If you want to see how ludicrous SLS is, look at this chart.
That is not a spacefaring civilization.
Category Archives: Space
Lunar Gravity
A beautiful map of the field, courtesy of the late GRAIL satellites.
The VA Scandal
It’s the face of government as it actually exists.
Between ObamaCare, the IRS, the VA, and now the EPA, it’s been a bad year for cheerleaders of big government. Which means a good year for liberty. We’ll see what it means in November.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Note Glenn’s quoting of Pournelle’s law of bureaucracies:
…the strongest priority of most bureaucracies is the welfare of the bureaucracy and the bureaucrats it employs, not whatever the bureaucracy is actually supposed to be doing.
I often say that there are a lot of good people at NASA, and there are. But they are trapped in a similar system.
Here Be Dragons
Stewart Money has a book out on the history of SpaceX.
Today’s Stupid Space House Hearing
Jeff Foust has a report.
[Update a few minutes later]
Frank Morring on why we explore space.
This all misses the real point, which is that exploration is a means to an end. As long as we imagine it’s just a search for knowledge, we can’t possibly justify the insane amount of money (for so little activity) that NASA spends on human spaceflight.
Safe Is Not An Option
The Nook version is now available. The last frontier is iTunes, which is a PITA for me because Apple insists on my having an Apple device to set up an account and upload it to their store. I think I can set up an iTunes account if I fire up my Windows laptop, but not sure how to do the book upload.
The Apollo Model
It’s long past time to abandon it.
It’s hard to do, though. Many just can’t imagine any other way to do human spaceflight. And of course, those in Congress don’t want to lose all their opportunities for graft.
Still Waiting For The Suborbital Future
Jeff Foust has an up-to-date status on the industry, ten years after SpaceShipOne’s first flight. Note also Doug Messier’s status on Virgin Galactic in comments, which sounds about right to me.
Congressional Hobbling Of Spaceflight
Michael Lopez-Alegria weighs in at the Huffpo:
Flying our astronauts should be a national strategic priority, and NASA should be free to continue expanding its use of public-private partnerships and building on its successes. NASA will always lead our nation’s exploration of space, but it must empower all the members of the team that makes that happen, including commercial companies. If Congress can ensure that NASA is cutting bureaucracy and getting the most value for its money, our nation will have a bright future of space exploration ahead of it. If not, our human spaceflight program may be a disappointment for years to come.
Instead, “safety is the highest priority.”
I may have missed it, but I’ve seen no support in the media for the Shelby shenanigans.
More Shelby Commentary
Over at Bloomberg News, Adam Minter quotes me, sort of. Actually,the quote is from the Space Access Society, via the Reason piece (which misleadingly doesn’t make it a blockquote). Also, the future commercial crew contracts will be fixed price under the FAR, not SAAs.