I think Sam Kriss had a little too much time on his hands.
Category Archives: Space
North Korea
Some are poo pooing the latest test, but they seem to be continuing to advance their technology. Here‘s a useful backgrounder, via Austin Bay. More here.
Capitalism In Space
Milspace
An interview with Mike Rogers. At the Space Symposium today he announced that he’s going to introduce legislation to create a Space Corps, attached to the Air Force, presumably per Coyote’s recommendation. This was amusing, though:
Is the development of a replacement for the Atlas 5 rocket’s RD-180 moving quickly enough? Is it moving in a direction you’re satisfied with?
Well, it’s not quick enough. I’m very happy that we’re staying after it. My subcommittee, our full committee, this Congress, is committed to not stop until we have an American-made engine that can get our national security space assets launched. And we’re not going to stop. I’m encouraged. I think we’re pretty close to getting a new engine that’s going to be viable.
Pretty sure he wants to engine that will be built in Alabama, even though no rocket manufacturer wants it.
“Now To Make It Pay Off”
Jeff Foust’s take on the SpaceX success, over at The Space Review. I’d like to be surprised that people are surprised, but I’m not. Elon could have regular service operating between earth and Mars, with thousands living there, while NASA is still planning the first flight of SLS, and some people would complain that he’s not building starships.
The Dawn Of Commercial Spaceflight
I’m still trying to put what happened yesterday into historical perspective, but I think it will be one of the top five events of the first sixty years of space history. I wish we’d done it decades ago.
The Harsh Reality Of The Senate Launch System
Bob Zimmmerman has a piece at The National Interest:
So, what should President Trump do? Does he continue to fund Ares/SLS/Orion, which is taking almost TWO DECADES and more than forty billion dollars to design, build, and fly a SINGLE manned capsule, or does he instead shut it down and have NASA buy the products it needs to explore the solar system from multiple competing private companies?
I know what I would do.
So do I.
Space Weather
New data that could provide warning of catastrophic solar storms. We need this both in space and on earth. I worry much more about the sun acting up than I do CO2.
The Static Fire Of The First Core Stage To Be Reflown
…is complete. This will be a big week for SpaceX if they get the launch off successfully on Thursday.
[Update a few minutes later]
Meanwhile, while SpaceX is driving down launch costs, a new report is out on the insane program costs of SLS/Orion.
[Update on Wednesday afternoon]
Bob Zimmerman responds to media criticism of his report.
SLS isn't just programmatically insane, it's fractally so. It's completely nuts at whatever scale you look at it. https://t.co/PVYpsG3Tj7
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) March 29, 2017
[Bumped]
The ISS
Somebody just buy it already. The big question that I don’t know if anyone knows the answer to is how much it would cost to maintain it if you have to keep paying Boeing for replacement parts. Or how much they’d cost to get from someone else, and if it could be done.