Category Archives: Technology and Society

Law, Media Criticism, Space, Technology and Society

Crime In Spaaaaaaace

August 24, 2019 Rand Simberg 14 Comments

This is a dumb story. The first crime in space should have to involve doing something that could only be done in space. She could have done this from anywhere; she just happened to have been in space when she did it.

I will say that I did not know (or care) that Anne McClain was a lesbian.

Business, Economics, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Technology and Society, War Commentary

Autonomous Vehicles And Drones

August 23, 2019 Rand Simberg 39 Comments

I’ve been worried about this for a long time, because there’s no obvious (at least to me) answer: How do we prevent them from becoming weapons? And not just weapons of war, but of domestic assassinations?

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

Lunar Prizes

August 23, 2019 Rand Simberg 1 Comment

Casey Dreier thinks they’re a bad idea.

My comments:

I agree with much of this, though I do think that Scott has always mischaracterized SLS as a useful national capability. My biggest problem with it is phrase "space exploration." It's pretty clear that getting back to the moon has never been a national priority, and isn't today.
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

Until we decide why we're going back to the moon, we can't come up with a sensible idea of how to do it. If we do a prize, it shouldn't be to just get back, but to set up a demonstrably economically sustainable infrastructure, not for "exploration," but for lunar development.
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

That is, the prize should be for (e.g.) maintaining a base at Shackleton of at least two dozen people for five years. That's the only way to avoid another flags and footprints event (and it's something that cannot be done with anything resembling NASA's current plans).
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

So let the Shelbys of the world continue to massively waste taxpayer money as the danegeld to allow us to offer a much smaller amount, risk free, to do something useful (since clearly getting back to the moon is not and has never been nationally critical).
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

[Late-morning update]

Bridenstine: NASA is considering all options, including prizes.

Business, Economics, Education, Mathematics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Technology and Society

Climate Change

August 22, 2019 Rand Simberg 25 Comments

What is the worst case? The latest from Professor Curry.

Business, Economics, Space, Technology and Society

The Coming Age Of In-Space Transportation

August 21, 2019 Rand Simberg 2 Comments

My former Rockwell colleague (and current business associate) Dallas Bienhoff has a survey of all the planned new on-orbit systems, including a brief description of my planned intraorbital infrastructure.