Is the US space industry really doing that? Nope. With a bonus citation of one of my tweets.
Category Archives: Space
New Solar Fiction
This
The Unaffordable SLS
John Strickland makes the case against it over at The Space Review today. I don’t think this is right, though:
It is hard to imagine being able to quickly set up such a [lunar] base without a launch campaign of at least five HLV launches per year. To do this you will also need one or more cryogenic propellant depots in Earth orbit to assure that the propellant to support such a launch rate from LEO to the Moon or Mars is guaranteed to be available in LEO before the buildup begins. (Without the depots, the total cargo delivered to a base site for a given number of SLS launches would be cut about in half). The depots would also need to be launched by HLV boosters. Assuming a minimum of five SLS launches per year at $5 billion a launch, the total cost is $25 billion a year, far beyond NASA’s overall annual budget, let alone its human spaceflight budget. With a launch every two years, it would take a decade to provide the most minimal equipment for a surface base, and most of that would have been sitting there for many years and would thus likely be thermally damaged and unusable.
I really need to see the work here. On what is he basing the need for five launches per year? And how does the depot double the lunar payload? And why does the depot or depots require a heavy lifter? Is he assuming they will be launched full? The depot structure itself doesn’t weigh all that much and could easily go up on an Atlas or even a Falcon 9. And doesn’t that five billion per launch for the SLS assume a low flight rate? Presumably, if they really could do five a year, the per-flight cost would be much less. I’m not saying his numbers are wrong, but I’d need a lot more explanation to accept them. I do agree with this:
In addition to the political impasse over booster development, the nature of the current NASA planning system results in a vicious circle, seemingly created by deliberately not including advanced technology components into future mission plans. The reasoning behind these decisions are that the components do not yet exist, but the result is that the badly needed components are never developed, since there is never a specific mission designated where they will be used. Then when the mission is flown, its capabilities are greatly reduced due to the lack of the component. For example, NASA is currently budgeting money to develop cryogenic propellant depots in orbit, yet the depots are not included in or integrated into any plans for the BEO missions using the SLS. (This issue was the focus of a letter on September 27 to Administrator Bolden by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.) Such delays and/or sapping of funds from technology programs for use by the SLS development by Congress allows mission planners to continue to exclude advanced technology solutions from future BEO mission plans.
This is the perennial institutional problem of technology development at the agency because, unlike its predecessor the NACA, technology development doesn’t seem to be viewed as NASA’s job, at least not enough to actually fund it. It’s always chicken and egg in that no one wants to put a new technology on the critical path for a mission, and because no mission requires it, the technology never gets the priority it needs for development. The solution to this is to refocus the agency on tech development, but that doesn’t provide enough pork in the right places.
Jeff Bezos
An interesting interview. It’s mostly about Amazon’s business model and plans, but Blue Origin does come up:
Levy: You have a separate company called Blue Origin that hopes to send customers into outer space. Why is that important to you?
Bezos: It is a serious effort. When I was 5 years old, I watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon. It made me passionate about science, physics, math, exploration.
Levy: Will you walk on the moon someday?
Bezos: Me? Are you saying would I if I could?
Levy: I bet you’d like to, but do you think you will?
Bezos: Boy. I’ve been asked to make tough predictions before. That one’s very tough. But that’s not what this is about. If I wanted to buy tourist trips to fly to the International Space Station and Soyuz and those things, there’s nothing wrong with that. But that’s $35 million. I want to lower the cost of access to space.
Levy: How do you do that?
Bezos: I like to say, “Maintain a firm grasp of the obvious at all times.” For Amazon, that’s selection, speed of delivery, lower prices. Well, for Blue Origin it’s cost and safety. If you really want to make it so that anybody can go into space, you have to increase the safety and decrease the cost. That’s Blue Origin’s mission. I’m super passionate about it.
Levy: Do you feel that it’s a bit disconnected to start a space-exploration company in this economically grim time?
Bezos: No. We employ a lot of aerospace engineers. They have families, their kids go to college. We buy a lot of materials. Somebody made those materials, right?
I don’t even understand that last question, but note the use of the e-word. I wish we could get people to think about space in terms other than science and exploration.
[Late morning update]
This is sort of related. Lileks isn’t impressed with the Kindle Fire.
Lynx
…is finally moving forward, apparently no longer constrained by cash flow.
[Update a few minutes later]
This is pretty cool — robots that could build facilities on the moon.
[Another update a few minutes more later]
Speaking of lunar bases and cash flow, they sure buried the lede in this story about Shackleton Energy Company:
The company has set a goal of US$1.2 million and at the time of publication of this article had raised $3,665 with some 40 days remaining.
So, only $1,196,335 to go.
Maybe They Mean Breathtakingly Slow
“Breathtaking speed” isn’t how I’d describe the pace of the Chinese space program.
The Problem With Landing On Mars
…and how to fix it.
I’ve got a better idea. Establish a base on Phobos or Deimos, manufacture propellants, and then land propulsively.
Question For Space News Subscribers
Does anyone know if they ran my letter to the editor last week?
Don’t Believe The News
This is unintentionally hilarious:
Kerrick also spoke about the current status of the NASA Space Shuttle Program and its official retirement on Aug. 31. The media has caused a lot of worry and uncertainty about the future of NASA’s role in galactic travel, she said.
“Don’t believe the news,” she said. “Through this whole process, I learned not to trust the news.”
Although it is true that the program is gone, Kerrick said, NASA will be around until at least 2020. She also said Orbital, a private company based in Virginia, and SpaceX, a company based in California, are the primary sources of funding to continue the development of shuttles capable of going beyond low-Earth orbit.
It’s unclear whether she really said this stuff, or if the reporter just garbled whatever she actually did say, but there are at least four problems with that last paragraph.
[Via Jeff Foust]
A Tantalyzing Space Press Release
I just got this from Shafer Corporation:
Schafer Corporation Signs Licensing Agreement with MoonDust Technologies LLC
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2011
Schafer Corporation Licenses Space Commercialization Technology to MoonDust Technologies, LLC
Albuquerque, NM – The Schafer Corporation, a scientific and engineering company, has signed a Licensing and Development Agreement with MoonDust Technologies, LLC (MDT) of Tucson, AZ to give them exclusive, worldwide production and marketing rights for a unique line of products resulting from the use of Schafer’s Proprietary microgravity production technology. Although well known for their defense-related space capabilities, Schafer has been developing and evaluating technologies for commercial space applications since 2008.
The Agreement grants MDT the exclusive right to produce and sell these products worldwide and provides Schafer with royalties on the sales. As part of the agreement, Schafer will provide MDT with technical and engineering support focused on the design and development of space hardware. “We’re excited about this opportunity,” said Schafer Corporation President Tony Frederickson. “For over 40 years, visions of space-based commercial ventures have been driven by the advantages of microgravity fabrication for a range of high-value products. We’re pleased that Schafer technology will play a part as this dream at last nears reality.”
“We were blown away,” said MoonDust Technologies CEO Rick Gibson. “When we saw what they had developed it was a no brainer; form the company and let’s do this. The impact will be stunning – we’re looking at a broad range of transformational products involving medical, information, and DOD applications.”
MoonDust Technologies, LLC was created as an affiliate of the Medusa Group of companies in Tucson, AZ. Dan Hodges, CEO and President of Medusa said “Notably, Schafer’s micro-gravity technology allows us to solve some extremely difficult technical issues and create solutions and products that are desperately needed, but simply couldn’t be solved with earth-bound processes before. This approach is the only way to go.” MDT expects to have sample products available for industry review next summer, 2012.
About Schafer Corporation
Schafer Corporation, formed in 1972, is a leading-edge technology company providing high quality products and professional services to government and industry customers. Schafer’s legacy is rooted in space, optical, and directed energy programs. Today, our knowledge and experience supports all branches of the military, the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and NASA. In addition to our legacy competencies, we support these customers over a broad set of disciplines including system engineering, technology management, missile defense, commercial space, net-centric systems and communications, nano-fabrication, modeling and simulation and agile software development.
For more information, please visit: www.schafercorp.com
Contact: Rhonda Peyton P: 505-338-2856
About MoonDust Technologies, LLC
MoonDust Technologies, LLC (MDT) was created in 2011 by Rick Gibson with its headquarters located in Tucson, AZ. MDT is an OEM product company that specializes in the production of unique materials that can only be manufactured in microgravity environments. MDT owns exclusive rights to Proprietary technology that has been developed by leading edge defense and advanced aerospace companies.
For more information, please visit: www.MoonDustLLC.com
rpeyton@schaferalb.com
MoonDust Media Relations: Rick Gibson
p: 520-661-6797About Medusa
Medusa comprises a group of five affiliated companies specializing in electromagnetic, ultrasound and aeronautical research, development and operations. With broad operational expertise, MRO and laboratory facilities, the Company has unique large corporation capabilities with the attention to detail and customer needs which emanate from a small company atmosphere.
For more information, please visit: www.medusa.com
Medusa Media Relations: Darrin Holman p: 520-512-5299
Via Rich Glover at Shafer, who says that “…if successful, this is a game changer.”