Category Archives: Business

Business, Economics, Space, Technology and Society

Falcon Heavy

39 Comments

What is it good for?

SpaceX’s plans, from Falcon 1 to Falcon 5, to Dragonlab, and perhaps now this, tend to outpace their accomplishments. And that’s a good thing.

[Update a few minutes later]

A preview of the flight.

Only pad 39A is outfitted for crew flights, which are expected to start later this year (an ambitious timeline, according to the Government Accountability Office). Should the Falcon Heavy damage 39A, how will that affect NASA’s commercial crew program, which has been waiting to launch astronauts from American soil since 2011? It’s a fair question, and you can bet NASA officials will be watching this demo flight with clenched teeth.

Maybe, but with the successful static fire, I don’t think it should be as big a concern.

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

Columbia Anniversary

11 Comments

It’s been fifteen years. Challenger was the beginning of the end of the Shuttle program, less than five years after the first flight. Columbia doomed it, though it continued to fly for eight more years. But the decision to end it led to the much more hopeful future we have now, with new commercial vehicles finally demonstrating real reusability, and competing with each other to drive down costs.

Here are my immediate thoughts at the time. Click on follow-up posts for a lot more.

[Update a few minutes later]

Glenn Reynolds: We just entered a golden age of space exploration. Why all the pessimism?

More importantly, we’re finally entering an age of not merely exploration, but development and ultimately settlement.

[Afternoon update]

In rereading what I wrote then, I’m surprised at how prescient it was and how well it held up. Including the foretelling of the book that was to come a decade later.

[Update a few minutes later]

Note my comment there at the time:

Who has an operational solution that’s any better than NASA’s?

Who’s been funded to provide one?

The fact that NASA hasn’t done better does not imply that it cannot be done better. NASA operates under significant political constraints.

Note that fifteen years later (and the two people doing this had started two years earlier), that problem seems to have been solved.

Administrative, Business, Space, Technology and Society

On The Road Again

12 Comments

Heading to Florida in the morning for the mundane, non-landing Falcon 9 launch on Tuesday (though recent wind forecasts make me suspect it will slip to Wednesday), then down to south Florida to deal with another house we want to sell. Then back up to the Cape on Monday for what I hope is a Tuesday Falcon Heavy launch (which will be historic). From there, to DC on Tuesday night. I’ll be checking in from the road, but be good in comments.

Business, Space, Technology and Society

Falcon Heavy Static Fire

22 Comments

Chris Gebhart is live streaming it.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Also Florida Today.

[Update a few minutes later]

They fired, right at the opening of the window. Probably have Youtube later today.

[Update a while later]

The fact that it happened right at the beginning of the window is a good sign, indicating that there were no issues with the wet dress rehearsal. I’m curious to know if all twenty-seven engines lit. If they did, they must be very close to being ready for a first flight. Also, they’re past Elon’s initial concern that the pad wouldn’t be able to handle the thrust, or the plume interactions. There should be no proble with lift off, and now probably the biggest uncertainty will be the ability to stage the side cores in flight (and perhaps fly and land three cores simultaneously).

[Update a couple minutes later]

Here’s Robin Seemangal’s raw video.

[Update a few minutes later]

Looking at tickets for Florida.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here’s the view from SpaceX’s camera.

If I fly in on Monday, I might see two launches. There’s a Falcon 9 flight scheduled for Tuesday.