A detailed technical breakdown. Pretty ambitious.
Unless I missed it, there was one important aspect not discussed in trading kerosene versus methane. The latter would be much easier to manufacture on Phobos/Deimos or the Martian surface.
Category Archives: Space
SpaceX Versus ULA
This isn’t a full transcript, but it’s a good selection of key points made during last week’s Senate Appropriations hearing.
Russia’s Space Program
It needs NASA a lot more than NASA needs it.
That’s certainly true in the longer term. I don’t know if Putin understands that, though, or cares enough to use it as leverage in Ukraine.
The Path Forward In Space
Dennis Wingo has the 2014 edition. Long but worth a read. I disagree with him on the first flight for commercial crew. I think it may happen as soon as next year.
New Pressure To Accelerate Commercial Crew?
Someone needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that “as soon as possible” could be within a year, if they accelerate the docking system, and they could fly someone in ten days, if someone decided it was important.
SpaceX Versus “Boeing”
The headline of this good National Journal article on yesterday’s Senate Appropriations hearing is very misleading. One would think from it that’s it’s about the commercial crew competition between Dragon and CST, when in fact it’s about the competition between SpaceX and ULA for milsat launches. I assume that the copy editor screwed up, not the author. Anyway, note the typical socialist argument against competition that Dick Shelby uses.
Space Tourism
Eileen Collins explains why it will be successful.
Our Space Dependence On The Russians
I say it’s time to end it, over at PJMedia.
National Security Launchers
A live blog of the Senate hearing, with Elon Musk and Michael Gass. ULA is running scared, and Shelby is running interference for them, spouting economic lunacy.
Elysium
A brief review of the stupid movie by Lileks:
I made two attempts this weekend to watch “Elysium,” but was hampered by the fact that it was stupid.
There’s actually a little more, but that’s the bottom line.