Category Archives: Business

Single-Event Upsets

Marcia Smith has a report on the anomaly analysis for the SpaceX station resupply mission:

Several other problems also arose during the mission. While berthed to the ISS, one of the three computers on the Dragon spacecraft failed. Dragon can operate with only two computers, and SpaceX chose to proceed with the two functioning units rather than trying to fix the faulty unit while on orbit. According to Suffredini’s charts, Flight Computer-B “de-synched” from the other two “due to a suspected radiation hit” and although it was rebooted successfully, it was “not resynched.” Dragon experienced other anomalies because of radiation as well. One of three GPS units, the Propulsion and Trunk computers and Ethernet switch all experienced “suspected radiation hits,” but all were recovered after a power cycle. Suffredini said that SpaceX is considering whether it needs to use radiation-hardened parts instead, but noted that “rad-hardened” computers, for example, not only are more expensive, but slower. He speculated that the company would ultimately decide to use rad-hardened components in the future unless it is cost-prohibitive.

I had heard that there were also SEUs on the first ISS flight. It’s a young system, with very few actual flights, which is how you learn about things like this. But clearly it has enough redundancy for mission success (including in its ascent propulsion system). There’s a trade between using rad-hard components and utilizing more shielding. I assume that SpaceX is doing that trade right now (and perhaps has been doing so for months).

A CommercialPrivate Lunar Base

Well, this is intriguing:

…source information acquired by L2 this week revealed plans for a “game-changing” announcement as early as December that a new commercial space company intends to send commercial astronauts to the moon by 2020.

According to the information, the effort is led by a group of high profile individuals from the aerospace industry and backed by some big money and foreign investors. The company intends to use “existing or soon to be existing launch vehicles, spacecraft, upper stages, and technologies” to start their commercial manned lunar campaign.

The details point to the specific use of US vehicles, with a basic architecture to utilize multiple launches to assemble spacecraft in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The details make direct reference to the potential use of propellant depots and fuel transfer technology.

Additional notes include a plan to park elements in lunar orbit, staging a small lunar lander that would transport two commercial astronauts to the surface for short stays.

The architecture would then grow into the company’s long-term ambitions to establish a man-tended outpost using inflatable modules. It is also understood that the company has already begun the design process for the Lunar Lander.

If this is true, it’s going to make it harder for NASA to justify SLS. Or even being in the human spaceflight business at all. We’ll soon see, perhaps. December isn’t far off.

[Update a while later]

I decided to change the post title, because it isn’t clear that this is intended as a money-making venture.

The Cost Of ObamaCare

It will be $1.79/hour/employee:

These changes are spelled out in the 2,572-page law, but many more changes will be imposed by regulations yet to be written. The Obama administration is adding federal workers at a rapid pace to churn out and enforce new rules. The government’s own projections say the cost of health-care administration — bureaucrats telling doctors and patients what to do — will soar from $29 billion when President Obama was first elected to $71 billion by 2020, some $40 billion dollars a year more in bureaucracy.

What a shame: That’s enough money to buy private health plans for fully half of all Americans who are now uninsured because they can’t afford it.

Don’t be silly. That wouldn’t grow Leviathan, and give the government control over our lives.

That crashing sound you hear is people being dropped from coverage, and having their hours reduced, in some cases to zero.