Holman Jenkins endorses space tourism, Bigelow and COTS in his Wall Street Journal Opinion column today as means to speed the time when humanity can survive a big rock hitting us on one of the planets where we live. (I write this from the Yucatan Peninsula which owes its formation to a big rock).

Unless you can avoid a newspaper in 2008, expect to be reading a lot about human extinction. In June arrives the hundredth anniversary of the Tunguska impact, which leveled 800 square miles of Siberia. By happenstance, a rock of similar size may smash into Mars on Jan. 30, affording scientists a close-up view of a planetary disaster....

At times like these, thoughts naturally turn to escape.

Sorry, dont see how an amateur 30 min. LEO space fligh can be considered as serious space flight.

Here is one more on track with reality.

Space shuttle to Mars saving thousands of jobs.

http://nlspropulsion.net

Hmmm, does mthomas work for the government somewhere?

I guess John Glenn's ride was also amateur but look at what happened after that.

30 minutes on the edge of space today is definitely NOT amateur - it will be a very significant achievement for any organization without the resources of government behind them and bode well for the future of private spaceflight.

Space shuttle to Mars... well we have to allow the nitwits some artistic license even if almost everyone knows that the current US shuttle cannot get beyond LEO. Let 'em think what they may but at least they are thinking of space and it may be possible to educate some of them!

Click on his link Andy, he fancies himself Zephram Cochrane.

Reality appears to be in the eye of the beholder, considering NLS propulsion is based on a 25 megawatt pebble bed reactor flying in space. The basics of NLS also seem a lot like a cross between Vasimr:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_specific_impulse_magnetoplasma_rocket

and the Bussard Ramjet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

Hmmm, does mthomas work for the government somewhere?

According to the bio on his space website, he worked on a PDP-11 flight simulator for NASA and is now CEO of "Colossal Storage Corporation."

Collosal Storage Corp. has a website that lists about 10 different products, none of which seem to actually exist.

His website also contains a copy of a letter he sent to NASA claiming to "represent a small group of engineers, entrepreneurs, space enthusiast, and investment bankers interested in leasing and/or a lease option to purchase one or more shuttles."

He says, "We will commercialize and make the shuttle technology profitable saving thousands of jobs and help to keep mankind in the forefront of Space Colonization" but it's unclear unclear how his "Near Light Speed Propulsion" system would make the Space Shuttle profitable.

I won't comment on the "reality" of using a particle beam cannon to propel the Space Shuttle to Mars at 10% of lightspeed and Alpha Centauri at 99.9%. However, he does fail to mention certain technical details like deflector shields to protect the Shuttle from meteorite impacts at relativistic velocities. (I doubt the TPS can handle that.)

A Colossal Storage press release on PR Newswire claims the company "has over 350 of the world's best scientists." However, it also says the company "wants to raise $800,000 in seed capital." It's hard to see how they could hire 350 scientists when they have less than $800,000 (let alone the world's "best" scientists). The Collosal Storage does not name any of these scientists or any corporate officer other than Mr. Thomas himself. It appears to be a one-man shop.

The website says Collosal Storage is "desirous of licensing two U.S. Patents, # 6,028,835 2/22/00 and # 6,046,973 4/4/00, which can be used for many hundreds of devices one being a ferroelectric electron emission device using an Integrated Semiconductor UV/Deep Blue Laser for Re-Programmable Ferroelectric OLED Plasmon Displays with onboard storage.

Supposedly these patents will allow you to "Build you own IPOD, IPhone, Palm, Blackberry, PDA, Pocket PC, XBOX, or Video TV." To the best of my knowledge, none of those devices use "Plasmon displays" and all are covered by patents, copyrights, and trademarks owned by other corporations.

Hey, is anyone in here going to talk about me in the Jenkins item... or at least about the Jenkins item.

Sheesh