Philosophy, Space

Rutan and Safety

Rutan said anyone offering spacecraft for commercial service should demonstrate their confidence in the system’s safety by having their children be among the first fliers, as Branson has said he will do.

“Spaceship guru roasts his rivals,” Alan Boyle, MSNBC.com

Should cigarette makers force their children to smoke or withdraw their product? Should parachute makers force their children to skydive or withdraw their product?

This does not follow. People afraid of heights should be allowed to sell bungee jumping supplies without personally testing them. The deathly afraid maker might design better equipment than a fearless one. Makers of hazardous products do not have to partake and may be sending a clearer message if they don’t. That does not mean their product should be shunned.

It is ironic that Virgin Galactic will be required to disclose its product is quite risky. It will require flying thousands of times before showing a spacecraft is as safe as a military jet. Very little is learned from a single draw on a distribution. 98% of shuttle astronauts returned. All that Branson and his family flying prove by flying is that they are risk takers, not that his craft is safe. It is a greater disservice to create a false impression of safety than to put a product on the market where hazards are fully disclosed and no effort is made to express false confidence.

Rutan’s sentiment is a throwback to medieval food testers to test for poison. He is not alone–Transportation Safety Administration required people to take a drink of liquids they were carrying (at least in Austin). Weird.

We will have a choice of vendors for spaceflight. Some of them will fly the owners first. Some of them will fly with a pilot and others will be remotely operated from the ground.

Would Space-Shot.com customers like me to raise the price of an entry so I can fly personally before the first winner?

Political Commentary

Should Rush Have Gotten Twenty-Five Years?

Jacob Sullum, on the absurdity and ongoing misjustice of the War on (Some) Drugs:

“Perhaps the only way for draconian drug laws to change,” says Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann, “is for people like Limbaugh to join other nonviolent drug offenders behind bars.”

One of those nonviolent drug offenders is Richard Paey, who faced allegations remarkably similar to those against Limbaugh. Both men suffered severe back pain for which they underwent unsuccessful surgery, and both were accused of fraudulently obtaining more narcotics than they really needed. But while Limbaugh remains a free man and will not even face criminal charges if he continues to attend drug treatment for the next 18 months (something he was planning to do anyway), Paey is serving a 25-year sentence in a Florida prison.

Space

Texas Space Authority

Bill Hulsey and various other concerned Texans are forming the Texas Space Authority. We meet next week at University of Texas at Austin.

I found a couple of documents about Texas space plans. They are from 2003 and 2004. The Texas 2003-2007 strategic plan is here. Another is a 12 MB spaceport plan file. Email at dinkin@space-shot.com if you want me to share it with you on xdrive.

Space

ISDC Update

I’m not blogging the conference–I’m too busy schmoozing, and I’m not staying at the conference hotel, so it’s a PITA to haul a laptop around there. But Clark Lindsey has already built a page of links to his and others’ comments so far. I may have some thoughts on the conference early next week, after things have calmed down and I’ve had some time to gather some. Anyway, there are three days remaining (though I will only be attending today).

War Commentary

The Blogwar

…between Juan Cole (who I hope goes to Yale soon, so he ceases damaging the reputation of my alma mater in Ann Arbor) and Christopher Hitchens continues. One of the Iranian readers at Winds of Change says that Professor Cole’s Farsi isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And Iowahawk has hacked Juan’s outbox, and found a first draft of one of his emails to Hitchens. As Joe points out, it’s difficult to parody the professor, since he does such a good job of it himself, but Mr. Burge manages it.

Space

Heading Off To ISDC

Posting has been light, because I’ve been busy helping someone help Mike Griffin get us Back To The Moon, And Beyond, but I’ll be heading over to the hotel tonight to schmooze with early arrivals at the conference. There should be quite a few, since the festivities start at 9 AM tomorrow.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!