Imagine a 2008 election campaign between Newt Gingrich and Bill Richardson. Whoever lost, space, and New Space, would win big. Not to imply, of course, that it’s a likely matchup. The joint probability of both of them getting their respective party nominations is…errrrmmmm…astronomical.
Also, note that I’ve added a new category (a year or so before the first primary…sigh…) called “Space and Campaign 2008,” to correspond to the one I had four years ago. I wish that I hadn’t had to do it so soon.
Imagine a 2008 election campaign between Newt Gingrich and Bill Richardson. Whoever lost, space, and New Space, would win big. Not to imply, of course, that it’s a likely matchup. The joint probability of both of them getting their respective party nominations is…errrrmmmm…astronomical.
Also, note that I’ve added a new category (a year or so before the first primary…sigh…) called “Space and Campaign 2008,” to correspond to the one I had four years ago. I wish that I hadn’t had to do it so soon.
Imagine a 2008 election campaign between Newt Gingrich and Bill Richardson. Whoever lost, space, and New Space, would win big. Not to imply, of course, that it’s a likely matchup. The joint probability of both of them getting their respective party nominations is…errrrmmmm…astronomical.
Also, note that I’ve added a new category (a year or so before the first primary…sigh…) called “Space and Campaign 2008,” to correspond to the one I had four years ago. I wish that I hadn’t had to do it so soon.
I mentioned how impressed I was with the speed of the Eurostar train from London to Brussells. I was guessing that we were going a hundred fifty mph or so. Apparently, that wasn’t too far off, but it’s going to go even faster later this year:
Beforehand, it took nearly three hours to make the crossing, and now it will take two hours, 35 minutes. Further upgrades scheduled to be completed in 2007 will knock another 15 minutes off. The trains will finally travel at their top speed of 186 miles per hour, according to Eurostar.
Sure wouldn’t want to hit a cow at those speeds. At the least, it would be instant hamburger. A system like that would be a huge hit for LA-Vegas, if they could resolve the political and financial issues.
I mentioned how impressed I was with the speed of the Eurostar train from London to Brussells. I was guessing that we were going a hundred fifty mph or so. Apparently, that wasn’t too far off, but it’s going to go even faster later this year:
Beforehand, it took nearly three hours to make the crossing, and now it will take two hours, 35 minutes. Further upgrades scheduled to be completed in 2007 will knock another 15 minutes off. The trains will finally travel at their top speed of 186 miles per hour, according to Eurostar.
Sure wouldn’t want to hit a cow at those speeds. At the least, it would be instant hamburger. A system like that would be a huge hit for LA-Vegas, if they could resolve the political and financial issues.
I mentioned how impressed I was with the speed of the Eurostar train from London to Brussells. I was guessing that we were going a hundred fifty mph or so. Apparently, that wasn’t too far off, but it’s going to go even faster later this year:
Beforehand, it took nearly three hours to make the crossing, and now it will take two hours, 35 minutes. Further upgrades scheduled to be completed in 2007 will knock another 15 minutes off. The trains will finally travel at their top speed of 186 miles per hour, according to Eurostar.
Sure wouldn’t want to hit a cow at those speeds. At the least, it would be instant hamburger. A system like that would be a huge hit for LA-Vegas, if they could resolve the political and financial issues.
Clark Lindsey has posted Henry Vanderbilt’s latest announcement for Space Access, which is a month earlier this year than it’s traditionally been, occurring in March instead of April. As Henry notes, if you plan to attend, you’d better hurry and make your hotel reservation.
It’s one of the best conferences, if not the best, of the year to find out what’s happening with the “other space program” (the one for the rest of us). Don’t let the fact that I’ll be there, and on a panel, dissuade you from attending.
Also, the National Space Society has moved ISDC back to Memorial Day (a big mistake, I think–one of the reasons that they had such good attendance last year in LA was, in addition to the fact that it was in LA, because it wasn’t on a holiday weekend). Here’s the press announcement:
National Space Society to Host 26th Annual Conference in Dallas, Convening Pioneers from Government and Private Space Programs
2007 International Space Development Conference Set for Memorial Day Weekend.WASHINGTON, Feb. 21, 2007
Here’s an interesting sociological experiment:
Wall, 32, an Eastern Michigan University graduate student, hasn’t left her west-side Ann Arbor home for another plane in the space-time continuum. She’s simply going a month
A group of scientists are complaining because NASA isn’t spending enough money to study the earth.
This is another symptom of how screwed up our space policy is. Why should it be NASA’s job to study the earth? I thought that was what NOAA was for? Why not put more money into their budget? Yeah, I know, they don’t have the internal R&D capability to do build and launch satellites, but there’s no reason they couldn’t develop it, or even do something innovative, like managing the overall program while farming out some of the work to Goddard or JPL. Or even, heaven forbid, Ames.
For that matter, this seems like a great application for data purchase. Stipulate what kind of data you want, how much coverage in what lighting conditions, in what spectra, and then purchase it on the market.
The fewer things that NASA has on its plate, the more effective it might be in actually executing them, and not getting into all these pitched battles on the Hill over its budgeting priorities. For that matter, I suspect that both space and aviation would be better off if a separate agency were set up for the latter. The Japanese actually used to have the right idea of separate agencies for science and development (unfortunately, they recently combined them).
[Update a few minutes later]
I hadn’t looked at the Space Act lately, but looky here:
(e) The Congress declares that the general welfare of the United States requires that the unique competence in scientific and engineering systems of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration also be directed toward ground propulsion systems research and development. Such development shall be conducted so as to contribute to the objectives of developing energy- and petroleum-conserving ground propulsion systems, and of minimizing the environmental degradation caused by such systems.
(f) The Congress declares that the general welfare of the United States requires that the unique competence of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in science and engineering systems be directed to assisting in bioengineering research, development, and demonstration programs designed to alleviate and minimize the effects of disability.
Noble goals, to be sure. But again, why NASA?
Jon Goff says that first impressions matter. A lot.
This is exactly the kind of mindset that we have to break out of. Unfortunately, in its choice of vehicle designs, NASA remains part of the problem, instead of part of the solution.