CNN/Reuters: Spacecraft contractors face showdown

[DeepModem Mom]

Spacecraft contractors face showdown


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Price, rather than design or technology, may decide which top U.S. aerospace companies will win a contract to build a replacement for the space shuttle, an executive at Lockheed Martin Corp. said Monday.

NASA Monday laid out its most detailed vision yet for what would be a capsule-like vehicle that would rocket astronauts back to the moon by 2018, setting the stage for a showdown between Lockheed and an alliance of Boeing Co. Northrop Grumman Corp.

The space agency's definition of the spacecraft's design means the competition will focus on who can assemble the system's various components for cheaper, said Mike Coats, Lockheed's vice president and deputy for space exploration.

"What they've said is 'we want a simple reliable capsule like Apollo and Soyuz, so you go tell us how cheaply you can build it,"' he said in an interview, adding that could squeeze margins on contracts that could be worth up to $15 billion.

Both bidders have been preparing plans for months, but are still awaiting final guidelines from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on how soon it wants them to deliver the new spacecraft and other details....


http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/09/20/nasa.moon.contractors.reut/index.html

[LunaSea]

1. And then theres NASAs side bet...

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/fdd9d989caf46010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

These guys used money for a paper study, and built stuff.
Is that allowed?

[Double T]

2. It is my understanding that Wal-Mart, utilizing one of its......

Chinese manufacturers, will also be submitting a bid to build the replacement for the space shuttle. When selling IT for less, everyday, trumps excellent design and technology, you really know our country is being led by fools. The astronauts better increase their life insurance policies.

[Selteri]

3. I'm for the exploration of space

How about we Send Bush into space so we can really see what happens when a body is shoved into it without protection. I'm sure it would push the rating up hugely! *sarcasm*

Seriously though, while I think we need to exlore space and expand onto the Moon and Mars, I think that the lowest bidder is not the way to go, nor do I think that we should ALLOW NASA to continue te way it is. Not where they run an experiment and refuse to release the data to the public, edit pictures or simply alter them to be 90 degrees counter clockswise, edit other pictures to make them look more fuzzy or this constant crap of lieing or misdirecting about thier own mistakes that risk the lives of our astronauts.

Why is it that study after study either gets released without peer review or doesn't get released at all? Why is it that our next proposed programs are steps back? Why is it that we have turned down 8 seperate technologies that would have made it less expensive to put people into space? Why do we not use the energy we put into putting the shuttle up there into leaving thems up there?

[reprobate]

6. Why? Because NASA is controlled by congress which is controlled by the...

....huge aerospace corporations, who will allow no competition from upstarts. There's so much profit to be made just the way things are that no change is possible. Just like the rest of the goveernment.

Don't start the revolution without me.

[Ian David]

4. I'd better not dump my shares in SpaceHab and SpaceDev yet?

Maybe the stock will go up enough to cover the brokerage fees Prudential has been charging me to hold my shares.

[krkaufman]

5. Seems a frivolous exercise, given other priorities. n/t