Space planning: 1963

[Orionblamblam]

Was just informed that discussions of funding priorities are "distasteful" and should instead stick to projects. Thus, post deleted.

 

[sferrin]

And things like 24 million pound thrust L6Hs, Million lb SSTOs, etc. A damn shame they don't blow the dust off SP-413 and go.

 

[jeffb]

Well, you know, priorities.

Vietnam War. The war in Vietnam cost the United States $843.63 billion in 2019 dollars, or 2.3% of GDP in 1968.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Was just informed that discussions of funding priorities are "distasteful" and should instead stick to projects. Thus, post deleted.

 

[jeffb]

LOL, sure, a pittance equivalent to another 5 Apollo programs. Like I said, priorities.

That money could have bought a permanent presence on the Moon and probably footsteps on Mars. In hindsight we know now that the tech spin-offs of the Apollo program (the computer revolutions of the 70's and 80's alone) have more that justified the investment and revolutionized modern life (arguably for the better). The investment made in the Vietnam war, not so much.

What spin-offs might have been realized if the Apollo investment had continued?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Was just informed that discussions of funding priorities are "distasteful" and should instead stick to projects. Thus, post deleted.

 

[jeffb]

Heh, I thought I'd posted a link to 'Wanderers' some time ago on this site but search says no. Thanks for posting it again, it's a favorite. Always miss Carl Sagan after watching it.

As to the GS programs whose investment in you characterize as wasted, you should probably consider the goals of those programs and what they meant to the people who benefited from them, what they have achieved to date and what sort of country the US might be without them before writing them off.

 

[Archibald]

Outside politics - Apollo big spinoff was microchip.
LM digital computer was made by Fairchild semiconductors. From which Intel sprung and split in 1968.
Later Datapoint and Intel created the 4004 / 8008 / 8080 series circa 1970.
...
Also Neil Armstrong during his brief stint as NASA number 4 for aeronautics in 1970-71 got the LM digital computer flown on a F-8 Crusader - leading to the digital FBW revolution inthe 1980's.

So the PC, Intel, microship and digital FBW all are Apollo spinoff. Shame Cooper in Interstellar forget to tell Mrs Hanley about this.

 

[Yellow Palace]

Not kidding about that 'Ambitious' bit. I'm not entirely sure what's meant by a 'synodic base', but I assume it's a long-term orbital station. Given the energetic and thermal requirements, doing that at Mercury by 1980 seems far more demanding than Callisto Base in 1996!

 

[jeffb]

Outside politics - Apollo big spinoff was microchip.
LM digital computer was made by Fairchild semiconductors. From which Intel sprung and split in 1968.
Later Datapoint and Intel created the 4004 / 8008 / 8080 series circa 1970.
...
Also Neil Armstrong during his brief stint as NASA number 4 for aeronautics in 1970-71 got the LM digital computer flown on a F-8 Crusader - leading to the digital FBW revolution inthe 1980's.

So the PC, Intel, microship and digital FBW all are Apollo spinoff. Shame Cooper in Interstellar forget to tell Mrs Hanley about this.

Indeed, the ROI on the Apollo program was absolutely enormous, revolutionary.

 

[Archibald]

Yes. Only these two made the Apollo expense worthy.
The LM guidance computer had no microchips (4004 came only in 1970) but being digital led to the present day digital FBWs.
Fairchild Semiconductors legacy is less direct - Intel (Bob Noyce and his group) did not needed Apollo
a) to split from Fairchild
b) to create the 4004.
Still, before 1968 Apollo certainly made Fairchild SC profitable. It needed large amounts of circuitry and components.

 

[Dilandu]

I find it strangely amusing, how American righs argued that war is merely "pittance", but social spendings are "wasting".

 

[Byeman]

Outside politics - Apollo big spinoff was microchip.
LM digital computer was made by Fairchild semiconductors. From which Intel sprung and split in 1968.
Later Datapoint and Intel created the 4004 / 8008 / 8080 series circa 1970.
...
Also Neil Armstrong during his brief stint as NASA number 4 for aeronautics in 1970-71 got the LM digital computer flown on a F-8 Crusader - leading to the digital FBW revolution inthe 1980's.

So the PC, Intel, microship and digital FBW all are Apollo spinoff. Shame Cooper in Interstellar forget to tell Mrs Hanley about this.

ICBMs guidance systems are what pushed the micro chip.
Analog FBW existed earlier. Digital was just a natural progression

 

[publiusr]

That M-1wasn't pursued is a shame in its own right.

 

[Byeman]

That M-1wasn't pursued is a shame in its own right.

For what reason? It is 1963. The industry is past we don't know what we are doing and is working towards meeting requirements. There is no sense or money in building something without a forecasted use.

 

[publiusr]

Spoken like Jack Welsh.

 

[Byeman]

Spoken like Jack Welsh.

History has proven that pursing the M-1 was the right decision and it is not like Jack Welsh. Pursing the M-1 is not classified as basic research. It was an unnecessary project.