Space exploration and development – more than numbers
The highlight of the sci-fi flick is the opening credits with the moody music, the point of view imagery as if floating in space, and the fly-through tour of the inside of a ship. Then it’s downhill from there. This is what usually happens. Though this may be my peculiar view. I’ve been steeped too … Continue reading The NASA cis-lunar universe: LEO to Mars+
“That’s not gonna work.” The person seated next to me mumbled this my way. It was many years ago, but not the only time, and the many versions of this story share the same look and feel. The presenter is up-front, enthusiastic. Some audience members lean forward for the Q&A. Fortunately, more often than not, … Continue reading R&D investment and “how” – the final frontier
The usual conference room is crowded, with shiny surfaces and glass saying formal and stuffy, as I break in to ask my question about the numbers that seem way too low. What about “support”? Or re-phrasing, away from the specific and toward a broad sense, “The budgets have been much higher, so why is this … Continue reading SLS and Orion costs – the third rail of cost estimating
Throughout my career at NASA, I analyzed, prioritized, modeled, simulated, facilitated discussions and teams, wrote and reported, and got my hands dirty with, and crawled around lots of space technology. Eventually, I enlisted an AI-ish algorithm of sorts when it was clear some non-human help might do what a person or a team can’t in … Continue reading Sustainability and NASA’s human spaceflight program: We need to talk.
As the year ends, the numerals ahead may feel future-ish, as if we leaped across time, traveling faster than we should or want. Twenty-twenty-four. How did that happen? Events far back seem solid, the middle is blurred, and the future fills with our expectations. This year, two SpaceX Starships launched on the heels of NASA’s … Continue reading 2023 end-of-year post
There are the facts, and then there is more. For the International Space Station, the facts are straightforward and measured, as NASA is wont to do. It begins long ago with endless concepts for a permanent foothold in space, move finally to the first hardware placed in orbit in 1998, a Russian module (purchased by … Continue reading The ISS: For every beginning there is an end, or not?
Another day, another report by the Inspector General on NASA’s big Moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS.) One day, we may see a new measure for project costs and duration of development, the number of IG, GAO, CBO, or other ABC agency reports. During a coffee break, someone in the crowd will say, “That … Continue reading NASA, space projects, and context – a missing link
Can Europe catch up after SpaceX and the emergence of a newly vibrant US commercial space sector? How? It’s the mid-1990s, attendees lingering in the expansive lobby as the day’s conference presentations concluded, everyone glad to make new acquaintances and hand out business cards (remember those?) Among the introductions and salutations, there is a representative … Continue reading Europe, ESA, the EU, and the space sector – where to next?
It was all so simple back in 1992, in a world where the Kennedy Space Center and the Space Shuttle were nearly the only show in town. You could have any car in any color, so long as it was black. Sure, there were expendable, uncrewed launch vehicles, too. But these were merely a consolation … Continue reading Flashback Friday – KSC Map 1992
With the first Shuttle launch around the corner, well, about four years away, in 1977, NASA described its soon-to-be capabilities in its “NASA Facts” series. “It takes off like a rocket, maneuvers in Earth orbit like a spacecraft, and lands like an airplane.” The “space telescope” – describing the far away yet-to-be-named Hubble telescope, including … Continue reading Flashback Friday – Dreams of a Space Shuttle 1977
At their best, graphs are pictures worth a thousand words, or better yet, art communicating only a few words but with deep meaning. But in a world of infographics, we also get visuals causing confusion and stirring debates well past that aspirational word count. In the spirit of trying to be more of the former … Continue reading Three graphs and a truck
Recently, NASA lost contact with the Voyager probe, a mistaken command signaling its antenna to turn away from Earth, and what tiny tickle of a communication connection remains. This was cause for concern, naturally, though in the grand scheme of things, after a long and productive career, Voyager already did everything it set out to … Continue reading Voyager – Earth’s blog, a playlist, and an invitation
“Rescue Party” is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke written in 1946, but it is also the first time I read, at age eleven, about NASA and SpaceX (or “new space,” generally.) That seems impossible, and off by about four decades, but it’s true. Metaphorically speaking. The story is about time, the different speeds … Continue reading “Rescue Party,” a short story about NASA and SpaceX – written in 1946
Context is everything. We easily commiserate with others when in similar poor straits or celebrate an achievement all the more in a backdrop of difficulties overcome. Either way, the best stories have scars in the scenery. Recently, NASA canceled another X-plane project, the electric X-57 aircraft. The usual NASA news with pictures from the James … Continue reading Canceled X-planes, context, and NASA
I’ve been busy running experiments, well, the algorithms have been busy that is, once I set them running. Years ago, I wrote about using a genetic algorithm to evolve reusable launch vehicle designs, including the best way to pull it off. I called this “what” meets “how.” So, this wasn’t only about a power supply, … Continue reading “Trust the director”
Zapata Talks NASA 