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- Path: sparky!uunet!wupost!usc!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!rsiatl!ke4zv!gary
- From: gary@ke4zv.uucp (Gary Coffman)
- Newsgroups: sci.space
- Subject: Re: Energya and Freedom and Soyuz ACRV and...
- Message-ID: <1992Aug15.154027.14781@ke4zv.uucp>
- Date: 15 Aug 92 15:40:27 GMT
- References: <168mm3INNak7@agate.berkeley.edu> <2943@mdavcr.mda.ca>
- Reply-To: gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman)
- Organization: Gannett Technologies Group
- Lines: 38
-
- In article <2943@mdavcr.mda.ca> garry@mdavcr.mda.ca (Garry Holmen) writes:
- >Reading the subject header of this posting gave me a great idea....
- >
- >Why don't we just strap the shuttle onto the Energia and throw the soyuz into
- >the shuttle's cargo bay. This takes care of heavy lift capability, cheap
- >escape vehicles and low G returns of space hardware. I'm sure we can get
- >that fellow from South Africa to supply the propellent for the whole project
- >if we donate the raw sugar, salt peter and a large candle.
- >
- >The total price for this scheme would be :
- >
- > Energia 2 pairs 501 jeans and Rolling stones CD
- > ( equivalent to 10,000,000 rubles in the black market)
- >
- > Shuttle 1 Billion US $. (No red tag special here....)
- >
- > Soyuz Macdonald franchise for St. Petersburg.
- >
- >for a grand total of 1 billion plus spare change.
- > plus tax 3 billion.
- >
- >(PS.... I think Allen can get all this for about 200M if we just let him
- >work with the numbers for awhile.)
-
- Well that sounds like a plan, but there's another way that doesn't
- require any engineering work to mate all that hardware. The Shuttle's
- current high launch cost is mostly labor, a new ET and fuel are piddling
- expenses. So let's fire all those Rockwell guys and hire Russian rocket
- scientists, they work for $12 a month. A Shuttle launch then runs about
- $10 a pound. Can anyone say "too cheap to meter"? I knew you could.
-
- You say Russian labor costs are going to go up now that they are becoming
- a free market economy? Damn right! And the price of Energia and Soyuz
- are going to skyrocket right along with those wages. *That's* the flaw
- in the "let the Russians do it" plans. We can refine and bend metal as
- cheaply as anyone. It's the skilled labor costs that make the difference.
-
- Gary
-