Haven’t looked at this in detail, but I suspect that by 2030, heavy-lift expendable rockets will be obsolete. and how in the world are they going to do a vertical landing with a solid booster?
Category Archives: Space
The Kids In The Cave
The oxygen levels are getting low.
This seems like a solvable problem, using ECLSS technology. Get some LiOH canisters and oxygen tanks in there. Also, Elon has sent some of his tunneling engineers to see if they can help.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Alan Boyle has the story on the Boring Company and SpaceX support. The former would presumably be tunneling, while the later would provide life support based on Dragon technology.
[Noon update]
Elon has gone full superhero.
[Update a while later]
This visually helps pic.twitter.com/MyX2YPbybq
— Rome Strach (@romn8tr) July 6, 2018
[Update Saturday afternoon]
Elon is building a mini-submarine, designed to fit through the tunnels, at SpaceX HQ to fly to Thailand.
Early-morning update]
Thought their politics suck, The Guardian is providing good live blogging of the operation.
[Monday-night update]
There were questions in comments how they got there. Here is Bridget Johnson’s story, including how the Buddhist monk training of the coach helped get them through.
[Bumped]
U.S. Space Guard
After all these years of advocating for it, I’m happy with how much traction the concept is finally getting.
The Latest Buzz On Buzz
Marina Koren talked to Christina and Andy. I just hate to see this.
Blue Origin
They’re serious about the moon, even if NASA and Congress aren’t. They plan to start colonizing within half a decade.
Dinosaurs And Gravity
I saw an interesting postulation on Twitter that the reason the dinosaurs could grow so large was that there was less gravity during the Mesozoic. My response:
All I know is that, if earth’s gravity was really less for the dinosaurs, it’s one less excuse for them to have not had a space program that could have prevented them being wiped out.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) July 4, 2018
Laws Of Space Resources
At some point, I think it will be important to distinguish between resource utilization for personal use (living off the land), for commercial use in space (e.g., selling propellant), and terrestrial use.
Commercial Spacesuits
Suni Williams reviews both the Boeing and SpaceX designs. Note that these are flight suits, not EVA, which still needs a lot of improvement. Also, I assume that these won’t be required for passengers on BFR. At what point will they have sufficient confidence in Dragon to not require them?
Space Roundup
Politico has started to cover space (I met Bryan Bender at ISDC), and they interviewed Bridenstine (among other news, including thoughts from Rohrabacher), who seems supportive of a U.S. Space Guard. The idea seems to be getting quite a big of traction this year.
Harlan Ellison
RIP.
In addition to the books and short stories, he wrote some Twilight Zone episodes, and Star Trek.
I woke up from s nap and my wife told me we'd lost Harlan. I knew his writing forever, and knew him for over 30 years. I don't know that we were friends; he liked my stuff, but he always scared hell out of me. I know I'll miss him. The field, too. Our enfant terrible is gone. https://t.co/kDT1Abqb0N
— Harry Turtledove (@HNTurtledove) June 28, 2018