I tried to get through this seemingly Malthusian rant from the dawn of the space age, but it’s a tough slog.
I would note that, like Sagan years later, he extrapolates existing launch technology to come up with an absurdly costly estimate for space settlement.
Dennis Wingo has a guest article at Watts Up With That.
Warning for attendees: I’ll be speaking on Friday morning the 16th (assuming I get back from Anchorage on time). I’m bugging them to fix the book title.
This looks interesting. I’ll add it to the blogroll.
He’s going to say something about SpaceX at the National Press Club at 1 PM. Before I heard the venue, I was speculating on Twitter that it was about recovering the stage, but I don’t think he’d do that at the Press Club. Must be something big. Taking the company public? I thought he’d decided that he couldn’t risk losing control. Commenters are welcome to speculate here.
[Update during presser]
So far just announcing success of soft landing on the ocean. As I guessed last week, it was subsequently destroyed by the waves. Saying that it’s a very positive development for reusability. Next time he’ll get a bigger boat. In principle should be able to refly the same day.
[Update after the presser]
OK, the purpose of the press conference was to announce that SpaceX is filing suit to force the Air Force to compete the block buy for EELV that they just issued to ULA late last year. SpaceX didn’t find out about the contract until the day after last month’s hearing on the Hill. It will be interesting to hear what General Shelton has to say.
[Update a while later]
Oh, the other news: they are definitely planning to fly out of Brownsville, within a couple years. Bad news for Shiloh fans, I guess.
[Update a while later]
In response to the question in comments, yes they could probably launch in Texas and land in Florida with a good performance advantage, though it would slow down turnaround. But it just occurs to me that if they do that, they could probably just refuel there and self-ferry back, if the FAA lets them.
Some reflections, from Joel Achenbach.
A lawyer familiar with the case mocked this argument as amounting to, “Damn the legal niceties, this mean judge is getting in our way.” – See more at: http://calwatchdog.com/2014/04/22/gov-browns-legal-strategy-to-prop-up-bullet-train-faltering/#sthash.Na3IFURm.dpuf
This is a problem that won’t be solved until California gets an intelligent electorate.
whatever you think of its prospects, low-cost launch will certainly improve them.
[Afternoon update]
Space solar power, visualized.
…and of course, the environmentalists hate it:
The point deserves emphasis. The advent of higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere has been a great boon for the terrestrial biosphere, accelerating the rate of growth of both wild and domestic plants and thereby expanding the food base supporting humans and land animals of every type. Ignoring this, the carbophobes point to the ocean instead, saying that increased levels of carbon dioxide not exploited by biology could lead to acidification. By making the currently barren oceans fertile, however, mariculture would transform this putative problem into an extraordinary opportunity.
Which is precisely why those demanding restraints on carbon emissions and restrictions on fisheries hate mariculture. They hate it for the same reason those demanding constraints in the name of allegedly limited energy resources hate nuclear power. They hate it because it solves a problem they need unsolved.
I hope this means a lot of cheap fresh wild salmon in the stores this summer.
The B612 Foundation is going to have a press conference at the Seattle Museum of Flight at 2:30 EDT. It will be live streamed.