Stu Witt and Peter Navarro make a (probably futile) plea to Sacramento. Don’t hold your breath, guys. As you noted, the state’s politicians don’t give a damn.
Category Archives: Space
Mutiny
The Ares folks are reportedly defying the White House.
The problem, of course, is that they still have their budget, and they have allies in Congress. I feel sorry for them, because they’ve put a lot of effort in this, and don’t want to see it go for naught, and they’re caught in the middle of a war between the White House and the Hill, or at least a few key people on the Hill, and it’s a non-partisan battle. Unfortunately, if Congress doesn’t get a budget out this year (which seems likely to me) and does a continuing resolution, this could go on for many more months, wasting a lot more money and time, and delaying the start of anything useful in a new direction. And a Republican Congress next year could shut down or redirect the whole mess. Newt and Bob Walker and Dana are going to have to stay on the hustings to try to get their fellow elephants not to screw things up.
[Update a few minutes later]
This does nothing except increase the pressure on SpaceX for a successful Falcon 9 launch, of course. The political stakes are unfairly high for them.
The Railroad To Space
Some thoughts on the history of transportation from Wayne Hale. One part he leaves out of the story, though, is the Great Northern.
Some Advice For Charlie Bolden
Next time a senator lectures him about Newsweak’s “invention of the year” (that doesn’t exist yet) and how Ares I-X proved that Ares I will be safe and work great, he should point out that it damaged the part of the rocket that was supposed to be reusable due to a parachute failure, that we still don’t know if we can do parachutes of this size that operate reliably, that it caused severe damage to the launch pad from scorching, and that it contained no elements of an actual Ares I.
[Update a few minutes later]
A depressing thought from Clark Lindsey:
NASA should at least have some sort of fact sheet that lays out the basics and is presented and discussed with the committee members and/or staff beforehand, especially those like Mikulski who are still open to new input. The written testimony from Bolden is clearly not doing the trick.
Of course, a fact sheet can never be long enough to inform a Senator on an appropriations committee, of all places, who doesn’t know the difference between marginal cost and recurring cost.
It’s sobering to realize that the state of confusion and superficiality displayed so vividly in these hearings on NASA, which involves funding in the mere nineteen billion dollar range, must certainly occur with most every item in the budget, including those that involve “real money”.
I think we saw this on full display with both the failed “stimulus” and health care, in which we had to “pass the bill to find out what was in it.”
Let’s Play A Game
How many unstated false assumptions can you find in this space editorial at the WaPo?
[Early afternoon update]
Gee, I’m having trouble getting anyone to play. Do I have to do all the heavy lifting around here?
The Return Of Nukes
…is happening, but very slowly.
And I wonder if it’s happening in space at all? I haven’t looked at the new budget in detail, so I’m not sure if nuclear is one of the technologies being restored. If not, it’s futile to develop new propulsion technologies if there’s no way to power them.
Our Noble Leaders
Clark Lindsey has a report on today’s Senate hearing on the new space policy. Are they really this ignorant, or are they just lying? You’d think that their staffs would at least have a clue. Either way, it’s depressing. It doesn’t sound like Bolden holds up well under fire, either. And the guy’s a Marine general.
[Update a few minutes later]
A tweet from Jeff Foust:
Sen Bennett takes issue with Bilden statement that Ares 1 demonstrated reliability is 0; hold up Time mag proclaiming it invention of year.
Sigh…
And as is usually the case with space policy, the ignorance and stupidity is bipartisan.
[Update a few minutes later]
Another tweet from Jeff:
Shelby and Obama do have something in common: both have pronounced Orion OR-ee-on. See, common ground!
Once again, when it comes to space policy, the ignorance is bipartisan. I was amused at the speech when the president at least twice mispronounced Suzanne Kosmas’ name as “Cosmos.” Maybe he thinks that corpsemen will be going up in the OReeon.
And Now For Something Completely Different
A weightless dog.
He (or she) doesn’t seem that upset about it. Probably not the first time.
[Via Stephen Gordon]
Is It Dead?
…or just resting? Bill Nelson is trying to resuscitate heavy lift. As many commenters point out, it makes no sense, and is fiscal madness. And he’s probably doomed to failure.
[Update a few minutes later]
Particularly idiotic is Nelson’s attempts to tie continued Ares development to national security, for at least two reasons: the DoD has no need for solids of that diameter and if it did, there would be cheaper ways to get it. Not to mention that if it’s for national security, the money should come out of the Pentagon’s budget, not NASA.
Simplifying The Job
I’m working on a piece along these lines for PM or PJM, but Jim Oberg beat me to the punch:
The plan to reshape the Orion spaceship as a standby rescue vehicle for station crews has profound implications for the requirements of the commercial taxi and its cost. This strategy means the taxis won’t have to last for six months “parked” in space, like Russia’s Soyuz spaceships. The simplification of the taxi’s mission will allow its hardware to be significantly less expensive to build and to validate.
The crucial systems for the taxis have mostly already been built and are available as off-the-shelf technology — which means the spaceships could be much cheaper, much smaller and much more reliable.
The FUD being spread by defenders of the status quo has been almost palpable, and it’s all unjustified.
[Update a few minutes later]
I should add that I doubt very much if the commercial contractors are going to use the Orion abort system. It’s overkill, in both weight and cost. In fact, for a much lighter vehicle, as a taxi would be, it would probably kill the occupants from the acceleration.