What does Battlestar Galactica get right?
[Update a couple minutes later]
I liked this:
FP: And the worst shows for realistic space warfare?
CW: There are so many that are so bad. Star Wars is probably the worst.
I know that’s heresy for a certain generation.
…and her space fantasy.
Paul Spudis has a new blog.
This isn’t exactly a new question. The Space Studies Institute has been thinking about it for a third of a century. And of course, one always finds the inevitable “it’s obvious that the first colony should be on Mars” comment.
…to lighting up the moon.
One quibble. If you really bought that many one-watt green lasers, I’m sure that you’d get the price well below $300.
Will it be bad for SpaceX?
The problem with his analysis is that (as Clark Lindsey notes in comments) he assumes no elasticity of demand with the lower prices. I think he’s wrong.
Hey, put me down as all in favor of a Lagrange-point base — I’ve advocated it for years. But I’d like to see the trade study that says EML-2 versus EML-1. My preference is for the latter, but NASA seems focused on the former. I haven’t seen any explanation as to why. To my mind it’s a time versus delta-vee tradeoff. I’d prefer quicker trips, and better views of earth.
I also agree with Charles Lurio (quoted in the piece) that this isn’t the mission that SLS is looking for. It would be ludicrously expensive compared to using existing vehicles. There is no mission for which the Senate Launch System is cost effective.
But Trent Waddington says that Charles and I should hush our mouves.
Live tweets from Hollywood.
I sent out a tweet to correct the one that said it was F-16s escorting. I’m pretty sure it was a couple of Dryden’s F-18s (at least that’s what it looked like when it flew over the house).
My friend (and former webmaster — I say former because I wouldn’t want him to be blamed for the current mess), Bill Simon, made a video.
[Sunday morning update]
He’s re-edited a new version.
I just watched it overfly LAX from the balcony, with binoculars. I’ll also see it again later, when it makes its final approach to land.
[Update a while later]
Wow. It made a runway flyover at LAX, then a left turn over the ocean, and just flew right over the house before heading east to Downey. I’ll try to get some pics up later.