Category Archives: Space

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

The Space View From The Left

3 Comments

Over at Kos, “Darksyde” writes about the rocket to nowhere. Ignoring the comments about uteri and urine, I pretty much agree — pork is pork from either side of the aisle. I would point out, though that Constellation and Ares were not proposals by George Bush (though I can understand why he’d want to phrase them that way to his audience, to further demonize them). It was all Mike Griffin, and I’m sure that Bush had zero interest in the subject once he hired Mike.

Media Criticism, Space, Space Science

Emily Lakdawalla

7 Comments

An interview. I strongly agree with this advice:

…cultivate your ability to write, to express yourself with brevity and clarity. Writing is important not only for explaining your research, but also for applying for grants and jobs. People who write well, with an engaging voice and correct spelling and grammar, make a positive first impression, giving them a leg up over their competition. My advisor at Brown made all his students submit abstracts to the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The struggle to write those abstracts helped us identify holes in our knowledge or in the completeness of our work; presenting our work in posters or talks gave us poise and confidence in intimidating situations. So keep a journal, or start a blog. Just write.

I also find that writing forces you to think about what you’re saying much more than just talking about it.

Political Commentary, Space

NASA As Prime Contractor

36 Comments

I had a real-time revelation on The Space Show yesterday. What if, in violation of the Congress’s pork-driven demands, NASA decided to actually competitively bid a heavy-lift program? Who would put in a bid for the current monstrosity?

ULA could bid a growth version of Delta or Atlas (though how much development experience they have is a little questionable, given that the vehicles were originally designed by their parent companies), and obviously SpaceX would bid some sort of BFR. But who would bid a Shuttle derived? ATK? They’ve never built a launch system. Perhaps Boeing, which is currently the contractor for the second stage? They and Lockheed are the only companies (other than SpaceX and Orbital) with any recent vehicle development experience. One of the reasons that Ares was such a mess was that, unlike Shuttle, it had no prime contractor. It was managed by Marshall itself, which hasn’t developed a launch system since von Braun died. As will be the SLS, which is one of the reasons for pessimism as to program success.

[Update a while later]

Aerojet to the rescue of the taxpayer?

If NASA opts to pursue the heavy-lift launcher by modifying existing space shuttle and Ares contracts, and a bid protest is filed with GAO, Cooke said work on those contracts would cease until the protest is resolved.

And fortunately, if it takes months to resolve, it might be sufficient time for both changes in Congress, and for further demonstration of the lack of need for such a vehicle, for other than those who will get paid to build it. Time is not on the porkers’ side.

[Update a while later]

I guess that USA could put in a bid for it, but like ULA, they are operators, with no intrinsic vehicle development experience as a company.

Political Commentary, Space

NASA Management Rumors

16 Comments

I ended this morning’s interview with David Livingston with a little teaser — that I’d heard from someone fairly credible yesterday that Charlie Bolden was a short timer. I didn’t state it as a fact, but merely as an unsubstantiated, but not incredible rumor. I checked with someone fairly high at NASA HQ today, and they know nothing about it. For what this is all worth.

But if there is some news on this front in the coming days/weeks, you probably heard it here first. Which is also the case, of course, if nothing happens at all.