Category Archives: Economics

Ann Arbor Follies

Should students have to pay to get a newspaper they don’t want to read? I know Pinch is in trouble, but this reeks of desperation. But then, it’s been a long time, if ever, that the paper had any interest in letting the market work. And now would be a very bad time for it to advocate it, given that “letting the market work” would mean a reorganization, in which one likely outcome might be a paper that people actually want to pay to read.

Falcon 9 Heavy

I’m watching the press conference now. Clark Lindsey is live blogging it.

I’d say that the big news is that it’s got more payload than expected, and will mean previously unthinkable price per pound. It is also big enough to do any conceivable planetary mission one would want, in sufficient numbers. The one question I wish that someone would ask is fairing size.

[Update a while later]

Clark has the press release.

[Update later in the morning]

Apparently I mistitled the post. It’s not a Falcon 9 Heavy, it’s a Falcon Heavy. I’m not sure what this means, other than the upgraded engines. Is is a different upper stage as well? It’s not obvious from the press release. Time to ask SpaceX.

[Update late morning]

Here’s the SpaceX simulation: