…doesn’t believe in private property. Well, he is a Leftist, like most Dem leaders these days.
Category Archives: Business
Why The SpaceX Launch Wasn’t A Failure
I should note, though, that it’s incorrect to say that the vehicle would have been destroyed if it had launched. They now know from simulations that it would actually have been fine, but better safe than sorry. I’ll have a piece up on this later today at Popular Mechanics.
Not A Bank Run
It’s a bank jog, in Greece. Welcome back drachma, and maybe several other European currencies (even eventually including the franc, given the proposed policies of the new socialist president).
Kickstarter Funding Progress
Things got off to a good start late last week, but donations slowed down over the weekend. I’m a little less than a third of the way, at $2160, with a three and a half weeks to go. That’s plenty of time, but I fear that I’ve already plucked all the low-hanging fruit, so spread the word, please.
I’m flying to DC tomorrow to go to the Global Exploration and International space Development conferences, so I may try to get face time with potential larger donors for matching donations. It also might help if folks would comment over there to entice new donors who come across it.
The Unteachables
What our “self-esteem” movement and the public schools have wrought. It’s been over thirty years since that commission on education issued the report that said that if a foreign power had imposed this educational system on us, we would rightly consider it an act of war. It’s true today more than ever.
Equity-Based Crowdfunding
What effect will the new rules have? It will be interesting to see. At the least, it should make it easier to raise funds for “unfashionable” projects (e.g., space and other hard-tech startups). One of the interesting aspects made possible by the Internet is crowdsourcing for the identification of iffy projects.
A New Casting Technique
This could be a cost reducer for the space industry (among others). It might also be useful, eventually, for fabricating parts in space using local materials.
Diagnosing Falcon
Well, as I expected, that didn’t take long:
Engine pressure anomaly traced to turbopump valve. Replacing on engine 5 and verifying no common mode. #DragonLaunch
So it’s a good thing it shut down — it could have resulted in a catastrophic engine failure in flight, something that SpaceX has theoretically designed for (they claim to have engine-out capability from liftoff, and sufficient inter-engine blast shielding to prevent fratricide), but probably doesn’t want to test, at least this early in the program. Also, they had no performance margin on this mission, so it probably would have meant an abort to a low orbit, and perhaps an inability to get to the ISS.
[Update a while later]
Here’s the story over at Popular Mechanics.
A Successful Failure
As others have pointed out, the Falcon did exactly what it was supposed to do under the circumstances — it was a successful abort. It’s too bad that they have the three-day constraint for the next attempt. Hopefully there’s nothing wrong with the engine itself. They didn’t see this problem in the test firing a few days ago. But I wonder if there’s something about the geometry that causes the center engine to be a little higher pressure than the outer ones. If I were them, I’d be going back and looking at the pressures from previous flights and tests. If that’s the case, then the solution to this problem might be to just allow a slightly higher pressure on it.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s the story from Spaceflight Now. Looks like if they have another scrub on Tuesday, they won’t have to wait another three days — they can try on Wednesday. If they launch Tuesday, that means a docking attempt on Friday, right in the middle of the ISDC.
Give A Man A Fish
My colleague at CEI, Iain Murray, says it’s time to give fishermen property rights. Some of the thoughts here could potentially apply to an asteroid mining regime as well.