Doug Messier has more details. If I were SpaceX, my public comment would be, “See ya later, we’re going to Alaska.”
[Update a while later]
OK, according to this article, the launch companies requested this rule, apparently to clarify their tax situation.
The race between Aerojet Rocketdyne and Blue Origin heats up. But as noted in comments over there, there’s a big word missing in the story: Reusability. And the issue isn’t so much reusability of the engines themselves (though I’ve heard nothing to indicate that the AR1 will be reusable), but in the vehicle design. ULA does not want to continue Atlas with a new engine; they know they need at least a recoverable propulsion/avionics unit of Vulcan to even hope to be competitive with SpaceX (and Blue Origin).
It landed this weekend, but this drives me crazy.
It's not a "space shuttle." Stop calling it a space shuttle. https://t.co/34UyNn94cv
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) May 8, 2017
New details on their plans for optical fiber production on orbit.
Thoughts from Derek Lowe on the abundance of pre-cursors for life in the solar system (and probably universe).
If this is true, it’s good news for Kodiak. Dave Masten seems to think it’s overblown, though.
Microrobots. That can team up to pull a car.
Congratulations on a successful test fight in Mojave today. That’s pretty good progress for a year-old company. There’s going to be a shakeout in this market, but they seem to be real.
[Mid-afternoon update]
If this isn't the coolest damned angle for a rocket shot then I don't know what is. @vectorspacesys Vector-R B0.1 first launch today #space pic.twitter.com/rd3Tt33JH4
— Jim Cantrell (@jamesncantrell) May 3, 2017
I like how the shadow stays in the frame as the rocket disappears from it.
[Thursday-morning update]
Eric Berger has the story.
Because they didn’t show the second-stage burn for security purposes, SpaceX showed the entire descent sequence of the first stage for the first time, including the landing back at the Cape.
It’s official; it’s slipped into 2019. Just put it out of its (and our) misery.
This is my shocked face. #NotReally https://t.co/iO6a1oNMOa
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) April 27, 2017
[Update a couple minutes later]
What's really infuriating is that Congress robbed funding from Commercial Crew to feed it to the monster rocket, and still a 3-year slip. https://t.co/66Q01ImBnk
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) April 27, 2017
[Update a few minutes later]
And in related news, the space-suit situation is as screwed up as ever. I was looking into thie problem 35 years ago for military man-in-space at the Aerospace Corporation, and we still don’t have a usable suit that doesn’t require pre-breathing.
[Update early afternoon]
A reminder, from the comments at the Berger piece:
This rocket is a colossal waste of NASA’s limited resources and valuable expertise. They are building it entirely at the micro-management of the Senate to make sure that certain districts get the jobs. Its going to end up costing around $2 billion per flight, has zero reuse built in, and this first model with the 70mt capacity and interim upper stage will only fly ONCE. Right now we have 3 US heavy/super heavy lift rockets in development: Falcon Heavy, Vulcan, and New Glenn. They are each a fraction of the cost per kg and they are all incorporating reusability and are all going to be ready to fly astronauts before this one does.
Yup. Well, maybe not Vulcan. That one’s funding constrained.