Beautiful imagery from Trevor, who I met at the launch.
Category Archives: Space
Early Spaceports
Laura Montgomery has a new short story out.
To The Moon
Bob Zubrin says we need a purpose-driven space program.
Not enough opportunities for graft in that.
Mars And SLS
I really find Chris Carberry’s op-ed on SLS incomprehensible. Oh, I don’t mean I don’t understand it, it just seems disconnected with reality, and the interests of anyone seriously interested in seeing humans go to Mars. He speaks about SLS as thought it has kind of reality, and actual utility. To me, a sane Mars organization would be screaming bloody murder at the waste of money to the detriment of hardware needed to actually get to Mars.
[Thursday-afternoon update]
Thoughts on the ever-receding SLS, from Bob Zimmerman.
[Bumped]
Space Colonies
This idiotic sort of thing is what my current project, to make the international legal environment more friendly to space development and settlement, partially about.
Lost In Space
No, literally (I hate that as a title of a space article or op-ed). They’re apparently doing a reboot. I thought the show was stupid as a kid, but as my old roommate Alan Katz (and Glenn Reynolds) noted, the first season, which I missed as a kid, was actually quite dark and interesting, before it devolved into camp with the robot flailing its arms around shouting “Danger, Will Robinson.” It could be interesting. But then, I think between acclaim of The Expanse and everything exciting happening in real spaceflight, it could be new golden age for good space-based hard science fiction, in all venues.
Busy
I’m back in Florida, not for fun. Still trying to get another house ready to sell, so we’ll finally be done with real estate in this wretched state. I hope to see the Falcon launch on Sunday, but from afar (I’ll be down in west Palm Beach County). So probably not a lot of blogging for the next week, but I’ll post a couple of things a day, to keep the conversation going. Just to let you know, you know, that I am at least keeping an eye on comments.
And congrats to SpaceX for another successful launch and getting closer on fairing recovery. I’m sure Mr. Steven is disappointed. Though I’ve heard that ships get upset when you anthropomorphize them.
Building Light And Huge
Brian Wang (who I met at Foresight Vision Weekend in December) has a good roundup of the coming revolution in space assembly.
SLS Follies
Eric Berg has the latest on the Leaning Tower of not Pisa, but Launch.
Can't someone just take this program back behind the barn and put it out of its and our misery with an axe? https://t.co/KbwbZqXSGc
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) February 20, 2018
[Late-morning update]
Good point in comments. This London skyscraper only cost half a billion dollars, in the heart of one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Falcon Heavy And Asteroid Mining
Martin Elvis says it’s a game changer. BFR would be even more so. But this (from the story’s author) is a little silly:
Also, I feel like launching all of those rockets and processing the metals can’t be good for the environment.
The metals would be processed in space. The whole point of this is to start to move industry off the planet, which would be great for the environment. He should try thinking, and doing some actually analysis, rather than going on feels.
[Tuesday-morning update]
This seems related, sort of: Planetary Resources has a funding shortfall.
Seems like those billionaires who supposedly founded it don’t actually have that much faith in the venture.