Category Archives: Business

Business, Economics, History, Media Criticism, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The Space Cultural War

18 Comments

There is one, but it is not Moon versus Mars.

Business, Political Commentary, Space, Space History, Technology and Society

What Was Old Is New Again

54 Comments

Whoever had the brilliant idea of building a rocket out of 1970s technology apparently was unaware, or had amnesia about all the problems caused by hydrogen with the Shuttle.

[Thursday-afternoon update]

Of hydrogen and humility:

“I would simply say to you that space is hard,” he said at an August 27 briefing when asked what lessons NASA could take from the extended delays in SLS’s development. “We are developing new systems and new technologies, and it takes money and it takes time.”

Yes, space is hard. It’s even harder when you make terrible design choices in order to provide a jobs program for existing workers and contractors. There is little new about either these systems or technologies.

[Bumped]

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society, War Commentary

The Space Industrial Base

5 Comments

The report is out from DIU.

I’ve only read the summary so far, but this may be the most forward-looking document on space that I’ve ever seen come from the federal government. It explicitly states that the national goal should be the development and settlement of space (it was edited by Pete Garretson). And note what doesn’t appear in the report: SLS. 😄

I’m cited in the report twice, and I may be doing some consulting for General Butow in the fall. DIU is expected to get a nice budget boost in October (unless there’s a CR), because they impressed the brass in Ukraine.