Almost half a century after Skylab, private companies are proposing to outfit a propellant tank on orbit.
Key issue is getting life support going in it quickly, so they don't have to work in suits to outfit it. https://t.co/kZWHojKknt
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) June 12, 2017
Could we have had them four decades earlier?
I don’t think they’re all that great even today. I only use mine when I have no other choice. But I work from home.
Some former officials are alarmed at Trump’s proposed cuts at DoE.
I don’t have a problem with R&D, but if this is cutting subsidies (particularly like Solyndra), slash away.
This is stupid. Ignores issue of where to get power for electric cars, and that a plant-based diet isn't healthy. https://t.co/AGZzNG3Xmv
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) June 12, 2017
It also assumes that the only potential future energy sources are solar or wind. Completely ignores nuclear.
There was an interesting conference in New York last week (that I would have liked to attend if it had been in my budget). It’s still hard to raise money for it, because modern philanthropists don’t know the history
[Update a while later]
Sorry, added missing link.
My friend Bob Poole (who has been advocating this for almost half a century) says it’s time to get it out of the sixties.
…is having quite a year. And it’s not half over. Yesterday, Elon implied in a tweet that FH could fly in late September or early October.
Its course catalog is bonkers.
Via Instapundit, who asks “Why is this place even accredited?”
The rot in academia is deep.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: Many colleges fail to improve critical-thinking skills. Of course they do. That would get in the way of indoctrination.
They seem to be trying to get a little more innovative, but they don’t seem to be in a big hurry about it:
Reusable lift-body launchers will be developed in three stages — rocket-engine partial reusable vehicle, rocket-engine full reusable vehicle and combined cycle-engine reusable vehicle, said Lu.
The Long March carrier rockets still have room for improvement, Lu said, adding that the CALT is developing a heavy-lift launch vehicle with a payload of 140 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 50 tonnes to lunar transfer orbit.
The heavy-lift carrier rocket is currently called the Long March-9, and it should be sent into space by 2030, he said.
[Via Parabolic Arc]
Train for a while, maybe fly to ISS, maybe not, take jobs in industry to go to other planets. https://t.co/BwOmFKYvWg
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) June 8, 2017