Category Archives: Space

Business, Political Commentary, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

A Gravity Lab

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A concept for doing it on the cheap.

One problem I see in the near term is that NASA plans to use Dragons as lifeboats, so I’m not sure when one would become available on orbit.

[Update a while later]

Actually, I think that a cargo Dragon meets the requirements for this much better than a crew Dragon. It’s an on-orbit mission only, so there’s no need for couches, which just take up room. It can’t be used for a lifeboat, because it has no docking adaptor (at least currently), so NASA wouldn’t miss it. Even a Dragon V2 would need an ECLSS upgrade, so might as well just put it in the cargo version. It would have a lot less value to NASA than a V2, so it would be easier to get it from them. All they’d be giving up is the cargo return (which they could even get when the mission was over, months later, if they wanted).

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

That Stupid Slate Article About Space Billionaires

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I don’t know if I mentioned this foolish piece by Charles Seife last week (what would we do without “journalism” professors?). At the time, I merely tweeted that I didn’t understand why I was supposed to care whether or not Virgin Galactic and SpaceX were about “exploration.”

Jeff Foust commented that Slate editors must have taken the week off (which I think gives them too much credit during the non-holidays). Anyway he has taken it apart.

It’s difficult to imagine a student of Professor Seife’s turning in a class assignment with such factual errors and getting a passing grade.

Zing.

And speaking of “space exploration,” I’ve decided that this is the year I make all-out war on the phrase. It has held us back for decades in thinking about space in a sensible way.

Business, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The Atlantic, On The ISS

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The magazine, that is. I’m still reading it, but this reminded me of the book:

Astronauts never tire of watching the Earth spin below—one wrote of stopping at a window and being so captivated that he watched an entire orbit without even reaching for a camera. “I have been looking at the Earth, from the point of view of a visiting extraterrestrial,” wrote another. “Where would I put down, and how would I go about making contact? The least dangerous thing would be to board the International Space Station and talk to those people first.”

As I note in the book, the ISS would be “…the first line of defense, a picket, in a space-alien invasion.” And note, as always the fascination with watching the earth below, and marvel at the foolishness of people who think there would be no demand for public space travel.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Marsha Ivins

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…doesn’t like the asteroid mission.

Some Twitter responses: