Space exploration and development – more than numbers
“Unfortunately, I’m too overextended right now to be useful.” This worked, while not being a lie, getting me out of assisting on the year’s strategic planning document. Or, as the case was – a strategy slash roadmap slash implementation slash plan slash something about technology and what NASA will do to get where it wants … Continue reading A review: “NASA’s Moon to Mars Strategy and Objectives Development”
This map updates a much older version from Kennedy Space Center (available here) for the recent news of the Space Force allocating three historic launch pads to four companies (Relativity, ABL Space Systems, Stoke Space, and Vaya Space.) How time flies. Once long ago NASA looked at Kennedy Space Center and the Cape as a … Continue reading It’s getting awful crowded out there – Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
(With acknowledgments to David Brin, blogging at Contrary Brin, and a thank you for his feedback as I wrote this.) Across my many years witnessing and participating in space marvels, too often my awe of the moment got rudely shoved aside by wondering what comes next. Some just can’t resist that temptation to look ahead, … Continue reading Revisiting the near future of human spaceflight
If you’re a sci-fi fan, you know Hollywood always has the lights go out when a spaceship takes a blast of photon torpedoes. Somehow we’ve figured out how to travel between the stars, but the electrical systems are kind of iffy. So now step into a mobile launcher platform below the Space Shuttle during a … Continue reading Flashback Friday-Inside a Space Shuttle Mobile Launcher Platform during launch
Frustration oozes from the pages of “Escaping Gravity,” and rightly so. Seemingly at odds, but only if you’re not in the business of space exploration, there is also a determination to carry on and leave a positive impact throughout the memoir of Lori Garver, Deputy NASA Administrator from 2009 to 2013. If you have come … Continue reading A book review – “Escaping Gravity” by Lori Garver
Some years after the loss of Columbia in 2003, one of our interns focused on NASA's spaceflight supply chain. Naturally, if you're talking about a topic, he figured it would be a good idea to start with a definition of what he'd learned. "The NASA spaceflight supply chain is a bunch of groups and organizations," … Continue reading On the matter of NASA, supply chains, and time
“We have one data point. All we need is one more and we can draw a line.” This was one of our many meetings where we dwelled on lessons learned, the Space Shuttle, and what’s next in reusable launch. As far as jokes go, at least for number crunchers, this was a good one. Except … Continue reading Mind the gap
It’s not surprising to see studies again showing optimism can help us live longer. There is a circularity here. Any news about being optimistic and living longer promising to live on quite a while. Good memes, by definition, persist, going from trending to chitchat, back to studies, and then appearing again in the news. There is … Continue reading NASA, aerospace, and optimism – in search of the right setting
It was my pleasure to be interviewed by Dr. Fermin Romero Vazquez on this week's "Cafe Espacial." We covered space technology, economics, public policy, partnerships, NASA, advanced projects, space exploration, opportunities, Latin America, and more. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8cSdX-oLdo Click to view it on Youtube.
And what does any of this have to do with space exploration? 2004, a large, musty conference room at Kennedy Space Center, today holding only the six or so of us to mull over a question trickled down from on high. What is the *probable* year the Shuttle will complete another 22 launches? I'd been … Continue reading Monty Hall, goats, the odds, and new rockets
And what does any of this have to do with space exploration? Talianki, Ukraine, a thriving city of thousands, about a few hours away from Kyiv by car, but a much longer trip 5,800 years ago. Except, wasn’t the going story there were no cities that far back, at least as far as we call … Continue reading A book review – “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber and David Wengrow
It’s spaceships aplenty – and it’s all good. Contrary to popular belief, there is plenty of public data out there for what NASA spacecraft cost. Yet judging by regular NASA Inspector General or GAO reviews, this is all beyond obscure and confusing. There’s even a thought from NASA that not knowing what things cost saves money. (That is not … Continue reading Useful answers – the cost of NASA spacecraft
Inflation is a hot topic in the news of late. This is to be expected when daily experience brings a far-off abstraction home for a visit. Also unsurprisingly, this phenom happens more so when the news is terrible. A price dropping is fodder for a moment of amazement, good company with a happy grin about … Continue reading Inflation, NASA’s budget, and ambition
Soon, NASA will load propellants onto its new Space Launch System – the “SLS.” This test will span a few days, a whole shakedown and practice run, much like the launch countdown starting at T-72 hours for a Space Shuttle. This is an exciting moment, the end-to-end system seeing liquid hydrogen and oxygen for the … Continue reading Make good choices!
NASA just rolled out an expendable rocket nearly eleven years after the last launch of its Space Shuttle. This is a long time coming, a project where too often “next year’s” major milestones receded by about one and a half years every year. An expendable Shuttle-derived launch system will go down in history as what … Continue reading Life finds a way
Zapata Talks NASA 