We’re flying to Miami this morning, then taking the Bright Line to Orlando for a few days. Tomorrow is my brother’s birthday, and Thursday is graduation for my niece (his daughter) who is becoming a physician’s assistant. Friday we have a tour of SpaceX at the Cape. So blogging may be light.
Category Archives: Business
Safe Is Not An Option
Thoughts on flight rationale from Wayne Hale.
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, now I see why Wayne wrote that:
As NASA is working to balance all of these risks—the risk to crew on board Starliner, the risk of an uncrewed departure to the ISS, the risk to astronauts on board the space station, and more — Boeing has been lobbying to bring Starliner home with crew. Although NASA and Boeing engineers have yet to identify a root cause for the failure of the thrusters, Boeing has been urging NASA to accept “flight rationale” as a substitute. That is, Boeing believes it has provided enough data to NASA to be confident the thrusters will not fail in a catastrophic manner.
Boeing seems willing to risk the lives of the astronauts to save the vehicle. I don’t personally think it’s worth saving. I wonder what Boeing’s new CEO thinks?
Starliner Woes Continue
Eric Berger has the latest.
NASA may be playing its cards too close to the vest here for its credibility.
Spaceport Las Vegas
No, funding is not his biggest issue. This is his biggest issue:
“And there are several companies building them right now,” he said in his presentation. “They’re basically an aircraft with a variety of engines, whether it’s a scramjet engine or rockets. It takes off and lands like an aircraft and it’s made of titanium. You can launch it and re-enter, and you can do it over and over again. And it’s a lot safer.”
Although some of Lauer’s website visuals and early plans call for a launching pad, Lauer said his development’s focus will be on horizontal takeoffs and landings and not launches.
Which companies? The only company that I’m aware of developing a horizontal takeoff and landing system is Radian, and they need a sled. To quote the former senator from Wisconsin in a different context, I wouldn’t give him one penny for this nutty fantasy.
Judith Curry
An interview with John Stossel.
Climate scientist @CurryJa tells me she "had to develop the hide of an armadillo" after she questioned climate alarmism.
— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) August 3, 2024
Former "friends" turned on her, writing things like, “Judith Curry abandons science.”
Did she? Here's my full interview with her: pic.twitter.com/yQBtWnC5ZJ
Back To Vegas
I’m attending AIAA ASCEND tomorrow through Thursday (ad in left column). I’ll take the laptop, but not sure how much time I’ll have to blog. It’s a very busy schedule, with multiple sessions in parallel.
NewsGuard
Jonathan Turley, on the latest attempt to suppress non-leftist speech.
[Update a few minutes later]
Tyler Cowen is getting tired of this.
[Sunday-afternoon update]
Learn about the “whole of society.”
[Monday-morning update]
More from Powerline. I hope he sues them into oblivion.
With Little Fanfare
Falcon 9 has returned to flight after only a couple weeks:
Watch Falcon 9 launch 23 @Starlink satellites to orbit https://t.co/WT1fkM0Byl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 27, 2024
They’ve made launch routine.
Stop Turning The Other Cheek
Yes.
We normal people have to recognize that these people hate us and want us dead. Kamala said that her ideology is that “everyone ends up at the same place.” That is the creed of the communists always, only way for that to happen is for that place to be the grave. We have to take them seriously.
Rights For Rocks
Presumably, these rights would apply to space rocks as well. Let me be the first to represent them: I declare their right to be made useful.