It’s quite the depressing read.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Salmon And Grizzlies
A livecam from Katmai National Park.
Climate Modeling
How simple is simple?
I don’t know, but it’s pretty clear that the models are oversimplifying, and the models are useless as a basis for public policy.
Killed By Safety
In the book, I describe how a launch abort system could end up killing the crew on an otherwise-nominal flight. Here’s a real-life example of someone who was killed by a safety device.
I recall that my late grandmother (she’d be almost a hundred and twenty now if she’d lived) refused to wear a seat belt, because she was afraid she’d end up being trapped in the car.
The Mitchell Study
I just looked over the preliminary briefing on the RD-180 mess. A couple things stuck out at me. First, let’s compare the policy dictates on launch between the DoD and NASA:
“Secretary of Defense, as the launch agent for national security space missions, shall:
– Ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the availability of at least two US space transportation vehicle families capable of reliably launching national security payloads”“Administrator, NASA, as the launch agent for civil space missions, shall:
– Develop, in support of US space exploration goals, the transportation-related capabilities necessary to support human and robotic exploration to multiple destinations beyond low-earth orbit, including an asteroid and Mars.”
Emphasis mine.
First, note that the DoD is tasked with a resilient launch capability. No such requirement exists for NASA. Which is why we went through two periods of over two-and-a-half years when we couldn’t get astronauts to orbit during the Shuttle program. Note also what else is missing from the NASA mission: no mention of heavy lift. Some, of course, believe that it is implicit in “transportation-related capabilities necessary to support human and robotic exploration…beyond earth orbit,” but many studies indicate otherwise. And the two omissions are related. If heavy lift is necessary, and if resilience were necessary for human exploration then, as with the DoD mission, the wording would be “Develop, to the maximum extent available, at least two of the transportation-related capabilities necessary to support human and robotic exploration…beyond low-earth orbit.”
Of course, they can’t even afford one, so they know that if they make that a requirement, it would make it utterly hopeless. But it does demonstrate the dramatic difference in importance between national security and “space exploration” “beyond low-earth orbit.”
Also note, later on in the briefing, that they say that there will be a “heavy-lift” requirement for military payloads. But they don’t define that explicitly, instead pointing out potential examples of such a capability (e.g., growth Delta and Falcon Heavy). That is, the DoD has a different definition for “heavy lift” than NASA does.
Given that the two of them, together are supposed to (among other things):
Work with each other and other departments and agencies, and with the private sector, as appropriate, to pursue research and development activities regarding alternative launch capabilities to improve responsiveness, resiliency, and cost effectiveness for future space launch alternatives,
it would be nice if they could resolve these disparities. Particularly since serious use of the EELV (and Falcon) families for exploration could drive down the costs of those vehicles for everyone. Instead, NASA is wasting billions on a non-redundant rocket that no one needs, except those working on it, who depend on it for their salaries.
Sexbots
Will they put human prostitutes out of business?
This sort of begs the question of what will be a sexbot and what will be a human in the future.
Safety First?
Alan Boyle has the storya prequel story of his interview of me in Second Life last night.
DragonFly
SpaceX is going to build another X vehicle.
This was sort of inevitable. They were always going to need one to practice Dragon landings on land.
Virtually Speaking, Science
I’m going to be talking to Alan Boyle in Second Life this evening, about NASA, safety and the Russians.
Google Glass
Why I’m sending it back.
Right now, it looks like a solution seeking a problem. The first issue will likely be addressed (and only be addressed) by a HUD built into contacts. Which I won’t use, because I hate the very idea of contacts.