There’s an interesting piece over at the American Enterprise Institute today bemoaning our lack of progress in space, but it misdiagnoses the problem. I may have an analysis over at Open Market later.
Category Archives: Space
Don’t Pass The Buck, Roscosmos
Some criticism of Popovkin’s weird conspiracy theory.
The European Code Of Conduct For Space
Some surprisingly good news. It looks like the administration isn’t going to sign on to it.
Stuck In A High-Cost Box
Over at Open Market, I have some thoughts on the Air Force’s latest launch-contract award to ULA.
The End Of The Aztecs’ Fourth Sun
Was it caused by an impact event in the mid-Atlantic?
Lynx Development
…is XCOR ahead of schedule?
The first major piece of structure – the fuselage of the Mk1 version — will be delivered to Xcor the week of 16 January, said Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer and vice president of business development.
Next month, Xcor will tender work packages for building the cockpit pressure vessel and strakes in February, with delivery of the two subassemblies scheduled in April in May, said Khaki Rodway McKee, the Xcor programme manager.
Roll-out of the Mk1 is scheduled in July or August from Xcor’s hangar in Mojave, California, she said.
Taxi tests are scheduled to begin in October or November, which will be quickly followed by a short hop and finally a brief first flight by the end of the year.
When I was up there a few weeks ago, they were expecting the fuselage in February. And a rollout in summer?
Self-Healing Electronics
This is the kind of breakthrough we will need for deep-space missions.
Marginal Launch Costs For Reusable Vehicles
I’m writing a paper that contains the following sentence: “Current reusable suborbital providers, such as XCOR Aerospace, Virgin Galactic, or Armadillo Aerospace, are likely to expand their performance envelopes into orbit over the next 10 to 15 years, driving prices down much closer to the marginal cost of propellant, which means potential prices of less than $100 per pound of payload to LEO.”
Can anyone find me a citation to substantiate this statement? I don’t really want to show my work in this document.
[Late evening update]
Ummmmm…folks in comments?
This is all fun, but I don’t need the argument — I know the argument. I need a citation of someone at least semi-credible who has made it, somewhere else.
Good Night, Moonshot
Matt Welch has some thoughts on the mission creep of the “If we can put a man on the moon” analogy. It’s also an introduction to this month’s issue of Reason magazine, which is focused on space. It’s on the stands and in the mail now, and other pieces in it, including my own, and contributions from Greg Benford and Bob Zubrin, will be going on line over the next couple weeks.
[Update a while later]
I have some related thoughts over at Open Market.
The Lunar Yellow Peril
I have some thoughts on China’s recently announced space plans, and some conservatives’ overreaction to them, over at PJMedia.
[Update mid morning]
Tea Party in Space has responded to Cal Thomas as well.