The latest update, with thoughts on the SpaceX mission failure.
Category Archives: Business
RD-180 Follies
General Shelton versus Senator McCain.
They’re both wrong. We don’t need an RD-180 replacement; we need an Atlas replacement. And ULA wants to build one. They know that a re-engined Atlas isn’t going to be competitive with SpaceX. But there’s not enough graft in that for some on the Hill.
How To Build Space Settlements
…as with settlements anywhere else, you start small, and grow them.
Buzz Aldrin
…has a piece at Time about SpaceX and commercial space.
The EPA’s Clean-Power Plan
Oklahoma is going to court over it.
I think this case will have a better chance than the one that wasn’t ripe in the DC Circuit.
Meanwhile, why does the EPA hate blacks and other minorities so much?
The Falcon Failure
Still “no one theory consistent with the data.”
[Update a while later]
Here are more details from Stephen Clark.
The Decadence Of The Leftist Mind
What is happening in Greece was completely predictable, and predicted. What will happen to us is likewise if we remain on the current path.
Why SpaceX Will Be Flying Again Quickly
Some thoughts from Iain Thomson:
SpaceX doesn’t have those issues; it’s a single company that conceived, designed, built, and flies the Falcon rockets. Finding fault is going to be a lot easier under such circumstances because there’s a single data set and everyone knows everyone else.
The company is packed with highly motivated individuals and has a very flat management structure. Mistakes made are owned up to, and when the issue that caused the loss of the Falcon is identified, you can bet it will be dealt with quickly.
The current SpaceX resupply missions are on hold while this process is worked through. But you’re not going to see the kind of dithering that left the Space Shuttles grounded for 32 long months. If I were a betting man I’d guess the next Falcon will fly in 32 weeks, and maybe sooner.
Very likely sooner, I think. In fact, I think they’ll either figure it out quickly, or not at all. If they can’t figure it out at all, they have a huge dilemma, as I told Leonard David yesterday (he’s working on a piece with quotes from me and others).
[Update a while later]
Some thoughts (and links) from Bob Zimmerman on the media negativity about space.
SpaceX
Thoughts from Rick Tumlinson on the venality of Congress.
Chelsea Clinton Too Expensive?
For those who like to get the most for their money, here’s an itemized menu of what you can get if you hire me instead:
• Bargain basement price of $200 per minute (limit of three-hour event)
• $10 per person for a handshake (light grip but not limp)
• $15 per person for a photo with me*
• $20 per person for a handshake and a photo
• $25 per person for a photo in which I appear enthusiastic
• $30 per person for a hug**
• $5 per person for a minute of light conversation
• $10 per person for a minute of light, enthusiastic conversation
• $15 and speaker will call your mom on your cell phone
• $25 per person for a lengthy, deep conversation with your mom in which I tell her we’re best friends***
Seems like a much better deal to me. I like the a la carte plan, particularly the hug.
But as Ed Driscoll notes, that doesn’t allow them to contribute to the Clintons’ personal slush fund.