[Update a few minutes later]
On reading through it, this jumped out at me: “The brain strain of designing the car is tiny compared to the brain strain of designing the factory.”
What is more important about Starship is not the design of the vehicle, but the fact that he’s building a shipyard.
There may be less than previously thought.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that there isn’t enough to be very useful. After all, we used to think there was none at all.
Michael Lopez-Allegria says don’t let it expire.
Do we really need it?
Probably not. I do continue to think we need a U.S. Space Guard, though.
Bob Zimmerman thinks so.
I supposed it’s possible, but NASA needs it to fly. Nelson could probably pressure Biden if that were really happening.
[Update a while later]
Starship is stacked and ready for launch.
Except for the license.
Peter Hague responds to a dumb polemic at Quillette.
One of the foundational problems of space-policy discussions is the apparent inability of many to distinguish between space exploration, and space settlement.
…is in deep kimchi.
I always thought it was stupid to put up cubesats on SLS. That had to be a political decision.
This is a week and a half old, but I didn’t link it at the time. Eric Berger documents its decline.
…might be closer than you think.
It’s all up to the FAA, I think.