their core competency.
I think it was John Glenn who famously remarked that when he was launched into orbit during the Mercury program all he could think about was that his space craft and all the complex systems behind it were built by the lowest bidder.
To me GOCO is not privatization. It can be the worst of both worlds because both sides can engage in finger pointing. Lots of times govt meddles in the How instead of sticking to the What. In that case they should own it. I’m not an expert on things NASA but maybe there should be a greater split between govt and private commercial ventures where each mission has unitary chain of command whether govt or private. The caveat though is that none of this will happen under Obama. Like most leftists he doesn’t want any escape hatch from his dystopia.
my first job out of school was at NASA as a contractor working on the Shuttle. after my tenure there I could not see the justification of human space flight.
saying NASA is privatized is ridiculous. if it were, they would be pursing things like space tourism to turn a profit.
Meanwhile, they are being used as a Muslim outreach program to ensure Muslims feel good about themselves. God for bid the government make any profits for the taxpayer.
Yes…and you pointed out the great thing about capitalism because a private company would have tours around earth. They would probably be touring Mars too. Meanwhile, our inept government can’t even get a satellite in orbit.
Man, you’ve done it all. You’ve conquered the terrain of North Korea to working for NASA. What a breath of experience you have?
Amit,
People don’t see the need for many things until they suddenly see the need for them. Manned flights are not bankrupting the country and could easily be continued at a modest rate. No one says we need to relocate a city to the Moon. At least yet.
Amit,
There is a difference between privatization and commercialization. And privatization does not typically mean earning a profit.
Val,
A GOCO is the business model for privatization by public-private partnership. Any business model can be dysfunctional in implementation. That doesn’t make the model itself invalid.
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