Re: SPACE: Loss of the Saturn V

From: Kevin Freels (megaquark@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Sep 05 2003 - 18:31:44 MDT

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    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com>
    To: "Extropy List" <extropians@extropy.org>
    Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 5:49 PM
    Subject: SPACE: Loss of the Saturn V

    >
    > The recent release of the CAIB report has caused both
    > hearings in Congress as well as lots of speculations,
    > e.g.:
    >
    >
    http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/05/1731237&mode=thread&tid3
    134&tid=160&tid=98&tid=99
    >
    > But the most interesting comment I saw was:
    >
    > "When NASA killed Saturn, they killed more than the vehicle. Rocketyne
    > engineers did an analysis, and the engines on the Saturn 5 were so
    > overengineered that they could have been re-used 13 times each without
    > overhaul before being refurbished! The Saturn 5 system, if built today
    > with modern technology and some basic return features could be built for
    > about 100 million each after initial investment! That's 100 TONS of lift
    > that could be made reusable (imagine putting a giant deoployable para-sail
    > on the beast) and could lift payloads as wide as 30 ft across. Two of
    > these launches could have put the entire ISS as it currently is configured
    > in orbit!"
    >
    > Does anyone know if this claim is valid and what the source might be?
    >
    I can't remember the source, but I have been building model rockets for
    years and have always maintained a healthy interest in the Sarurn V. From
    what I can remember, these figures are accurate. The cost has been estimated
    from 100 million to 10 billion though. That's quite a range.

    > I have heard that the Saturn 5 blueprints were destroyed -- does anyone
    > know if this claim is valid or an urban legend?
    >

    Urban legend., sort of. The actual blueprints were destroyed....after they
    were placed on microfilm in Hunstville, AL.

    > If these claims are true, does anyone know who is most directly
    > responsible for the termination of the knowledge of how to build
    > a Saturn 5 -- and whether they are still alive -- because I'd
    > certainly like to contact them and give them a piece of my mind.
    >
    > Robert
    >
    >
    It's all there just waiting for someone to realize what idiots we were to
    quit making them. Look foir the space community in the near future to bring
    this up more often and maybe, just maybe, we'll get these wonderful machines
    back into production!
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >



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