He’s doing his annual fundraiser. He does good stuff.
I might do this myself, but I don’t feel like I’ve been doing quality blogging recently. Too busy with other stuff, some of which is remunerative.
Category Archives: Space
JWST
We expected this yesterday, but here it is:
Following an Independent Review Board report on the James Webb Space Telescope project, NASA has announced a further delay to the telescope’s anticipated launch. Coming just three months after a year-long delay to 2020, NASA now says the telescope will not be ready to launch until 2021 at the earliest and that the project will breach its $8.8 billion USD cost cap.
The cited mismanagement at NG and NASA is just staggering. The new overrun is about the amount that it was supposed to cost, in total, originally. What a programmatic disaster.
I hereby rename JWST the Jeebus Wept Sunkcost Trap
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) June 27, 2018
[Update after noon]
Here’s the story from Jeff Foust.
[Update a while later]
This can never be allowed to happen again…. The good news is that it does not have to. On Orbit Assembly transcends the limitations around building a big telescope on the ground, shaking the hell out of it for 10 minutes, then deploying it autonomously without fail. https://t.co/lPmq4UgdVi
— Dennis Wingo (@wingod) June 27, 2018
[Thursday-morning update]
Here‘s Marina Koren’s take:
A wiring error caused workers to apply too much voltage to the spacecraft’s pressure transducers, severely damaging them. And during an acoustics test, which examines whether hardware can survive the loud sounds of launch, the fasteners designed to hold the sun shield together came loose. The incident scattered 70 bolts, and engineers scrambled to find them. They’re still looking for a few. “We’re really close to finding every one of the pieces,” Zerbuchen said.
These three errors alone resulted in a schedule delay of about 1.5 years and $600 million, Young said.
I think that’s about Northrop Grumman’s annual net income. If I were NASA, I’d tell them that if they ever want another NASA contract, they’ll eat it themselves.
[Update a while later]
Alex Witze has more, over at Nature.
Complex Organic Chemistry
For people interested in non-terrestrial life, this should be a higher priority than Europa. It’s farther away, but a much more benign radiation environment.
Buzz
Emilee Speck got the court documents. As someone who’s known them all for years, this is very sad.
[Afternoon update]
Here’s a statement from Christina:
Personal Statement by Christina Korp @Buzzs_xtina regarding article about @TheRealBuzz lawsuit in the @WSJ pic.twitter.com/okyW8aztvY
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 25, 2018
[Wednesday-morning update]
Here’s the latest, from Chris Davenport.
[Bumped]
[Late-morning update]
Marina Koren has more at The Atlantic.
Space Force
There’s been a lot of stupid talk about Trump’s announcement at the Space Council meeting. Here’s some smarter discussion.
[Noon update]
Here’s Eric Berger’s take. The bureaucracy will fight it.
[Friday update late morning]
Here’s a pretty good history and context, for those unfamiliar.
[Bumped]
The Risk Of Spaceflight
A new paper assessing spaceflight mortality. Not sure how useful it is, given the admitted paucity of data.
[Update a few minutes later]
When a Mars simulation goes wrong. Yes, we have a lot to learn before we go to other planets, and even then, people will die, often in terrible ways. Part of the answer is that we have to be more ambitious about how many we send. Six simply isn’t enough.
SpaceShipOne
It’s the fourteenth anniversary of its first space flight. Here’s a blog post I wrote in Mojave the evening before.
And fourteen years later, not a single passenger has flown in this flawed concept. https://t.co/fi4iBuTH7b
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) June 21, 2018
[Update a while later]
The future ain’t what it used to be: Space tourism edition.
I do think though, that with Blue Origin getting ready to start test-passenger flights, it’s finally arriving.
No, Donald
You did not “reopen NASA.” You make yourself look like a fool to anyone who knows what’s going on, but that’s not your base.
Big Falcon Rockets
…are falcon big. This is a cool video to give you a sense of scale.
Mark Sundahl
He’s going to be on The Space Show in a few minutes (2 PM PDT), talking about space law and space property rights. I’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.
BTW, just turned in the proposal to NASA this morning, so I’m sort of decompressing.
[Update a few minutes later]
Welp, five minutes past, and so far he’s a no show.
[Update a couple minutes later]
OK, sounds like they’re about to start now.
[Update toward the end]
Nice to hear him endorse the multilat idea I’ve been (and will continue to be) promoting.