Sign the petition. I doubt if Congress will care, though.
Category Archives: Space
Satellite Servicing
NASA wants to set up a service station.
Seems like if this makes economic sense, it could be done commercially.
Mission To Mars Orbit
The FISO presentation from May has been released. I’ll definitely use this in the project, to show how it could be improved by dumping SLS/Orion.
[Update a while later]
OK, I’ve glanced through it. There isn’t much in the way of numbers (Isp, mass, etc.) to make it easy to come up with alternatives. I will note that they are looking at 17 or eighteen SLS flights over a two-decade period, or about once a year. That probably implies a couple billion per flight, ignoring all the money we’re currently wasting on development.
John McCain
In which he is an idiot (sorry, behind a paywall):
The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Tuesday downplayed the potential national security significance of NASA
continuing payments to Russia to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).“I have a much bigger problem with the Russian rocket engine,” Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters at the Capitol. “I don’t see what the impact is, financially, of the Russian riding as compared with $300 million worth of rocket engines. There’s no comparison.”
But this is what I found interesting:
McCain’s counterpart in the House, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), told reporters Tuesday that U.S. dependence on Russia for space-related items is a national security issue. But Thornberry also said the challenge with paying for Russian rides to ISS is much like the RD-180 scenario: one faced with limited options.
“It ought to be a lesson for all of us about letting key capability atrophy and becoming dependent upon somebody else whose reliability can be called into question,” Thornberry said. “That doesn’t mean you snap your fingers and solve it any more than you snap your fingers and solve the Russian engine issue.”
Actually, we could. All we have to do is be more accepting of astronaut risk.
Light Blogging
I’ve already started to work on the project (even though I don’t get the money for a couple weeks). Re-reading the depressing NRC report from last summer. It will be my point of departure for the remix.
The Kickstarter
There’s only about seven hours to go, and we’re still two thousand dollars shy of the goal. That’s about the same amount of money that NASA spends on SLS in three seconds. Between now and when the window closes, they will have wasted about one and a half million bucks.
I’d say, at this point, given the current trickle, that either we’re not going to get there, or it will come in close to the end, as people are perhaps holding back to see if it will make it without them.
[Update a couple hours before it closes]
OK, doing pretty well. We just need a little over $600 now before 5:30 Pacific. SLS spends that much every second. Thanks for all the new donors, and the upgrades.
[Update about 3:40 PM PDT]
We did it! Over $12,400, and still an hour and a half to go, for those who still want to support the stretch goal of a video, and get the reward. Thanks to everyone who made it happen. Suck it, Shelby.
Philae
Congratulations to ESA.
Arguing About Destinations
…is getting us nowhere.
Yes, it’s pointless and distracting. We need to be developing capabilities to go wherever we want. But there’s not enough graft in that.
I should note that while my Kickstarter is about clearing the roadblock to Mars, it’s really about clearing the roadblock to everywhere, which is the false perception that we cannot go beyond earth orbit unless NASA builds a giant rocket. It’s all part of ending the old Apollo cargo cult.
Garvey Aerospace
Pulling up stakes in Long Beach and heading to Alaska. I suggested to John that he do this a couple years ago. It’s a bit of good news for Alaska Aerospace.
A New Experimental Spaceplane
…in India.