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Category Archives: Space
Space Investment Summit
I Hate When That Happens
It’s a pretty common occurrence for a little kid to be disappointed when he loses his grip on his balloon, but this is in a different class entirely:
The former paratrooper had hoped his “Big Jump” — starting 40 kilometers (25 miles) above the Earth’s surface — would set new records for the highest jump, fastest and longest free fall and the highest altitude reached by a man in a balloon.
But those hopes drifted away over the plains of Saskatchewan in Canada when the balloon escaped.
I think he should give up on the balloon thing, and just wait for a rocket ride.
So What’s With Rocketplane?
So What’s With Rocketplane?
So What’s With Rocketplane?
So, What’s Wrong With Capsules?
Frequent commenter “Habitat Hermit,” commenting on my Space Show appearance on Sunday, wrote:
There’s still plenty of room for disagreements –I have some myself (perhaps even a big one when it comes to capsules although it depends on the details, I think they’ve still got lots of more or less unexplored potential…
I agree that there are lots of interesting concepts for capsules and their recovery modes. But that’s beside the point. The reason that I don’t like capsules, of any form, is quite simple. They imply that the only part of the vehicle (at least the upper stage of it) that returns is the capsule. Hence they imply at least a partially, if not fully expendable launch system. I don’t believe that we are going to seriously open up space by continuing to throw hardware away.
So, What’s Wrong With Capsules?
Frequent commenter “Habitat Hermit,” commenting on my Space Show appearance on Sunday, wrote:
There’s still plenty of room for disagreements –I have some myself (perhaps even a big one when it comes to capsules although it depends on the details, I think they’ve still got lots of more or less unexplored potential…
I agree that there are lots of interesting concepts for capsules and their recovery modes. But that’s beside the point. The reason that I don’t like capsules, of any form, is quite simple. They imply that the only part of the vehicle (at least the upper stage of it) that returns is the capsule. Hence they imply at least a partially, if not fully expendable launch system. I don’t believe that we are going to seriously open up space by continuing to throw hardware away.
So, What’s Wrong With Capsules?
Frequent commenter “Habitat Hermit,” commenting on my Space Show appearance on Sunday, wrote:
There’s still plenty of room for disagreements –I have some myself (perhaps even a big one when it comes to capsules although it depends on the details, I think they’ve still got lots of more or less unexplored potential…
I agree that there are lots of interesting concepts for capsules and their recovery modes. But that’s beside the point. The reason that I don’t like capsules, of any form, is quite simple. They imply that the only part of the vehicle (at least the upper stage of it) that returns is the capsule. Hence they imply at least a partially, if not fully expendable launch system. I don’t believe that we are going to seriously open up space by continuing to throw hardware away.
Phoenix Descending
I have some thoughts on this weekend’s successful arean invasion, over at PJ Media.
[Update at 7:40 AM EDT]
Some less lofty thoughts over at Althouse’s place, particularly in comments.
[Mid-morning update]
Jeff Foust writes about a second chance for an underdog, over at The Space Review.