…has been working on previously undisclosed Space Act Agreements with NASA on a lunar lander. That would seem to be part of the puzzle of what’s been happening over the past several days.
Category Archives: Space
The Space Council Meeting
Bob Zimmerman isn’t optimistic that NASA can break out of the status quo.
To The Moon, Alice
Mike Pence just gave a speech in Huntsville in which he stated as an administration goal to get back to the moon in not nine years, but in five (I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that this would be at the end of Trump’s second term). And he doesn’t care how it happens, even if it takes commercial rockets. That’s a shot over Dick Shelby’s bow. And he threw a lot of shade at Boeing over SLS.
That will either require a budget increase, or SLS/Orion cancellation. I imagine that if he’s not already doing so, Elon will put people on 24/7 shifts in Boca Chica.
[Update mid-afternoon]
Here‘s the story from Loren Grush.
The Spacesuit Mess
This has been an issue for decades, largely as a result of lack of competition, when NASA stove piped the EMUs to JSC and Hamilton Standard, instead of having more innovation from Vykukal and Webbon at Ames.
A Space Program For The Rest Of Us
In the process of looking for something else, I ended up rereading this essay I wrote a decade ago, as an open letter to the Augustine panel. I have to confess pleasure at how well it’s held up, and how things are proceeding as I foretold, despite Congress. Note that it also presaged my book, which I wrote a few years later.
[Update a few minutes later]
Heh, I just got to this part; I anticipated and advocated for the new Space Development Agency:
Just as war is too important to be left to the generals, man’s future in space is too important to be left to NASA. After President Reagan proposed the creation of a national missile defense system in 1983, it became clear that the U.S. Air Force was not properly organized or motivated — and so a new agency was created to pursue the president’s vision. The new agency, today called the Missile Defense Agency, was very innovative and made great progress because it could focus on its one goal. Along those lines, the Bush administration might have done well to establish an Office of Space Development (with “exploration” being merely a means to an end) that could draw on other federal resources — not just NASA, but the Departments of Defense and Energy — as well as the private sector.
It’s also ironic, in light of criticism of him in the essay, that Mike Griffin is heading it up.
Starlink
SpaceX claims that it has redesigned the satellites to ensure that they’ll burn up in the atmosphere.
Hopefully at end of life, and not on the way up. Seriously, if true, this is good housekeeping.
More Boeing Delays
Looking a lot like SpaceX is going to get the flag at the ISS this year. And between this, the 737 Max, and SLS, Boeing is having a really bad year.
Brazil’s Cursed Spaceport
Can Alcantara be salvaged?
No Sunk-Cost Fallacy Here
Going all in on stainless steel for the new spaceship, SpaceX has scrapped its composite tooling.
The SLS Saga
Over at The Space Review, Jeff Foust has the story on last week’s events.
[Update a few minutes later]
Also over there a sort of debate on the pros and cons of NASA’s approach to getting back to the moon. I’d note that Hedman’s objection to transpiration cooling is both weak (in the sense that even if Starship was expended, it would still deliver more payload for much less money than SLS ever will) and moot, since Elon has stated that with the steel and standard thermal protection, they may only use it in areas that are scorched when they return.