Light posting due to being overwhelmed. One of the reasons these AIAA conferences drive me crazy is that it’s not like trying to drink from a firehose–it’s like trying to drink from Niagara Falls. There are a dozen or more sessions going on simultaneously, plus trying to network with various people in the hallways. There’s simply no time to sit down and write anything. This is compounded by the fact that I lost my mouse yesterday, and dealing with a touchpad really slows me down. And I have no time until after the conference tomorrow to run over to Fry’s and get a new one.

[Note: The dangers of blogging.

I put up a regrettable post last night. The title of it is all that remains (well, also comments), but it takes on a whole new, and appropriate meaning. As I said in it, I was grumpy from lack of sleep, and frustrated from a seeming inability to post all day, but that’s not an excuse. I can’t even claim that I had overimbibed, but that’s not an excuse, either–no one (at least as far as I can remember) has ever strapped me down, cackling, and thrust a one-gallon funnel down my gullet. Short version of it: I was childishly whining because I couldn’t log on from the conference.

I’m not deleting it completely because that always seems a little Orwellian, but it was, as Keith correctly notes in the comments that I am leaving up, an epistle that the AIAA neither would or should appreciate, and it should not remain on the web (this note is mainly for those who might still manage to read it if Google was so unfortunately overdiligent as to have cached it last night).

Even if it were true (I understand now that it was not), it was completely unjustified, and simply a symptom of how spoiled we (or at least I) have become in the early twenty-first century, with expectations, if not outright demands, of the instant gratification of ubiquitous abundant bandwidth. I have had my differences with AIAA over the years, but they are a vital institution to this industry. Like NASA, they are staffed and supported by great people operating under the constraints of their institution. This conference in particular is great (of which I’ll write more later), and despite that churlish growl, I do appreciate them much.

Mark Twain once wrote, “A dog will not bite the hand that feeds him. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.” Although you can’t always tell on the Internet, I am not a dog.]

Bob Clarebrough says that space settlers should take some lessons from the Polynesians, and Jeff Foust writes about the continuing debate over the term “space tourist.”

That’s what Keith Cowing says that Anousheh Ansari’s flight is being.

I agree. It’s great that she’s flying, and I hope that it provides useful inspiration, but Space Adventures has gone overboard. I’ll be much more interested in what she does with her money and time when she gets back, in terms of helping private enterprise.

Anousheh Ansari and Peter Diamandis continue to post over at the new X-Prize blog.

[Update at 4:30 PM EDT]

Here’s another interview with her. Note (to those who continue to talk about the “first Muslim woman in space”) that she never mentions her religion, or the word religion.

[Saturday morning update]

Alan Boyle has more on the nationality/religion angle.

As to the Iranian flag issue, just out of curiousity, did the flag change when the mullahs took over, or is it currently what it was during the time of the Shah? If not, it would be an interesting statement for her to have a pre-mullah flag. But in general, she seems to be avoiding the politics as much as possible.

Leonard David has a story on progress in the X-Prize Cup and Rocket Racing League.

Here’s an interview with Danny Davis, manager of the ARES I upper stage at Marshall. I wish that Ross had asked about roll control, though.

I find this fascinating, albeit confusing:

NASA selected a Shuttle-derived launch architecture after a thorough apples-to-apples study last Summer – the Exploration Systems Architecture Study. NASA carefully weighed a wide variety of launch options for both crew and cargo – a Shuttle derived architecture was the clear winner when considering total cost, schedule and safety/reliability to achieve an exploration-capable system. NASA did not do this in a vacuum – in fact, we received inputs from industry, including studies funded by the agency, in the year prior to ESAS. The ESAS results were independently reviewed and concurred-in by experts outside the agency.

Last Winter and Spring, after a series of trade studies, NASA elected to alter the launch architecture to a 5 segment RSRM-derived 1st stage and a J-2X upperstage for Ares I and an Ares V core stage powered by an RS-68 (still boosted with a 5 segment RSRM and a J-2X earth departure stage).

So, are they saying that they originally were Shuttle derived, but have backed off from that ( with the abandonment of the SSME, there’s nothing left of the Shuttle derivation other than RSRMs), or that they recognize that the initial choice was mistaken? Are they still claiming that it’s significantly Shuttle derived?

Clark Lindsey is building a new section at Hobby Space devoted to NewSpace.

Alan Boyle has done what I couldn’t–scored an interview with her. Of course, that’s why he’s a pro.

And, of course, I might have had a better chance if my URL said “MSNBC” instead of “Transterrestrial.” But he done good nonetheless.

She does seem to be in this for the long haul, as I’d hoped.

The X-Prize blog, from Peter Diamandis and Anousheh Ansari. Go wish her a happy birthday in quarantine.