The next Mars rover will generate oxygen from the atmosphere.
It’s a small step, but a lot better than nothing.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
When Regulation Kills
Let Africa have a potential weapon against ebola.
The overcautiousness over the past half century as a result of thalidomide has probably killed millions.
Genocide In Iraq
As I’ve often noted, the word “genocide” is overused, but as Neoneocon notes, ISIS (and followers of the true faith) really are genocidal.
As I noted on Twitter,
When are Obama and Kerry going to lecture ISIS about how this is the 21st century and don't they know that crucifixions aren't au courant?
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) August 8, 2014
And speaking of genocide, Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson continue to be Hamas’s useful idiots. They aren’t of much use to anyone else.
Oh, Marco Rubio
No, the flight of Orion is not going to inspire us in space:
Just how an empty Orion capsule designed to make work for displaced Shuttle employees doing two orbits before it splashes down into the Pacific Ocean is going to inspire taxpayers to spend hundreds of billions on Mars escapes me.
Stop. Just stop. Don’t be an Apollo cargo cultist.
Space Kiwis
Another new smallsat launch venture, based in Auckland.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here‘s Jeff Foust’s take on it.
“We Are Collectively Perpetrating A Fraud”
A brief history of SLS, up to this week.
Reactionless Drive?
This looks too good to be true, and it probably is, but it’s worth pursuing.
And since when is thrust rated in “grams”?
The Air Force
Is it time to abolish it?
To me, the more interesting question is what to do with milspace, which isn’t discussed there at all, with its focus on airpower.
Gender Disparities In Science And Tech
No, it’s probably not caused by sexism.