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Old 02-02-2020, 09:56 PM
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Flash Flash is offline
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Default Boeing Dropout Dooms DARPA Spaceplane Project

Estes Leo Space Train compared to Boeing doomed Space place project

Three partnered teams initially bid to perform the XS-1 work for DARPA:*Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Blue Origin,*Northrop Grumman alongside Virgin Galactic, and Masten Space paired with XCOR Aerospace.
After examining phase 1 submissions from all three teams, though, DARPA was so impressed with Boeing's offering -- a spaceplane dubbed "Phantom Express" -- that it dumped Northrop's and Masten's teams from the competition. Going forward, contracts for both of the next two stages of development -- phases 2 and 3 -- would go to Boeing's team exclusively. (With one modification: Instead of partnering with Blue Origin, Boeing would equip its spaceplane with AR-22 engines developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne.)
DARPA ballyhooed the project, predicting Boeing's Phantom Express would become the "first of an entirely new class of hypersonic aircraft that would bolster national security by providing short-notice, low-cost access to space." Phase 2 work on the project was to wrap up by the end of 2019, and by now, we were supposed to be well into phase 3 -- flight testing of Phantom Express.
Except that it didn't, we aren't -- and now we never will.
...and then Boeing bows out
Last week, Boeing announced that it "is ending our role in the Experimental Spaceplane (XSP) program immediately."
It's unclear how much progress Boeing ultimately made on phase 2 of the XS-1 program (although its partner, Aerojet, apparently succeeded in demonstrating its AR-22 engine's suitability for reusable spaceflights). It's also unknown how much of the $146 million Boeing was to be paid for its work was actually earned. *
What is clear is that Boeing's exit from XS-1 has doomed the project. As DARPA explained in a statement, Boeing's decision to cease work on the Phantom Express "effectively ends the XSP program." *
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Old 02-03-2020, 07:12 AM
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I saw the announcement last week. It pissed me off that DARPA dumped that much money into it and Boeing just quit on them. I felt (as a taxpayer) like a homeowner after a storm where those fake contractors come in and take their money without finishing the job.
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Old 02-03-2020, 08:34 PM
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Totally agree with tbzep.
They should be forced to repay back any/all monies they received for the project.
Sounds like a CYA money saving move due to all the trouble they are in with the 737-max debacle.
Crock-O-Crapola total sham.
Then again, it's not surprising with all the corruption gotten away with at the highest echelons of our country.
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Old 02-04-2020, 07:50 AM
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Joe Wooten Joe Wooten is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
Totally agree with tbzep.
They should be forced to repay back any/all monies they received for the project.
Sounds like a CYA money saving move due to all the trouble they are in with the 737-max debacle.
Crock-O-Crapola total sham.
Then again, it's not surprising with all the corruption gotten away with at the highest echelons of our country.


Yep! Most of the extensive current corruption goes back to the government forced merging of all the aerospace companies back in the mid 1990's.
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