Funding for it is ending this week:
Orbital Sciences Corp. is warning subcontractors supporting development of a launch abort system for NASA’s Orion crew capsule that funding for the effort will cease April 30, according to industry sources and documents.
No more money down that rat hole. This is good, not just because it doesn’t waste any more money on it, but because it makes it harder for Orion to compete with Dragon or Orion Lite for crew delivery if Lockheed Martin tried to use their subsidized system to get into that market. Boeing couldn’t have been happy to have heard that Orion had been resurrected, when they were making a decision about whether not to put their own money into a crew capsule (with the help of their CCDev contract). I don’t know if this will be enough to assuage their fears, though.
No more money down that rat hole.
Yeah, we have a bunch of all-new rat holes to pour money into.
Yes, it would be inconvenient to have a successful test flight for it.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/status_reports/orion_pa-1_status_03_30_10.html
Pad Abort Flight Test Set for May 6 at White Sands Missile Range
You haven’t seen the LAS of it…
Yeah, what Paul said.
Yeah, we have a bunch of all-new rat holes to pour money into.
You can always try real commerce instead.