NASA’s $349 million monument to its drift
GULFPORT, Miss. — In June, NASA finished work on a huge construction project here in Mississippi: a $349 million laboratory tower, designed to test a new rocket engine in a chamber that mimicked the vacuum of space.
Then, NASA did something odd.
As soon as the work was done, it shut the tower down. The project was officially “mothballed” — closed up and left empty — without ever being used.
“You lock the door, so nobody gets in and hurts themselves,” said Daniel Dumbacher, a former NASA official who oversaw the project.
The reason for the shutdown: The new tower — called the A-3 test stand — was useless. Just as expected. The rocket program it was designed for had been canceled in 2010.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/12/15/nasas-349-million-monument-to-its-drift/
= new reply since forum marked as read
He claims NASA is spending money with no goals or nowhere to go- false.
He claims that constellation was cancelled in favor of the SLS- what he calls the "senate launch system"- which according to him isn't a real rocket, just a made up name for pork projects- false.
The SLS is being built, currently, AND its upper stage will use the same J2x rocket as Ares- the same engine this facility is designed to test. So I question how "useless" it will end up actually being.
It's a shame, that at this point when exciting things ARE happening in NASA with deep space exploration, these tired old luddite penny pinchers have to make stuff up to crap on them.
