I’m a big fan; I’ve had one since college. Here’s a good guide to myths about them.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Return To Flight
I went to Manhattan Beach to watch the launch. It was a pretty bright day, so it got lost in the light fairly quickly, but the smoke column persisted for a while. I hope that some of the other upcoming Iridium flights are night or (better yet) dusk. Satellites haven’t deployed yet, but that’s all that remains for a total success, including the first successful landing in the Pacific (the attempt last year had a leg issue).
[Update a few minutes later]
And that’s a wrap:
All 10 Iridium Next satellites are alive and transmitting signals after launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket today. https://t.co/8CGOd1m65k
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) January 14, 2017
[Update a while later]
Here’s the story from local reporter Sandy Mazza. I like this:
SpaceX officials said they now intend to launch every two weeks.
Make it so.
[Update a while later]
I’d forgotten, but this happened on the thirteenth anniversary of Bush’s announcement of the Vision for Space Exploration. How far we’ve come. Now, if we can only finally kill off the monster rocket.
[Later-afternoon update]
Here’s what I wrote at the time, blogging from a motel room in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, when we were househunting in south Florida. I think it holds up pretty well.
Obama’s Space Policy
Katherine Mangu-Ward writes that it’s one of the few things he got sort of right. With a bonus description of how NASA would procure ice cream.
[Saturday-morning update, about a half hour before SpaceX’s planned return to flight]
Wayne Hale remembers the “Flexible Path.”
Artificial Hearts
The latest. I think it would be really weird to not have a heartbeat. I hope that they can further improve on the reciprocating ones, rather than continuous flow.
[Update a few minutes later]
Or is this the future? Printable organs will eliminate need for transplants and donors. Also the need for anti-rejection drugs.
Which reminds me: There was a silly article the other day on how self-driving cars will dry up the supply for organ donors. I have this crazy idea that there’s a better solution to the donor problem than relying on random traffic tragedies.
NASA’s Temporary Administrator
…will be Bob Lightfoot. I assume he’s just a placeholder until a winner emerges among the factional fighting over business-as-usual versus more commercial.
SpaceX’s Finances
The Wall Street Journal has gotten hold of them. Eric Berger analyzes.
They’ve said that they’ve been profitable all along, and apparently were until that launch failure in 2015.
The Latest Progress Failure
The report has been released:
Members of the commission established that the most probable cause of the accident had been the disintegration of the oxidizer tank of the third stage as a result of the failure of the 11D55 engine, following the fire and disintegration of its oxidizer pump, Roskosmos said. The fire in the pump and its disintegration could be triggered by a possible injection of the foreign particles into the pump’s cavity or by violations during the assembly of the 11D55 engine, such as a wrong clearance between the pump’s shaft and its attachment sleeve, floating rings and impellers, leading to a possible loss of balance and vibration of the rotor.
Sounds like they still have serious QA issues, either in manufacture or processing. And it’s the same third stage that crew uses.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: Bob Zimmerman writes (among other things, in a general analysis of the world launch industry) that 2016 was the worst year for the Russian launch industry in decades.
Regrowing Teeth
…from the inside out, eliminating the need for fillings. Faster, please.
The Cislunar Verticals
Part 3 of Carlos Entrena Utrilla’s series on cislunar space is up now.
Geoengineering, Space Tech, And Societal Risk
Some interesting thoughts from Oliver Morton (who I unfortunately missed having lunch with in London last week, maybe next time):
AI worries people more, but geoengineering seems pretty well placed in second place. (Incidentally, what’s up with space as the top societal risk enhancer? If AI takes the laurels in terms of economy, geopolitics and tech, how come space outdoes it in the exacerbation of societal risks? A mystery for another time…)
Indeed. I have some ideas, and that some it arises from ignorance and too much bad SF in television and movies, but I’ll let the commenters have at it.