Category Archives: Space

Business, Economics, Law, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Mark Sundahl

32 Comments

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.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

A To-Do List For Bridenstine

7 Comments

Some advice from Scott Hubbard. But here is the problem:

…the new administrator must provide NASA and the rest of the world much more clarity on the brief statement issued by Vice President Pence and the newly revived Space Council that the United States will “lead the return of humans to the Moon.” Studies of the future of human space exploration have for decades emphasized that Mars is the target of greatest interest for reasons of science and exploration.1–4 The last initiative that attempted to include both human landings on the Moon and eventually Mars, the so-called Constellation program, collapsed from its own budgetary (over) weight.

Two points: First, the assumption that human spaceflight is about “science and exploration.” I’ve written about this error at length. Second is the notion that Constellation collapsed because it was attempting to do both the Mars and moon. It wasn’t seriously trying to do either. NASA wasn’t seriously trying to do either.