SpaceX, Blue Origin have opened a window of opportunity for US Air Force

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Proposing a change from risk-averse to "Fail-Fast, Fail-Forward" and embracing reusability.

 

CC: NASA, NOAA, etc.

 

In parallel: an Executive Order creating a new National Space Council, headed by the VP, is coming soon. It's very likely a new NASA Administrator will be named soon after. Two members of that council will be from the USAF and the NRO.

 

Ars....

 

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SpaceX, Blue Origin have opened a window of opportunity for US Air Force

 

The report warns that China could copy these ideas and surpass the United States.

 

On Monday morning, SpaceX successfully launched a national security payload for the first time, cracking the market for US military missions.....

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The USAF can form private sector partnerships to create a virtuous cycle of launch cost reductions of between 3 and 10 times lower than todays costs, the report finds.

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The key concept in the report is ultra low-cost access to space enabled by reusable launch vehicle technology. 

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The study recommends the Air Force create a new organization, the NewSpace Development Office, to develop innovative acquisition strategies. The overall aim would be to move away from the existing model of launches, which are rare and expensive, to a model where they are common and inexpensive.

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[DocM 16,542]

Report

 

http://www.airuniversity.af.mil/Portals/10/Research/documents/Space/Fast Space_Public_2017.pdf

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Space News....

 

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Executive order creating National Space Council expected soon

 

WASHINGTON  An executive order by President Trump reestablishing the National Space Council is already written and is likely to be formally issued in the near future, a key advisor said May 1.

The recreation of the council, which last operated during the administration of President George H.W. Bush a quarter-century ago, could play a key role fostering the development of so-called Ultra Low-Cost Access to Space (ULCATS) systems, said attendees of a symposium here on the subject.

"The recommendation coming out of the Trump campaign to create the National Space Council is going to happen," said Robert Walker, the former chairman of the House Science Committee who served as a space policy advisor to the campaign last fall. "It's a way of ensuring that the nations resources are all directed towards national goals."
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[Beittil 575]

Heh, the way I read it these articles basically says: ULA is in trouble and in the process of being taken to the firing squad.

[DocM 16,542]

That's certainly part of it. The rest is that USAF is seeing these rockets come back, one being relaunched so far, and thinks the risk/reward of reuse is favorable to their launch budget. They've tried to get cheap launch or reuse working for them several times before; ALASA, RBS, XS-1 etc., with no good results, but now....

Edited May 2, 2017 by DocM

[Unobscured Vision 2,668]

Yep.  OldSpace no longer have a collective pair of legs to stand on, and the Government is tired of being taken advantage of. ULA and the others have been cut out of the mix almost completely now that there's SpaceX and BO who can do the job well and much more economically.

 

NASA is, and has been, another "enabler" of OldSpace's complete disregard and outright flaunting of this too -- primarily because nobody took SpaceX seriously until they started landing boosters. But now? Things are changing, fast. 

 

In the "game of chess" scenario, it's OldSpace in check within three moves, checkmate in seven. All over but the semantics at this point.