Time to fission. It’s me, Sam, saying I am signing off for good over here at Transterrestrial. Check out my new blog at Decisive Win.
Au revoir.
Checking In
OK, I said we were going to Kona, and we did fly into there. But we are actually staying (at least this weekend) in a house in Honoka’a, on a hillside overlooking the ocean. The Kona side was hot and muggy. I wasn’t impressed. It seemed like Florida, except much more scenic. But as we drove through Waimea, the landscape turned from lava desert to lush green hillsides, and it drizzled and cooled. So far, despite the clouds and rain, I like the northeast side of the island much better. We’ll probably go down the coast to Hilo today, and perhaps up Mauna Kea. We won’t be able to do that after we dive, so we’ll probably get the high-altitude stuff out of the way.
Oh, and to the commenter in the other post who recommended Poncho and Lefties?
Why? I read a review in a guidebook that consisted pretty much of the phrase “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.” What’s the appeal?
Second Anniversary
…of the first Ansari X-Prize flight. The one that corkscrewed and gave everyone (not the least of whom was Mike Melvill) a scare. Noted over at Anousheh Ansari’s blog.
Heading To Hawaii
We’re going to Kona for a few days (back a week from Monday). Hopefully the Atlantic won’t act up while we’re gone. It’s been a surprisingly quiet season, so it figures that some storm will probably brew up in the Bahamas at the last minute next week, and we won’t be here to shutter.
Anyway, I’ll be checking in occasionally, but I suspect that posting may be lighter than usual.
[Update at 6 PM PDT]
Arrived in LA. We fly to the big island tomorrow morning.
Focus On The Real Enemy
The Bull Moose has some words of wisdom for his fellow Democrats, which they will probably continue to ignore. And thereby continue to lose elections.
The Suborbital Experience
Alan Boyle has an interesting “compare and contrast” of the current planned providers:
The feedback from would-be fliers has been that “the overall nature of the experience is primarily about the view, and feeling the forces,” Lauer said. Thus, both companies are trying to optimize the view of a curving Earth, spread out beneath the black sky of space. But they’re doing it using different methods.
SpaceShipTwo will offer as many portholes as it can, placed strategically around the side walls of the passenger cabin. Rocketplane, in contrast, plans to make the most of the forward view. “The best views are really out the front window, just as they are with any airplane. … When you’re in the back seats, it’s surprising how much of the forward view you do get,” Lauer said.
Back-seat passengers will each get two of their own windows as well, currently planned for placement at shoulder height and above their heads, he said.
The SpaceShipTwo concept gives you dials to watch, showing G-forces, altitude and other statistics, plus a larger cabin display. Rocketplane promises to provide a customizable video display for each passenger. And both spacecraft will be fairly bristling with video cameras to record the highlights of your out-of-this-world flight.
Good News
Bad news for the likes of Hot Air America, though. Billionaire moonbat George Soros is giving up on politics.
Guess he decided that he’s pissed away enough millions on a losing cause that deserved to lose. Too bad he can’t come up with something useful to do with his money. I could have funded some interesting space ventures with what he wasted on Kerry and company.
Poetry, Not Argument
For those morons who continue to think that I am a reflexive defender and fan of the Bush administration, there’s no better argument against it in my opinion than its apparent worship of the likes of Leon Kass.
The New Partner
RpK has replaced OSC with Andrews. They’ll take over some of the systems engineering and integration work, and will be making an investment. So another one of the unsuccessful COTS bidders gets back in the game, through the back door.
[Update a few minutes later]
Clark Lindsey has a press release.
[Update at 5:30 PM EDT]
And here’s a more extensive article on not only the Jim Benson announcement, but on NewSpace in general. Bottom line (buried in the middle of the article)–investors are starting to take this industry seriously.
Mr. Benson says he “managed to raise $1 million with less than a dozen phone calls.” Some investors said yes without ever seeing a formal proposal, he says. “If I had tried three or four years ago to solicit money for this kind of private space flight, I wouldn’t have had any luck.”
Not much giggling left.
Alan Boyle has more.
And yes, I really do have some thoughts on this stuff, but I’m saving them for a couple articles I’m working on, for TCS Daily and The New Atlantis.
New Space Company
Jim Benson is leaving SpaceDev, the company he founded, to form a new public space travel company. Looks like he’s starting a separate spaceline to use Dreamchaser.