D
DarkenedOne
Guest
I've always wondered whether or not a launch abort system is worth the trouble for human spaceflight.
First of all, it just does not make any economic sense. In order to judge whether or not a safety system makes sense industries use the cost of life analysis. Essentially a safety system is justified if the economic value of the lives saved is greater than the cost of the safety system that would save those lives. Now there are different values of life for different industries and sectors of society, however rarely do they go over a few million dollars. So essentially we can estimate for a 4 person crew of a Orion capsule the estimate would come to less than 10 million. On the other hand from what I have heard the NASA launch abort system costs hundreds of millions of dollars and years to develop. At the same time if the Ares rocket were to get any where near the reliability that was advertised than the launch abort system would never be needed on any launch.
The fact of the matter is that if human spaceflight is going to be affordable it is going to have to make economically sound decisions.
First of all, it just does not make any economic sense. In order to judge whether or not a safety system makes sense industries use the cost of life analysis. Essentially a safety system is justified if the economic value of the lives saved is greater than the cost of the safety system that would save those lives. Now there are different values of life for different industries and sectors of society, however rarely do they go over a few million dollars. So essentially we can estimate for a 4 person crew of a Orion capsule the estimate would come to less than 10 million. On the other hand from what I have heard the NASA launch abort system costs hundreds of millions of dollars and years to develop. At the same time if the Ares rocket were to get any where near the reliability that was advertised than the launch abort system would never be needed on any launch.
The fact of the matter is that if human spaceflight is going to be affordable it is going to have to make economically sound decisions.