Should it be taken over by the Navy? Space is more like the sea than like the air, and I argue in my book that a US Space Guard would be a better organization for many things currently being done (or neglected) by NASA, the Air Force and the FAA.
Category Archives: Space
Off To Mojave
Hoping to get up there and see SS2 in flight.
[Update mid-afternoon]
OK, I’m back. Got to the flight line a few minutes before the drop. I took some pictures, but I’m sure that Virgin’s are better. I’ll look at them and see if I have anything worth posting, but I didn’t have a lot of zoom on the camera.
On a related note, I stopped over at XCOR and fulfilled some of the last of my Kickstarter obligations, where it was gently pointed out to me that I’d deployed some sloppy wording in the section on Lynx, unintentionally implying that it doesn’t have engine-out capability at takeoff. I meant to say loss of thrust, not premature engine termination.
It’s quite annoying to me, given how much effort and time I spent to get it right. Most people won’t notice it, but to me it’s like a mountain, a VAST BOWL OF PUS. Now people will be saying, “Gee, what else did he screw up?”
So if you don’t hear from me after this, it will be because I went down the local SCA chapter to borrow a sword with which to ritually liberate my viscera.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here are a couple of nice shots, courtesy of Doug Messier.
Cygnus Is In Orbit
It’s been a good week for launches so far, with Falcon 9, the Indian GSLV, and now a third successful flight of Antares.
NASA’s Unneeded Test Stand
Here’s a story on the Stennis boondoggle, with a quote on pork from Yours Truly.
Contract Termination Liability
Space News says kill this bill.
It’s a very foolish (and probably unconstitutional) piece of legislation, whose only purpose is to protect high-cost pork projects that hold us back from space accomplishment.
The Next SpaceX Launch
…is scheduled for about an hour from now. Watch it here.
[Update about 1:29 PST]
The webcast has started.
The Key To Reusable Launch
To me, the biggest advantage to this approach (as with Stratolaunch) is single-orbit rendezvous.
A Space-Exploration Program
As I point out in the book, one of the reasons space policy is such a mess is because we don’t have a national consensus on that question.
Commercial Crew
It needs maximum support, and should be a priority over SLS (which shouldn’t exist at all).
Space Mining
A good overview of the companies going after lunar and asteroidal resources. Expect to hear a lot more nonsense like this as the industry evolves, though:
Space exploration researcher Alice Gorman is based at Flinders University, Australia, and is an internationally recognised leader in the emerging field of space archaeology. Passionate about space, she believes both industry and academia underestimate the emotional investment people have in the night sky.
‘There is the view that it’s just unethical to destroy another celestial body… but then [people] also question if it is right for a profit-making company to make massive profits from this,’ she says. ‘Nobody doubts the investment will be monumental and some argue that those willing to take these risks deserve all the rewards as this isn’t for the faint-hearted.’
But, as Gorman also highlights, the world already has unequal distributions of wealth and some wonder if space-based industries could drive these disparities further apart. As she asks, could Earth one day comprise a terrestrial-based underclass looking up at the off-world wealthy.
We wasted six bucks Saturday night to watch Elysium on pay per view. It’s based on the same stupid socialistic fantasy premise.