Professor Reynolds supports it.
Category Archives: Space
Don’t Go To Mars
David Attenborough takes a novel and courageous stand. Let’s “sort out life on earth, first.” [Paywall]
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone make that argument before, except a lot of people, for decades.
“America? Let’s sort out life in Europe first.”
“Europe and Asia? Let’s sort out life in Africa, first.”
It’s obviously a mindless prescription for never settling new territory.
Giant Solid Rockets
Yes, let’s keep using them:
In this case, the DM series motors passed all of ATK’s and NASA’s inspections and test firings. It wasn’t until ATK was proceeding toward QM series motor segments that NASA requested more thorough inspections of the QM series motors to determine whether the switch to non-asbestos containing insulation liners was having a previously unseen effect.
“The beauty of the solid rocket motor inspection system is that defects will be found and solutions reached to ensure the motors delivered will perform with the highest reliability,” said Reed. “This is a requirement to ensure SLS is a safe and reliable system for human exploration of deep space.”
Yeah. Right.
[Update a few minutes later]
So we have giant SRBs with persistent unpredictable dangerous defects+massive political pressure to get to launch. What could go wrong? #SLS
— Trampoline Rocket (@TrampolinRocket) September 15, 2014
Dragon Abort Tests
One is planned for November, and the other for January. I don’t know why NASA keeps talking about 2017, except to try to get more money out of Congress. Of course, that only gives them one provider, and they’d still have to accelerate Boeing and/or Sierra Nevada.
SpaceX Update
A report on new launch sales, Brownsville and new F-9R test flights, from Joseph Abbot in Waco. Sounds like they’ll renewing test flights in a couple months. As I said at the time, it shouldn’t be a big deal to pull a first stage off the assembly line after it’s had three engines installed, and modify it.
Firefly Rockets
Another California rocket company is pulling up stakes and heading to Texas:
King said Firefly was attracted to Texas partly because of its business and regulatory climate.
You don’t say.
The SLS Frenzy
So apparently, the SLF fanbois (and fangirls) going crazy over a giant welder on Twitter.
Malone: @NASA_SLS is going to be the most powerful rocket humans have ever built–which is pretty cool. #NASASocial #weldingwonder
— Rebecca Freeman (@freemre) September 11, 2014
As long as you only want to do it every year or two. MT @freemre rocket that could do anything you ever wanted and then some @davidhitt
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) September 11, 2014
Can't believe all the tweets in my TL marveling at the "six largest welding tools" building SLS core. These people are obsessed with size.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) September 11, 2014
You people obsessed with how "powerful" rockets are, are like Tim the ToolMan Taylor. #Binford5000SLS @davidhitt @freemre
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) September 11, 2014
Never believed that loon Helen Caldicott's phallic-compensation theory of rocketry until I ran into the SLS crowd. Even the women have it.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) September 11, 2014
Anyway, I was rereading this essay I wrote half a decade ago. It was depressing. Here’s how little of some of it I’d have to change to keep it relevant to today.
KSC Versus MSFC
I had an interesting Twitter discussion this morning, that gave me an insight that had been floating around in the back of my mind, but that I’d never articulated, either to myself or others. It sort of crystallized when someone said that Bob Cabana, head of KSC, was an SLS supporter.
One of the tenets of the Apollo Cargo Cult is that we can’t go beyond earth orbit without a really big rocket. The conventional wisdom has been that the biggest constituency for SLS is Marshall, because that’s were it is being developed. But if you think about it, there are a lot of things Marshall could be applied to — it doesn’t have to be developing big rockets (something it hasn’t successfully done in almost four decades). For instance, it could be developing technology and demonstrators for orbital fuel storage and transfer. That would be at least as much in its wheelhouse as SLS.
KSC, on the other hand, has little justification for existence if NASA doesn’t have its own (big) rocket to launch. Without a big rocket, it doesn’t need the VAB, and the VAB and the crawler are really the only unique capability it has, in terms of physical infrastructure. If everything is going up on commercial rockers, even from Pads 39, KSC doesn’t have much to do, other than integrating NASA’s payloads onto them. That’s not a trivial task, but it’s not one that justifies the center’s budget or workforce. So, while Marshall could in theory be redirected to something useful, KSC can’t really. That’s why Nelson supports it so strongly.
It struck me in fact that the VAB is the high cathedral for the cargo cult. What would happen to the religion if it was taken out by a hurricane?
Orbit And Suborbit
It’s not the height, it’s the velocity.
It’s also worth noting that a suborbit can be accurately defined as an orbit that intersects the earth or its atmosphere. So even if you have orbital speed, if there’s not a sufficient horizontal component to it, you’ll still end up back on the earth before you go around.
P. J. O’Rourke At XCOR
Click on it. You know you want to.
And yes, before anyone complains, there are many inaccuracies. It’s entertaining nonetheless.