I don’t worry much about excess plant food in the atmosphere, but this seems like a nice little breakthrough. It could pair well with solar.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Nerve Repair
Researchers have figured out how to get mice to do it. Seems like the same thing should work in humans. Between this sort of thing, stem cells, and brain-controlled exoskeletons and prosthetics, it’s a much better world for those paralyzed. Faster, please.
SpaceX Update
A reported quote from Elon (no URL, yet):
We are close to figuring it out. It might have been formation of solid oxygen in the carbon over-wrap of one of the bottles in the upper stage tanks. If it was liquid it would have been squeezed out but under pressure it could have ignited with the carbon. This is the leading theory right now, but it is subject to confirmation. The other thing we discovered is that we can exactly replicate what happened on the launch pad if someone shoots the rocket. We don’t think that is likely this time around, but we are definitely going to have to take precautions against that in the future. We looked at who would want to blow up a SpaceX rocket. That turned out to be a long list. I think it is unlikely this time, but it is something we need to recognize as a real possibility in the future.” [Emphasis mine]
I think that the Arocket list had speculated about this early on.
The Dream Lives On
Despite the setback of a year ago at XCOR, there’s still hope for spaceflight. An inspiring interview with Jeff Greason.
[Thursday-morning update]
A little back story.
@rocketrepreneur @YouTube That interview was given about a week before what I knew was last chance effort to stay at XCOR. I stand by it.
— Jeff Greason (@JeffGreason) October 13, 2016
Sexbots
Don’t worry, they won’t ruin sex. I think that, like other technological advances, they will increase opportunities for more people.
The Limits Of Knowledge
The climate debate has an epistemological problem that proponents of policy to deal with it want to pretend doesn’t exist. I wrote about the flawed precautionary principle years ago.
Placebo Buttons
I’d always wondered about this sort of thing.
Commercial Crew
Looks like Boeing is going to slip into 2019.
We remain dependent on the Russians because we remain unwilling to risk astronauts’ lives on something as hazardous as spaceflight.
Colonizing Mars
Is Elon religious enough to do it?
I don’t know, but I think there will be room for plenty of religions off planet, including new ones.
[Update a while later]
A new paper from the White House called “Making Human Settlement of Space a Reality” that contains almost nothing that would actually enable human settlement of space.
[Afternoon update]
Adam Routh wants to do Apollo again.
NASA’s Approach To Mars Exploration
A lot of what NASA is doing is going to undergo a rethinking in the next few years, I think.